I always swore I would not be one of those moms that bragged on how my kid always hits home runs and catches every fly ball. Then I saw Jake play baseball & realized that wouldn't be a problem. But I have to give Jake credit. He tries hard, he practices, he has a great attitude, all his teammates, coaches & other parents really seem to like him. They know how hard he is trying and how much he has improved over the last 2 months. And he is having a great time. He is kind of like the Rudy of the team. And I have to remind myself, he is 5. He's learning. There are no scouts at the game, no scholarships on the line. It's just a bunch of 5 & 6 year old learning how to play the game. And I know this story will not be interesting to anyone other than Jake's grandparents, but since this is the only place I record things, I wanted to make sure I wrote this one down.
The setup: Because of Jake's improvements, he's gotten to move up in the batting order and this was his first game to be moved from outfield to 2nd base. Jake & Robbie have been working hard on what Jake should do if the ball comes to him. The team we were playing, we had never beat. We had been ahead the whole game, and it was coming down to the last inning. (Their games only last 90 minutes, so we usually only get in 3 innings. Yes, it moves that slow.) The other team was up to bat first in the last inning. They had gotten a few good hits and scored some runs, and were now ahead. They were down to the bottom of their lineup up to bat. (Every kid gets to bat every inning. Yes, it drags on that slowly:). A kid up to bat hits the ball into the outfield. It wasn't Jake's ball to get, so he just stood there. The little boy in the outfield, picks up the ball & throws it to the infield. Jake is just standing there, so it hits him right in the back. Jake's teammate did what he was supposed to do, he threw the ball into the infield, Jake was just not paying attention to the ball, he was watching the runner. Once the play was called dead, the coaches went out to check on Jake. Robbie is one of the coaches, so I knew there was no point in me going out there. But I could see Jake's face. His little lip was quivering and I could see tears rolling down his cheeks, but he was trying so hard to hold in the cry. You could tell he was fighting it back, which of course broke this mother's heart. I wanted so bad to run out there, pick him up & hug him, but I knew that would just cause him to cry. He held it together & was so brave and managed not to cry. I wanted to cry for him. We got through the inning and then it was our team's turn to bat to close out the game. I could tell in the dug out, getting his helmet & bat, Jake was still trying not to cry. My heart just broke for him.
Up to bat: Several of our best hitters get hits and we score a few runs. The score is tied 7-7. We have our fastest runner on 3rd base and another runner on 2nd base. There is 1 out. Now it is Jake's turn up to bat. If he can knock in our 3rd base runner, we will win the game (and everyone gets to go home on this already late school night!). Now I pray for lots of big stuff, important things and some not so major. But I'm not going to lie, I was praying for Jake to get a hit at this moment. I knew he was still upset and I just didn't want him to strike out. The team really needed for him to get a hit, as the rest of our batters tend to strike out. I thought my heart was going to jump out of my throat, and I now realize that I will have to be medicated if Jake continues to play sports and does so at a higher level. Robbie feeds the balls into the pitching machine, so he feeds a ball to Jake. JAKE MAKES CONTACT!!!! He hits the ball pretty solid and knocks in not 1 but both runners! Our whole stands (which is just the kids' parents & grandparents) jump up & are cheering. Everyone is celebrating. (Which I know is pretty silly to get that excited at a bunch of 5 & 6 year olds, but when it's your child's team, all dignity is lost. And you jump up & down cheering.) (Then again, they might have been jumping up & down cheering, because we could all go home now!) But I was so incredibility proud of Jake. It's one thing to feel proud when you accomplish something, but when your child does, it is one thousand times sweeter. My pregnant emotional heart was just beaming with pride.
Jake's thoughts on hitting in the game winning run: He could care less. He happily skipped off to shake the other team's hands. He would have skipped off had he struck out & lost the game. It wasn't until all of his teammates & other parents were congratulating him that he realized he must have done something good. I figure, at least he is humble (and slightly clueless). After we got home, we were talking about the game. Of course all he wanted to talk about was how his teammate hit him with the ball (we had to break it to him, that it was Jake's fault, because he wasn't paying attention). And it's the first thing he told his teacher when we got to school.
Moral of the story: Sometimes you are going to make the game winning hit to win the game. It's exciting, it's fun, life is great. But sometimes, no matter how hard you try, how much you worked, you don't win the game. You strike out. And that's hard. It's disappointing.But that's how life it. It is full of both types of situations. I want Jake to learn to use the disappointing times to push him to try harder, to learn more, to make him humble and most importantly, to truly appreciate those times when you do win. It makes them all the sweeter.
And to pay attention, because you never know when you'll be hit in the back with a ball.
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