Baseball Journal

[matt hougan]

I have three kids playing ball, all select teams. 13 year old son, 10 year old daughter and a 9 year old son. All of them are doing quite well. Here is my 13 year old son volunteering as a baseball buddy for some special baseball players at Miracle Field in Springboro, Ohio.

Nathan here is a very good relief pitcher. He likes taking the mound with no outs bases loaded and the game on the line. He has good control of the strike zone and an amazing fastball. He is learning change ups and other pitches other than a curve ball. He was throwing a nasty curve ball at a game last week until I learned what he and the catcher were up to. I put an end to that ASAP, but it was a nasty curve ball....lol He is also a solid infielder and catcher. Great baseball I.Q. and right now has a four game batting average of .750.

My daughter plays on the 10U Ohio Hwaks softball team out of Dayton. She plays mostly catcher or first base. Great arm and a good hitter. She has a heart of a lion for competition. Last week she said she wants to trade her viola lessons for pitching lessons.....s

My little guy Zach is the man. South paw pitcher and center fielder. You hit the ball any where near center and you're out, plain and simple. I have seen that kid make several ESPN catches. Last year he caught one on a dead run nearing the fence over his shoulder. He turned and threw out the kid at second that was sure that ball was gone. Opposing coach called "time out", walked out to center field and gave Zach a high five. It was freakin amazing... His specialty is a wicked bunt. He is crazy quick and is already two steps toward first. He routinely gets on base and has numerous RBI's with his bunting....

 

[cotty16]

Sounds like you got some ballers there, Matt. Outstanding!

 

[cotty16]

Klay got invited to play up on Kody's team yesterday. He was stoked. He played in his game then immediately went to the bigger field. Kody's team had one gone for the weekend and another hurt, so Klay got to fill in. He did just fine.

A coach for another team was there and asked if Klay could play for him on Friday. Apparently he's short a player. Of course he can!

 

[matt hougan]

I am particularly proud of this picture. Its Zach my youngest with his buddy at Miracle field. The parents of the young man in the wheelchair commented how great Zach was. Normally the volunteers are a little older than Zach and are easily distracted by socializing with thier buds or thier girlfriends during these miracle field games. You can see in this picture Zach is completely engaged with his buddy. At first we were concerned that Zach may be too young to volunteer in this capacity. He pushed that young man around in that wheel chair helping him field ground balls and helping him swing the bat at the plate. When I asked Nathan, my 13 year old about volunteering it was Zach that spoke up first from across the room that he wanted to help out. He is a great kid with a great heart.

 

[Schu72]

Kids won 18-5 tonight. I must say, i really enjoy sticking it to this particular team. Several classless low-lifes. Grandma of one of the kids was throwing 4 letter words at our coaches during the game. During our last at bat, our coaches started holding the runners to load the bases due to a modified 8 run rule. The boys team ended up hanging 7 on them in the top of the 6th (last inning in this league).:smiley_arrogant:

 

[brock ratcliff]

Matt- lots to be proud of there!

Schu- that had to feel good. We have been lucky to have good parents to deal with so far. I have one kid that is a world class lil prick. He's got a smart mouth and general bad attitude. His parents are divorced, and his dad has told me his mother babies him to the point of him being completely un-disciplined. His dad told me to do whatever I needed to do.... I think I have him fixed and it was relatively simple. I just told him I was gonna put my foot in his ass. Apparently, he believed me. Our boys won yesterday 14-6. Our outfielders have suddenly realized how important their somewhat boring role is. I explained to them that they are in the outfield due to their extreme speed, and they need to get to the ball and return it to the infield immediately - they are in a position to save the game, etc. Believe it or not, they bought it! We even threw a kid out at 2nd yesterday! I lost count of how many times a sure thing double turned into a single because our outfield actually got the ball in! I was proud of all of them, and somewhat amazed they took my words to heart it seems.

....and Mason had a homer, triple, and single in his three at bats. He hit a foul that went clear onto another diamond! Pretty proud of that kid too.

