Fall Ball White Sox

- November 03, 2019

This year Sam played Fall Baseball for Coach Huddleston on the White Sox Team. I loved their uniforms. They looked so sharp in their white and black. These pictures were taken at the first game of the year. This was Sam's second year to play. His first year was very disjointed and he didn't get a lot of technical instruction, so this year was Sam's first year to really learn how to play basball. He had great coaches, and he was on a pretty good team. That's not to say that Sam didn't struggle - because he did.

1. First, Sam still has a really difficult time paying attention. For example, at his first practice, Coach Huddleston gave the boys only one rule: "Don't play in the dirt." Within five (5) seconds of standing on second base, Sam started kicking the dirt and looking at it as though he had never seen dirt in his life.

Sam even had a hard time paying attention while base running during games. At his last game of the season he wasn't paying attention and didn't run from second to third. After his coaches were finally about to get his attention, Sam frantically ran to third base. Thankfully he was able to make it third before getting thrown out. He let out a big sigh of relief, looked up at his third base coach and said so sincerely, "I wasn't paying attention at all! I was daydreaming." His coach couldn't help but get tickled with him. Probably because Sam is so honest.

2. Second, Sam had a hard time keeping his glove on the ground. This meant that several balls went right in between his legs.

3. Third, Sam had a hard time finding his swing. There were a few weeks at the beginning of the season where Sam couldn't hit anything. But, as he got more comfortable, Sam started to hit much more consistently. In fact, in his last game, batted four time and got four hits.

But, with all of that, Sam has learned so much and improved exponentially. He is great teammate. He is always cheering on his friends, he is usually standing "on the fence" paying attention to the other batters, and for some reason, he always take a lap after the game is over. Sam has no problem making friends and really enjoyed spending time with his teammates. Sam takes instruction well and usually has a good attitude. I was really proud of him this year and I really enjoyed watching him improve.

This was my favorite picture of Sam from the entire season. He looked so cute in the catcher's gear. Sam mostly played Second Base and Right Field.

As a mom I really enjoyed baseball this year. We were able to the games as a family. Finn and Will would play in the grass or at the play ground while we watched the games. I also enjoyed the families that we sat with at the games.

Sam's favorite part of the Season was at the last game of the year when he stole Homebase. He and the pitcher were both running for home plate as hard as they could. While they both reached the plate at the same time, Sam stepped on the plate before the pitcher tagged him with the ball. Sam was so excited. He looked over at us and let out this huge, exaggerated sigh of relief. He was so proud after the game was over. It was Sam's only night game, so it was the only time he played under the lights. He got four hits, stole a few bases, and stole home. It was a special night for him.