We Survived Softball Season!

Lily, Amara, and their friend, Madi

 Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE watching my kids play softball, but this softball season was a bit rough on Steve and I.  We enjoyed seeing our girls in action, and seeing them improve and do amazing things.  It was just hard having games 4 nights a week (on top of cooking class, activity days, and my presidency meetings and visits, it really stretched us), in the months of April and May, some after dark, most in the COLD and wind, and some in the rain.  I was prepared every game with a coat, beanie, scarf, winter gloves, fleece blankets, lawn chairs, and an umbrella... and I was STILL COLD!  I felt bad for my girls when they'd come up to me after a game and tell me their fingers were freezing!  But a few games (a few!) had sunny skies and those were THE BEST!

Amara and Lily were in different leagues.  Amara was in a coach pitch league, and Lily was in a full-on fast pitch league (I didn't know that I had signed her up for that.  She's never even played before, and I threw her into the "big leagues.").

 Amara's games were entertaining in the way that the kids in the field would just stand there, or play with the grass instead of trying to catch the ball.  As the season progressed, the kids started to get the hang of things, and Amara even caught a fly ball, which was HUGE since she was afraid of the ball for most of the season.

She was the fastest runner on her team.  I called her, "Miss Lightning Legs!"  And she was a good hitter (and her coach was a good pitcher!)


Lily had 3 coaches that really worked with their team before each game to teach them some basics.  Lily got the nickname, "Golden Glove," and played 3rd, shortstop, and left field.

She was incredibly uneasy about playing softball, but since it was part of the homeschool curriculum that I signed us up for, she didn't have much of a choice.  On her first time up to bat, she got hit by the ball on the arm.  When it happened I thought she'd be in tears after the game, never wanting to play again.   She surprised me.  She took her base and didn't seem phased by it much.  After the game, I asked her about it and she told me that it didn't really hurt (thank goodness!).

 By the end of her season, she was a swinging pro!  She has a better swing than I do!  She can really get that bat to cut through the air.  One game she was up to bat 3 times, and got a hit every time.  She was on fire that game!

My mom made it to every game she could, and both the girls loved it when she would get out there and give them pointers on how to play the game.

I'm glad we survived.  Through it all, there were lots of good memories made and time spent together as a family, something I value most heavily.

Amara's last game, sun in our eyes ;)

Amara and her coach, J.R. Gates