End of Spring Baseball, Noah's New Teeth, Prom

 Here's what's been going on the last few weeks.

Evan's spring baseball ended.  He got MVP for the varsity team!  Here's what Morry wrote about him on Facebook.

"Varsity Team MVP as a sophomore. Second youngest on the team. Hit .533 (32-60) on the season, second in innings pitched, first in ERA, first in Ks, led the team in innings caught and runners caught stealing. I haven't posted during the season as I figured I'd wait until the season is over. Unfortunately, though, I am terrible at taking video so I missed quite a few of his bigger hits, but figured I'd upload some of the ones I did get.

The season Evan put together was beyond anything I could have imagined. He plays with a chip on his shoulder and he works his butt off to get better and I couldn't be more proud."

Noah finally got his new fake teeth from the orthodontist.  He was happy about that, but of course, I don't have a picture.  Lately, he hasn't wanted to have his picture taken.

Madison invited Evan to his senior prom.  Evan, Morry, and I went to Philadelphia from a Thursday - Sunday.   On Thursday, we ate at Nifty Fifty's.  Friday, we saw the West Chester University campus and baseball team.  Friday night was the prom.  Saturday we went to Ocean City, NJ.  Sunday, we met Allison and Avery for brunch in downtown Philadelphia.  We all had a nice weekend and Evan really had a great time at prom.

Here are some pictures. 

Successful Boys

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

So Saturday was a successful one for the boys. It was the last day of the high school baseball season for Evan. His team set up an event.  Two coaches had a draft of both Varsity and JV players and they played two games against each other.  After the games, there was a potluck for everyone to celebrate.

Evan had a good day playing.  Batting against mostly Varsity pitchers, he went 2-4 with two walks, a single and a double.  He was not intimated by the older kids pitching.

After the games, we ate, and then the coach talked to everyone.  He announced that some kids from the Varsity and JV were named to the "All-Tournament team" from the weekend before as voted by all the coaches of the teams in the tournament.  Evan was named to the team.  It was basically saying he was one of the best players out there.  It was a nice way to end the season with that recognition.

When we got home, Noah showed us an email.  He had officially been accepted to the National Junior Honor Society. It seemed like he should have been admitted since he does so well in school, but you never know.  It was nice to see that Noah got recognition for how good at school he was.

As a reward, we took the boys to Bahama Bucks.  Chewie came along and enjoyed it.

Yesterday, Rachel and I took Chewie for a walk around Lady Bird Lake.  We stopped at Black Rock Coffee on the way home.

In the afternoon, a kid in the neighborhood came by and detailed my car. For dinner, Grandma and Papa picked up food from Saps and came over and we ate on the porch.

Today, Rachel had a dentist appointment.  I took Noah to Gorzycki to swap out his Chromebook.

There was no baseball today, so I smoked chicken quarters for dinner.  It worked out well.

Until next time...

Week of Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

High school baseball has suddenly become a big part of our lives. Evan had practice on Monday and Wednesday.  He had games Tuesday and Thursday, two on Friday and two on Saturday. 

Despite it being a busy week of baseball, it was a very good week of baseball for Evan.  At the game on Tuesday, Evan showed his toughness and helped show the team he was a good leader.  Down 6-0, with a very large kid trying to score, Evan got the throw at home. Although required to slide, the boy lowered his shoulder and knocked Evan over in an attempt to knock the ball loose.  Evan held on through the big hit, jumped up and tried to throw out the runner advancing to third.  It was a very heads up play and got his entire team excited.  Despite the coach's pleas, the boy was not ejected despite the rules that state he should be dictated.  But the play fired up the whole team. So, when Evan's team came to bat, they scored 8 runs and won the game.

On Thursday, Evan was asked to fill in on the Varsity team.  It was a really big honor for someone who is a Freshman.  The game was at a fancy private school in the area.  They didn't allow parents to watch the game but they provided a livestream to watch complete with an announcer.  Evan started on the bench, but came in to pinch hit in the fifth.  He walked and then stole second.  The batter behind him also walked and when they tried to pick the runner off at first, Evan advanced to third on a heads-up baserunning and then scored when the team was more focused on trying to get the other runner out.  That run ultimately ended up being the winning run.  Evan came in to catch in the bottom of the fifth.  It was so cool hearing Evan being talked about by an announcer.  It was a very surreal experience.

Evan was back to the JV team while playing two games on Friday.  In the first game on Friday, Evan caught and he threw two runners out trying to steal third in the same inning.  He also singled and walked in that game.  He played short for some of the game and started a double play on a single to left where he took the relay and threw home to get the runner and then tagged out the batter who was trying to advance on that throw.  In the second game, Evan pitched and did really well against a team of sophomores.  A couple parents from the other team behind me kept talking about what a good pitcher we had.  I eventually told them that was my son.  He also tripled over the centerfielder's head.

On Saturday morning, Evan caught two innings and batted three time.  He got his 11th, 12th and 13th walk of the season in each of those at bats.  Evan's team won big, 19-1, and they let Evan rest for the first time for the last inning.  In the second game, Evan caught all 5 innings.  He struck out and walked two more times.  At catcher, he threw out his first runner trying to steal second as a high schooler.  His coaches really love him on the team.  They think he just makes plays and that he's a really smart baseball player.  It's nice to see.

Meanwhile, everyone else in the family did do things during the week. Noah was invited to be a member of the National Junior Honor Society.  I spent the week onboarding two new hires underneath me.  Rachel finished up her last week of work before spring break.

The boys are upstairs playing Playstation.  Rachel and I will sit down in a bit.

Until next time...