Fall baseball



Andrew decided to play Fall baseball even though at the end of spring season he was struggling with hitting.  He moved up a division and we didn't realize that he would be so concerned about playing with boys that are a year older than he is.  We decided that Danny shouldn't coach his team because it would be better if he could be coached by someone else.  He was excited that the team he got put on was the Giants.  He loves his orange and black.  These pictures are taken from two different games this fall.  Andrew really likes wearing his sunglasses when he plays.  He does not, however, like to play outfield.

 

Even though Danny didn't coach, he was still the 3rd base coach when it didn't conflict with Claire's soccer games.   

 

It was really hot at this game and Claire and Grant had eaten the snacks I brought in the first five minutes.  There was an ice cream man that came by so I had to scrounge $2 in change to pay for these.  

 

Andrew gets really nervous when he bats and thinks that the ball is going to hit him every pitch.  He typically stands pretty far outside the batters box and thus does not often hit the ball.  His coaches as well as Danny have tried working with him on this.

 

Getting their positions from Coach Alex.

 

It took me until almost the last game of the season to remember to take his picture before the game in his uniform. 

 

Pre-game pep talk.

 

Throwing from the outfield.

More hitting troubles, I felt so bad because he wouldn't hit the ball and then he would get mad at himself for not being able to hit it.

 

He also thinks that most of the pitches are balls and not strikes which can be a problem because every once in a while some of the pitchers actually throw strikes.

 

He is pretty good at pitching but he doesn't often volunteer to do it because, again, he doesn't want to be hit with the ball.

 

The coach trying to cheer him up after throwing some balls.

 

Later in the game he did get a hit and get on base.

 

With the move up in divisions, they get to steal bases, so he was able to steal second in this game.

Andrew loves baseball, but I am afraid that his fear of the ball may end his career early.  He hasn't said if he wants to play in the spring or not.  We said that it is okay if he doesn't want to play and that he could do something else if he wanted to.  I wish there was a magic potion to solve this problem.