Sidney's softball 8U state 2016

Sadly, Sidney's softball season has come to a close. 

This girl, her teammates, her coaches, they had an amazing spring/summer. They worked their tails off at twice weekly practices learning the game and had so much fun in the process! We lucked out and she was coached by Regan's former 8U coaching team and we were so happy for that fact. Sarah is incredibly positive and an all-around great coach (she will move up to 10U in the fall and maybe Regan will luck out again!). One of the assistants-Mark, happens to be a former MLB pitcher and has a heart of gold. That man doesn't even have a kid on the team but he is there to help every step of the way! During the final game this weekend, he walked over to the crowd and said "you could pay $20 to watch the Twins but I'd rather sit and watch these kids!". They make for an incredible coaching team I tell you!

Sidney is a natural out on the field. She's got determination in her blood. She simply loves to play and have fun, but this girl also wants to hit, run and score! (and oh boy will she get upset when she gets out...even when it's no fault of her own!). 

Her team this year was made up of 12 wonderful girls, 7 of which were repeat players and 5 who were new to the sport (she was one of the newbies). Though she had played fall ball last year, she is still considered new to the sport. She has learned so much about how to field, where to throw and sportsmanship from these "upperclassman". We are so thankful for the experience she gained and are so happy that she loves this sport so very much. 

Her Black Panther team was ranked #14 out of of 37 teams in our league for the state tournament. That put them in the gold bracket near the bottom (top 16 teams went to gold). Those little girls played hard and ended up winning the consolation bracket at the end of the 2 day tournament.
To say that we (and the coaches) were proud is an understatement! 

This little video is of the cheer they did before each and every game. Now no one thinks a panther actually roars, but we all still love their little cheers! Ryan's favorite part is when they get super quite (in the beginning of the year they would quietly count in unison "1-2-3") before hollering ROAR! 

Following state, we were tagged with hosting the end of the season party. Which obviously turned into a pool party! 

Hands down, it is the most people we've had in the pool at one time. I think there were 35 people in our backyard and at least 20 of those were swimming! Wowzas.
It was all hands, and eyes, on deck (thanks Grandma Jan for being an extra set of eyes). 

 Everyone did great swimming around and had so much fun splashing in the warm evening sun. 

mid-party, we lined up all 12 girls for a fun jumping picture..

and the progression of a jump was so exciting for all! 

I love how the ends landed in the pool first with the middle a bit behind.

And just like that our season is over. 

Here's to another great experience of fastpitch softball!