Best & Worst Tournament

Ok Allison here you go...some reading material for tonight...she is working graveyard and both times I talked to her today she was on me about getting this post done...it has taken forever because we have been unpacking all day and I knew with all the pictures this would take forever.

I think I already blogged about Friday night...at this point I can't even remember...so this is all about Saturday....the longest day ever and let me tell ya...it was full of drama!!! We were at the field from 10am until 9:30pm (Duffer was actually there at 8:30 to work the gate) so you can imagine how many pictures I took...203 to be exact! There were so many pictures I wanted to post but just didn't have time to.

We played our first game at 10:45...on the way to the game Davis and I had a "long" talk. I have disliked everything about the way our coaches have handled this tournament from the "invitational only" so no teams came that could beat us would attend, to changing the rules halfway thru the weekend, to downright just not knowing what in the heck they are doing! My talk with Davis was about all of this and about how wrong it was for our team to add 2 ten-year-olds (the coach's oldest son and his friend) when we were playing 8 year olds. What made me the most upset about this fact was that they put them (the 10 yr olds) in the infield and put players like Davis in the outfield! I told Davis that I "thought" he was put in right field (where he has never ever played) as punishment for missing practice Thursday...after I went and said that he was the starting pitcher!

Now anyone who knows me knows that I have never claimed that Davis is the best player on the team, or any team he has been on. BUT Davis is one of only 3 players who have played competitive baseball before and fundamentally he is better than the others (and this was told to me by the other parents not my opinion). That is solely due to his awesome coaches from last year who knew the game.

This will let you get a mental picture a little better...so I mentioned he was the starting pitcher for our first game. The first inning he struck out the first 2 batters and then the 3rd one hit a pop up that Davis ran all the way to the foul line and caught...so he got all 3 outs. Second inning...he struck out all 3 batters. So what do they do 3rd inning...they stick Davis back in the outfield and have the inexperienced players in the infield who made error after error.

The result...we barely won 8-6 and trust me when I say it was a miracle. Basically our head coach has quit 3 teams in the past 3 years because his son didn't get put in the infield so this team is just so he can play second base...now he is left handed and do you know any pro baseball team that has a left handed player on 2nd base???? Enough said...

So here is Davis pitching during the first game...loved his expression....

We had a break and didn't play until 4:30 but we had the Home Run Derby and Base Burgler at 2 so the following picture shows where my kids spent the most time...concession stand. You can see Bo, Keagan, Duffer, Jett and Rylee headed there.

Rylee insisted on having her own water and she dumped the first one all over her and then also spilled the second one! Shew....the things we do to keep our kids from throwing fits out in public. ;)
This was still in the first game...Davis was getting ready to bat and warming up.

I thought this was awesome...it was Cole getting a lead off 3rd and the pitcher trying to get him out so he ran back.

Jett was getting wore down but then some of his friends arrived and he played the entire time we were there!

This picture says it all - it was a BEAUTIFUL day...and I did NO editing to this...the sky was really that blue and it was HOT! We all got sunburned. This is Bo and Duffer doing a little bickering...not with each other but about all the drama...Bo was dealing with some of his own with his team.

Aunt Katheryn was a real trooper. She came to Friday night's game and stayed all day on Saturday too.

Here is my sweet princess loving on her daddy.

Okay so now it was time for the two contests...For each one they gave away a brand new bicycle. Davis was the first one to go so I couldn't get my camera out and ready quick enough. Davis ended up being the 3rd fastest in Base Burgler so here he is watching the others go to see if anyone beats him.
Tyler ended up beating Davis by one second! He and Davis are friends...they are both in the same learning center at school but play on different teams. Duffer went to high school with Tyler's mom and they live very close to Cindy too so we see a lot of them.

Next...the Home Run Derby. You had the option of pitching machine or someone pitching to you. Davis chose for Duffer to pitch to him.

Getting ready...

Davis didn't hit it over the fence any...but he hit it the closest for the longest time. Only 2 boys hit it over the fence.

Goofing off eating sunflower seeds watching the game before us.

Duffer was getting Jett for making so many goofy faces when I was trying to take pictures.

It took FOREVER to get this shot...Rylee has gotten so stubborn when it comes to just looking at the camera and smiling!

I brought Jett in to get Rylee to smile because I knew he would smile...it worked because she smiled but still didn't look at the camera.

Me and my wonderful ball player...he did really well this weekend despite the lack of coaching going on.

Duffer and Katheryn
I took this self portrait not knowing that Jett had snuck in behind us! ha ha It turned out well I thought.
Davis and Storm resting in the shade before their last game began.

Duffer ran to the store and took Rylee with him in hopes that she would fall asleep...it didn't work. Here they were driving to my car to get her car seat because Duffer had taken his out for some reason.

This is what Jett was doing to occupy himself...they were playing that game where you try to knock the other one off and considering Jett was the smallest one, he fell off each time! Check out the dude with the mohawk...there were 3 little boys sporting this style. Here is Jett going down...

The boys found a way to cool off...in front of a fan.

So what do little ones do to entertain themselves when at the field all day??? Play in the dirt of course! Here are J.D., Bella and Rylee getting as dirty as they possibly can...this is how Rylee got dirt in her eyes on Friday night when they were all in this pit kicking dirt up in the air!

