The end of Little League!

We were bad parents. We took the weekend off to go to Morro Bay and sleep in and be lazy. We had planned this trip about 6 weeks ago. It turns out that this past Sunday was the first game of Tournament of Champions. So we missed game 1. Oh well. The Bruins won and we were back in town for game 2 on Monday night. Rabbit grounded sharply to third in his first at bat, played good defense in RF, and then misplayed a pop up in LF. With no outs and the bases loaded in the third inning coach had him come in to pitch. Rabbit hates coming in as a reliever, especially in situations like this. But, he did his best, and got ground balls. And more ground balls. A few strike-outs were mixed in as well. In fact, in his three innings pitched not a single ball was hit in the air, or past the infield. The 7 errors didn't help any. We lost 5-0 and now are super duper done with Little League. Except for Closing Ceremonies on Monday. Ugh.

The reason we are done is because I told the league that we were not interested in having Rabbit play with the 9-10yo All Stars. After last years overwhelmingly negative experience I already had a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, Rabbit would be the only person on that team who had not played in AAA. And I was not overwhelmed by the person who was coaching. This is where I become a world-class LL A-hole parent. It was an absolute no-win scenario for the kid. If he goes out and strikes out every batter, he is supposed to because he played in Majors. If he hits every ball over the fence, again, he is supposed to. But if he doesn't dominate then he is open to ridicule and questions of "who does this kid think he is?" from other players and parents. We had made our plans for the summer already, and those plans did not include All Stars. It was an easy decision,and we are satisfied with the outcome. As expected, once I turned down the 9-10 team we were disqualified from the 11 or 12 team. In fact, his LL coach tried to get him for the 12 team and was denied by the board. I completely understand, and endorse that decision. No matter what, he was in demand, and it is a compliment that so many coaches wanted him to play for them.

When we began Little League this season we wanted Rabbit to be able to contribute. By the end of the season he was the number 2 starting pitcher, starting 1B and clean-up hitter. He met and exceeded his goals and had a great season. He should be proud of his accomplishments.

Now that we are back to baseball 3 nights a week instead of 6 we can get back to the fun stuff. The OC Flyers home opener is tonight. Rabbit will be a bat boy for game 1 of a DH on Wednesday. Then, starting the 19th he is with his cousin in the Central Valley for 10 days of swimming pools and goofiness. It is good to be 10, and it should be.

Albuquerque later this summer, and Blue Wave tourneys from now until December. I will have more about Blue Wave later, the drama is thick. But not today.