Wendy and Stan gave us a free family ticket to the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs minor league baseball team and we attended their last home game vs. Albany. Mohawk Valley plays versus teams from Albany, Newark, Utica, Watertown, Elmira, Amsterdam, etc. The weather was perfect and it was an enjoyable evening.
Eric and Mitchell in the stands; Kathryn.
The team got together for picture night and then went out and played a great game, beating the previously undefeated red team.
The Northern Community League had an opening ceremony for all the Little League teams. Below Eric’s team gathers in preparation. One by one all the kids were called out by name (a long process). Eric was 1st for his team.
Eric greets his team mates as they get called out to join the lineup. The field ended up being filled with all the teams represented by a multitude of uniform colors.
At 4pm Eric’s team had a game. He played pitcher and did a good job of fielding the ball.
Eric was 1 for 3 hitting.
Eric decided to play Minor B Little League this year, primarily because his pal, Jack, was playing baseball. In Minor B there are called strikes, coaches on the field and a coach pitching. After 3 practices they had their 1st game. Eric was tagged as catcher for the game. He said he didn’t like the position because he got hit with the ball a lot – even though it didn’t hurt. By the end of the game he was catching a few of the pitches / tips.
Eric batted 6th and in his 1st at bat came up with bases loaded and two outs. He made contact; a slow roller down the 1st base line. The 1st baseman picked up the ball, stood up and was mesmerized by all the kids running. His coaches, parents and spectators were yelling for him to step on 1st base. With all the chaos he froze and Eric beat it down to 1st base safely. Over the 1st two games Eric has 5 hits for 6 at bats. You got to love playing on stone dust, because once the ball is rolling it carries out of the infield.
Eric had his 2nd baseball practice (Minor League B). Practice mainly consisted of one coach pitching and one coaching helping the kids hit and everyone else hanging out in their position in the field. Each kid stood in batting until they got 3 hits and ran to 1st base on the 3rd pitch.
Below Eric lined up as a mid-fielder deep behind the pitcher and then demonstrates his swing. He seems to be a line drive hitter.
After the 3rd hit, drop the bat and run to 1st. After a minute of standing cool on 1st base Eric peeked over to see if Dad caught all the action.
Right now baseball is fun and he is enjoying learning new things. It certainly is less work (running) than soccer.