the joys of little league

A major highlight of my trip to Massachusetts was watching Hillary's 9-year-old son play little league. Okay, so, while I was watching them play, I really really wanted to get out there and join them, but I didn't have a green shirt. Yeah, that's why I didn't play.

This is Nolan's first year playing baseball, and he's the tallest and probably the fastest one on the team. Last year he played soccer on a team that literally NEVER won a game. Their record this year was 3 and 0, and those three wins were slaughters really. Last Thursday night they played a team that had been undefeated for two years in a row. The pressure was high.

Me: If they're 8 and 9 years old, how can they be undefeated for two years?
Hillary: I think it's got more to do with the coach.

The game was pretty even until the top of the sixth and final inning, when the red team pulled ahead by 10 runs. Oh, the defeat on the little green-shirted faces. But they still had their last ups and holy shit, with two outs, they managed to TIE THE GAME. I'd give a play-by-play, but I can't remember the details, only that I was jumping up and down and shouting and god, it was fun. The coaches decided to leave it as a tie game. The two teams would meet again on Saturday.

Saturday after the green-shirted kids marched in the Chester parade. ha!

Again, it was a pretty even game. What I liked about the green coach was that he wasn't as hypervigilant with his kids as the red coach was. Red coach could even seem psycho at times. Green coach gave the kids pointers but didn't shove them down their throats and didn't once tell his entire team to SHUT UP! Yeah, nice.

Most exciting moment: Left-handed Nolan playing first base catches the second out in the last inning and then throws it to second for a double play! His double play clinched it. Of all the games I could've watched, this was clearly the one to see. So proud of him.

Hillary and I are walking back to the car while green coach is congratulating the team and we see a little tiny red-shirt boy slumping along, head down, completely demoralized. His mom was driving a monster-sized SUV, and little boy could barely get himself in it. He just kind of fell in. Poor kid.

But, well, we won. 14-7 or something like that. Damn, I miss softball.