Vegas, Baby

Well, it has been quite a month. After winning their first 6 games together the boys have dropped 5 of 8. Not quite devastating, but a real loss of momentum going into this weekends tournament. The San Clemente tournament was, I fear, the turning point. The boys won the first game in a dominant fashion. 14-4 in 4 innings, sparkling defense, booming offense, even Rabbit got 2 hits. They did not score 14 more runs in the entire tournament. They got sloppy, were not ready to play, and got beat by teams they had dominated previously. Very frustrating. For the first time we could clearly answer no to both important questions. We were not getting better, and we were not having much fun.

Fast forward a few weeks. School is in session, Rabbit is playing flag-football as well as Blue Wave. 3 practices a week of each is really stretching our schedules. Add in private pitching lessons (amazing results so far) and we are exhausted. We did manage to sneak away for a Dodger game this week though. Priorities!

The team is bonding, and the boys like and respect each other. When they play well, they are unbeatable. We have seen them take down AAA and even Majors teams. When they are not focused they can lose to a T-ball squad. We will have to wait and see who shows up this weekend.

I hold absolutely zero expectation for this tournament. I honestly believe that they will lose every game. I also expect they will have some fun, and that we will really enjoy our time. This is a National Championship, and we are not ready to compete at this level. However, it is a reward for the cumulative efforts of the past 12 months. That does not mean we won't get grumpy when we play poorly, more likely we will get over it quicker.