YEAH!!!!!! A couple of weeks ago John came home from practice, of course after stopping at Grandma Colleen's first, and shared with us that he had made the Varsity Baseball Team. We were so excited for him, but did have to ask, "Now what does that mean? Will you be playing on both the JV and Varsity teams?" John's response was, "No, only varsity." YEAH!!!!!!!! Now we were even more proud and excited for him. As supportive baseball parents, Dad and I didn't have a doubt in the world that John was good enough to make the team or that he wouldn't make a great addition to the team, but I have to be honest and say that we did feel it would be a lot harder to pull it off. This year's school ball team had 9 (yes 9) returning seniors to the roster, only leaving a few spots to be filled by underclassmen. So to make the team was a huge accomplishment in our book. Way to go buddy! But there is more to the story........
The first game was in Valley City at 4:00 last Tuesday. The one thing that I will not like about this baseball season, is that it makes it very difficult for anyone to make it to a 4:00 game. I left for work that morning and there was no one in our family able to make it to the game. Now if you know me at all, I wasn't going to let that happen if I could help it. So, I loaded up the kids and headed to Valley, but we did not leave until close to 5:00, meaning we were going to miss most of the first game. In my head however, I thought that it would be fine since John would not be playing the first game anyway. We put the petal to the metal and headed for the game.
We arrived at the game with blankets and sweatshirts in hand along with a bag full of tractors, combines and snacks to keep our lil' man occupied. We ran down the steps to the field and found a place to sit. We made it, bottom of the fourth, we were in the field. It looked as though it had been a great game with a score at the time of 6 to 6. As we settled in and got everything where we needed it, I finally looked a little closer and tried to figure out who was who and where everyone was playing, but as I scanned the field I noticed a pretty tall, dark, and handsome kid playing first base. At the same time I noticed him on the base Jaylen yells out, "Hey Johnny B!!!" He was right John was on first base, playing the first game how can this be? Had he been in the entire game? I needed to find out.
I leaned back to another mom who was sitting bundled up in blankets behind me and asked, "Has John been in the entire game? Did he start? She, with a smile on her face answered back, "Yes he did. I think he was surprised." Surprised!!! No, I was the one that was surprised. I was so excited and quickly watched intensely. The game did not turn out as we wanted as they lost 8 to 6, but it was a great game. I went over and talked to John between games and found out he too was very surprised but yet excited that he started and would be for the next couple of games. We sat back and waited for the second game to start. But my luck he did not play the second game. They won in three short innings 10 to 0.
A long story short.... We are very proud of you John and can not wait to continue watching you throughout this school ball season. Keep up the great work!!
(Disclaimer....... I apologize for the quality and the number of photos that are here. I apparently had the camera on the wrong setting and did not realize it until the photos were uploading on here. If you know our two year old yet, you will understand why there were not many photos.)
