Championship Game

Eli and his team (the Twins) had their last game tonight: the championship game for the Shetland league. Up until that point they were undefeated throughout the season and the tournament. Pretty crazy, but the boys were really good in fielding, and I think that is what held other teams off thus far. The team we were playing was the one that caused us extra innings just about a week ago; they were tough! The boys flip flopped the score with the other team a few times, winning and then getting behind. Eli had a few great throws from center field; his arm is getting much stronger. Eli smacked the ball every time he got up there, getting a double, scoring two runs, and getting out at home one time. After five innings of battle, the Twins came out on top. Such excitement. For the parents, it was relief too; had they lost, the boys would have had to play the same team again immediately. A double header, at night, on the last day of school. None of us wanted to go down that road!

Trophies for both teams followed, and our coach was great with his short speech, complimenting the other team as well as all coaches and parents involved with both teams. When we got to the snack table, he awarded two game balls and had some words of praise for a few key players. He called Eli a 'double machine' because of the way he was hitting. That was really cool. Later, when I emailed pictures to all of the parents, one of the dads (who is an assistant coach), had this to say about Eli: "... Eli is such a wonderfully fun kid and I enjoyed helping coach him. He is always smiling and no one had more fun than him. Plus he is turning into one heck of a good baseball player." Mommy was pretty proud of that. As we'd done before, we praised Eli up and down for always keeping a 'happy heart' during the game, even when it looked like his team would lose. And we reminded him that his effort was what caused us pride, not the outcome of the game.