Look at little chunk...Cooper...he burned up all day. Luckily Tucker's team played far enough apart that they went home in between games.

So why was I so mad...the second game they had Davis in the outfield again...we were losing and they put our worst pitcher in. Okay do they even think about what they are doing???? I was livid and ranted and raved over by the dugout...and trust me when I say that I usually never say a word that includes cheering. Last year the girls fussed and fussed at me for not being loud and doing the chants they did. So you know for me to say anything at all...especially fussing...I had to be pretty mad.

It was so bad that one of the dad's went to get Duffer to calm me down because I almost yanked Davis off the field just so they would have to forfeit. The bad pitcher that they put in doesn't even know how to pitch...he balks every pitch. If the opposing coach wanted to call that on us he could so I try to go explain this to Chester and Danny (our coaches). They try to tell me "no that is just his windup" so I snap back at them and say "Oh really? And that is why the umpires called him out for it last weekend in that tournament???" I mean they seriously have no clue what they are doing!!! All they care about is their sons having the prime positions whether they are good players or not. They heard all my ranting near the end and moved Davis to shortstop but it was way too late by then.

So the outcome...Davis played his last game for them last night. (We were out of the tournament anyway when we lost but Duffer and I were still suppose to go today to help...do you think we did...no way!) They have a tournament in 2 weeks and we will not be at anything else. We are DONE! Not that I promote quitting...I certainly don't...but I also refuse to help this team in any way whether it be Duffer and me doing fund raisers or Davis pitching awesome innings and helping them win. They don't deserve anything because winning requires hard work and dedication and not just coaching a team to have your son play a certain spot. Duffer doesn't even do that with Jett's tball team...last year he spent the entire year in the outfield and this year he has him playing the pitcher's mound because he is good at it...granted there are days when he isn't and he moves him! I mean the other parents don't come to watch the kids get special treatment.

I have kept my mouth shut all season...except for on here - I made it very clear we were not happy with this team...but I refuse to continue to run my butt off getting Davis to 3 practices a week and 4 games each weekend for people who are in it for the wrong reasons. Davis has learned absolutely nothing this year, they do nothing during practice except hit to the boys and I am just over it. Last year Davis won 3 trophies in tournaments because they were a decent team...this year they haven't even made it close to getting one....even in our own tournament that was rigged for us to win.

Davis was upset but he is okay now. Eastman league starts on Tuesday and there are only 6 more weeks left of competitive baseball at this point anyway. I can't wait until the coaches call wondering where he is though because they will be screwed in the next tournament...Davis is the most consistent pitcher they have...or should I say had. Also we are signing Davis up with a pitching and hitting coach...it is rather pricey but hey if it lands him a scholarship in the future then I am all for it! :o)

So after the game...we stayed for the one after us to watch Tucker play and Daniel's team play (with all of Bo's drama with Tucker's team they also quit after yesterday)...since it was our anniversary we went to Cheddar's to eat supper. Kat went with us and I guess we were all just too tired because the kids were horrible!!! They cried, whined, wouldn't eat well, it was not enjoyable at all. I politely asked Duffer that on our next anniversary could we please go without kids??? ;-)

We didn't get home until 11:30pm and then Rylee and I both woke up sick in the middle of the night due to our allergies. We both got up and took medicine and after about an hour finally fell back asleep. I didn't attempt to wake us up for church because I knew the kids needed rest and we planned to do so much unpacking...the garage is almost in order and more pictures are now hung up but I still have about 15 boxes to unpack. The laundry is now caught up and I am getting ready to put up the last of it...if I ever get off this computer...hee hee. We have practically killed ourselves today getting this stuff done because we are going over to our friend's house tomorrow to swim and cookout for Memorial Day.

A couple more things to mention...poor Rylee has had a rough weekend. I think I mentioned before that she burned her hand badly on the stove when I made cookies on Friday night. Well yesterday at the field she got a splinter in the blister!!! Can you say OUCH???? It was bad...then today she got her fingers in the hinges of the door and pinched them! She is definitely a mini-me...ha ha ha! I just wish she would get over this croup...it almost seems a tad bit worse.

While Rylee took a nap, the rest of us played a game of baseball outside. It was so fun...and I guess it drew some attention. I went in when Rylee woke up and then walked out to go to the tanning bed and there were about 5 kids out there playing with Davis and Jett! That tickled me so much because it has taken 10 years to live near kids their age. When we were beside my dad we had no neighbors and the ones that were close didn't have kids. Then we lived in Cooks Valley but never saw any kids out around us. There were some in the apartment but I was never comfortable with my kids playing outside without me so they never got to play with them. I think we are really going to like it here...Duffer even mentioned us considering Davis going to South because Daniel was explaining to us how the DB baseball coach has ran off so many good players. He was going to send his boys to DB but not unless the coach is gone. My grandma says they are all trying to get rid of him and he is retirement age so you never know what will happen by the time Davis gets there...in 4 years...YIKES...that seems soon! But Davis says he wants to play baseball in high school more than football so we will stick with that.

So that is it...I told you it would be long, Allison! Hopefully this will entertain you for at least 20 minutes or so! :o) I hope everyone has a good holiday tomorrow and stays safe!!