 

[Schu72]

The boys are now 7-0. They made quick work of the team that took them into extra innings earlier in the year. Ethan hammered his deepest hit of the season, but only got a double out of it. The kids continue to improve and appear to be the class of the league at this point. Hopefully come tournament time they don't have a bunch of kids on vacation.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Great to hear! Hopefully things will continue that way through the rest of the season.

 

[cotty16]

Kody's team won tonight. He was 2-3 with 2 RBI.

Klay's team is still undefeated and play again tomorrow.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Woke up slightly hung over in Cleveland, drove 3.5 hours, spent 10 minutes rounding up my gear, now I'm headed to the ball field. I'm TOO for this shit!!!

 

[cotty16]

I used to play better with a hangover in
My legion years. Lol

Klay's team remained undefeated today. Klay pitched the first 2 innings and struck out 5. He also singled twice. It's fun watching him. Love competitors.

 

[bowhunter1023]

We won 10-4 tonight and played one of the cleanest games we've played in 3-4 years. First pitch I saw today was promptly deposited over the fence in left center for a 3 run shot in the top of the 1st. I ended up 2-2 with 3 RBIs and 2 walks. I was "intentionally" walked the last two ABs win runners on 2nd and 3rd. Kinda pissed me off honestly. In both at bats, I had 2-0 counts and ripped balls foul, then saw two straight balls 4' off the plate. Played first and second tonight, so that was a great change of pace and great for my legs!!!

We are 1-1 now...

 

[jagermeister]

We won 10-4 tonight and played one of the cleanest games we've played in 3-4 years. First pitch I saw today was promptly deposited over the fence in left center for a 3 run shot in the top of the 1st. I ended up 2-2 with 3 RBIs and 2 walks. I was "intentionally" walked the last two ABs win runners on 2nd and 3rd. Kinda pissed me off honestly. In both at bats, I had 2-0 counts and ripped balls foul, then saw two straight balls 4' off the plate. Played first and second tonight, so that was a great change of pace and great for my legs!!!

We are 1-1 now...

Damn, son... Sounds like you better go to every game with a hangover! lmao

 

[cotty16]

Told ya! Hangovers help for focus. Lol

 

[DJK Frank 16]

Good work Jesse, sounds like you are stroking the ball!

 

[bowhunter1023]

Season Stats

PA: 7
AB: 3
BB: 4
K: 1
H: 2
RBI: 3
BA: .666
OBP: .545
Slugging: 1.4
Runs Scored: 3

Team Record: 1-1

Runs Scored: 11
Runs Scored Against:12

 

[brock ratcliff]

Sounds like I should have taken the boys to the beer garden yesterday. We have a game at 5 tonight...

 

[Schu72]

Kids lost tonight in extras. Should have been a W. Lots of base running errors and fielding errors. Took a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the last inning. What a shame. Had a very sobering event during our game. I'll share more after I get the kids to bed.

 

[Schu72]

Ok...kids are upset, but in bed trying to rest.

So we are in the bottom of the second inning. I'm keeping the book for our team because the manager is on vacation. The other team's last batter is up and I hear screaming coming from the bleachers beside the other teams dugout. I wasn't sure what was happening at first. I just hear this lady sceaming HELP ME! Oh my GOD someone help me! Then I see she has an infant that is totally limp in her arms. I hear someone shout something about the heimlich manuever and people shouting to call 911. So I immediately shout over to my wife who is a neonatal nurse practitioner that there is a baby choking. She take off around the backstop at a full run. I also head over to see if I can help. People are calling 911 there is another woman there who identifies herself as an ER nurse who is performing adominal thrusts on the infant, who I would guesss was somewhere between 8 and 12 months old. The baby is blue and unresponsive. The mother is in hysterics. A police officer show up and takes over dong back blows on the baby. Then the poor little guy goes into what my wife thought were seizures. He did finally start breathing on his own and his color came back but he still was not responding in any way. It tool a lot longer for the EMS to get there than I would have expected. After the squad left we were told that he seemed to be returning back to normal and that he was breathing on his own. It really shook everyone up. I haven't been around like anything like that out in the community. Really puts things into perspective. I hope everthing checks out ok for the little guy.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Wow Scott! I can't imagine being in the situation. Sounds like things are on the mend, sure hopes so!