Baseball!!!

Tonight was Maddie’s first baseball practice. Ben has been working with her this week on catching, throwing, and hitting so she was really excited to get started! We got to the field and, of course, our little Madeline was a bit scared but she got right out there and made a friend – the only other girl on the team.



The first thing they did was get their t-shirts and hats. Maddie is number 3 which Ben was pretty excited about since that was his first baseball number.



Then they picked partners, lined up, and started practicing their catching and throwing. Some of those little boys can definitely chuck a ball! Within the first five minutes Maddie's little friend got hit in the face so she partnered up with someone else. Here she is throwing the ball!



Little Bubba had so much fun watching his big sister practice.







During the throwing and catching practice Maddie wasn’t paying attention to her partner when he threw the ball and she got hit, hard, right in the stomach. She collected herself and went to pick up the ball. Her coach asked her if she was okay and she said yes but Ben and I could both tell she was trying SO hard to not cry. After a minute Ben went over to her to check on her and as soon as he asked her if she was okay she started wailing! Loudly! He took her on his knee and talked to her for a minute…



…and then brought her over to me for a good hug. We explained to her that sometimes in sports people get hurt so she got a drink of water and got right back out there. Such a tough girl (SO far from what she is normally)! Next up was batting practice.



Here’s Maddie playing in the infield and chasing the ball.



After hitting the ball five times the kids were instructed to run down to first base. There was one little boy on the team who, for some reason, thought that he was playing football. As Maddie was running down to first base he felt the need to tackle her. Here he is en route (it’s the boy in the gray shirt).



Maddie went flying in the air and when she hit the ground she looked up at him like, “What the heck are you doing?!?” The boy got reprimanded by the coach and they moved on with practice but when it was that little boy’s turn to bat the coach asked, “Okay, what are we gonna do?” expecting the kids to tell him that they were going to throw the ball to first base but Maddie immediately yelled out, “Beat him up!”

In the end, Maddie had so much fun and is looking forward to her first game on Wednesday! Go Maddie!!!