Game Ball

I mentioned in an earlier post that Billy is playing on the Jr. High baseball team. Not only is he in 6th grade, but he is young for a sixth grader. Most players on the team are 13, 14 and 15. Even some of the sixth graders are 13. Billy is 11! He loves baseball and he wants to play. Today’s game was a little better than the first. We discovered another eighth grader that can pitch reasonably well. Today was his first time and he pitched the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings. He struck out 4 of the first six batters he faced, struck out 3 batters each inning for a total of nine. Looks promising. We lost 16 to 1 but the team learned a lot. The highlight of the afternoon for us was when Billy was awarded a game ball for his “brave performance behind the plate.” Not only did Billy volunteer to catch the fifth inning (he’s never attempted this before), but in the bottom half of the fifth, he was facing a full count with two outs and a man on third. He was hit by a pitch in the chest. He was hurt badly but he will be okay. Anyway, he kept the inning alive and our man on third was able to score on the next play. On the day he had a walk and was hit by a pitch. For the season he is 0 for 1 with an OBP of 667. Not bad, keep up the good work!