We spent nearly 7 hours at the softball complex yesterday. With all 3 kids in tow, and all 4 grandparents joining us, we took in Regan's end of the season fall ball fastpitch tournament.
I simply cannot believe how far she has come in just 5 weeks. She has worked hard, but her coaches worked just as hard.
She has 3 coaches, two amazing head coaches-Sarah and Brad and one assistant-Mark (former Texas Ranger pitcher), and man alive they are one heck of a group. All Mark ever cared about was that the girls had FUN. And I mean that in the best way possible! Even during a tournament game, where Sarah disputed a call by the ump, Mark says "'let's just have fun and get some more hits!".
They all knew how to motivate those girls as a team. And to get them excited about ball and to be a good sport. Never once was there a thrown helmet, or tears, or frustration.
Poor Lincoln took a couple of short cat naps in the comfort of the stroller where he was roasting. He had no other option and took it all in style, but see that wet mark just at the right of his head....yea, that's sweat. And yes, he's holding a bottle of lotion, because after 6 hours, he was bored with all the toys and mad that I wouldn't let him put chewed up sunflower seeds in his mouth so he stole Grandma Jan's lotion and finally closed his eyes.
Regan is so blessed to have the support of all of her grandparents who made the trek up to watch her play hard for 3 games. They cheered and got excited with each at bat. I poked fun of my mom who was dressed more for the country club with her white shorts...sitting on dirty bleacher benches!
She's pretty stylish like that ;)
I don't have Regan's official stats for the tournament, other than to say that every at bat, she got a hit. Every. Single. One.
I feel compelled to brag a little, because at the start of the season, she struck out every single time.
Every. Single. Time.
And Mark has logged many hours working with her batting. And no one is more proud of her than he is (well, and maybe us too!). She sure wins the award for most improved hitting.
It's machine pitched fast pitch, but there's a lot she had to learn to gauge that speed, seeing as though this was her first experience with fastpitch. But I think she's hooked. She loved it!
This was the bracket. Their team went into the tournament at 4-0. And then won their first two tournament games to move onto the championship game. Regan took a hard hit grounder to the chest playing outfield, but she knocked it down and got the ball back infield, never stopping to whine about being hurt. They were tied up 7-7 at the end of the game and went into extra innings. Sadly, in the end, they lost by 1 run and took home second place. It was a nail biter but those girls need to be proud of themselves. They had one heck of a season!
Hats off to this amazing league that Regan joined. I'm so amazed at what these kids did this season. They worked hard, they improved, but most importantly...they had FUN!
Congratulations Regan! We are so proud of you!
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