We signed Hope up to play softball for the first time this spring. She played t-ball when she was four but didn’t seem as excited about team sports as she was about swimming and gymnastics so we gave it a break for a few years. This past fall Jason began umpiring little league so she has gotten to go up to the field and play and she told us she wanted to play on a team. Jason and I are both excited to have her interested in something that we both enjoyed growing up. I was about her age when I gained an interest in baseball and I still remember how many years I was so obsessed with playing baseball that I swore to the world that someday I’d play major league ball. Obviously that never happened, but it sure is exciting to see my little girl run out on the field on her own excited to play. Before the game started I took a few photos of her warming up with her team.
Her game was pretty early so it just added to the excitement for me to have a misty/dew look to the field as I watched my baby girl practice before the game.
Yes, I know…she’s a brave. Our family full of cubs fans will still love her knowing we had no choice in her team’s name. She made it very clear to me this morning that she didn’t like her uniform because it wasn’t cubs gear. I still think she looks super cute sporting a braves uniform!
While Hope and her team were warming up, Jason and Jaylen were hanging out in the bleachers. Jaylen had fun playing with his cars for a while. Thankfully Jason was there to hang out with my baby boy while I was busy taking photos of my baby girl.
Hope was super excited about her first game but I truly think Jason was so much more excited. He loves baseball so much so that he volunteered last fall to begin umpiring with the little league. He’s since become the head Umpire for our little league so if he’s not working he seems to be at the little league field. He was so proud of his little girl today.
Hope got to play second base in her first game. It was awesome to see how into playing the position she was. It’s amazing how much she’s matured since her days of playing t-ball. I remember back then most of the kids, including Hope, would play in the dirt. Hope was definitely a focused second baseman!
I took a ton of photos today of Hope’s entire team. I imagine by now Hope is use to her “momarazzi” following her around to capture some priceless moments but she’s getting to the age that I can sense she may not allow me to take as many pictures of her. I still ask her to cooperate at times, like in this photo.
Midway into Hope’s game Jaylen got restless. It was a good indicator for me to take a break with my little man instead of taking pictures. Most of the game he was very observant of the game. For now I’m sure he’ll continue to take it all in but something tells me he will be interested in playing “ball” before long.
Hope did awesome batting today. She looked like a pro. As I was taking pictures in the opposing team’s dugout the coaches and parents kept saying she had such awesome form for her age. She ended up getting 2 hits and scoring 2 runs!
I don’t think they ever kept score, so I’m not quite sure who won. Because of her age Hope is in the “rookie” league which is considered an instructional league so rather than getting overtly competitive she’s learning the skills she needs to know to play softball. More importantly she had fun which was exciting for us to see. Something tells me that years from now we’ll end up with many memories of our little ones at the little league field. Hope you all enjoyed seeing a few photos from Hope’s 1st game — it was definitely a memorable one!
by Amanda Kern
1073 comments