On Saturday, Nate’s baseball team had our third game of the pandemic ten-game season. Which based on my year’s of Snack Shack expertise is exactly the perfect ratio of chips to cheese in Little League scheduling. Unfortunately, the Tigers may need less chips and more days of baseball if we’re going to change the trajectory. It seems fielding isn’t really our thing. And hitting isn’t really our thing. But we’re still having a good time.
James noticed Coach playing catch with Nate during warm-ups. As we neared the end of the game, Coach asked Nate if he wanted to try pitching. He’s been pretty adamant that he’ll pass. I overheard Coach digging for the root cause, “Is it just the pressure?” A slight nod from masked Nate. Coach is a lawyer and clearly trained in the art of persuasion– Nate starts to warm-up, prepping to take the mound.
First batter up knocks it back at him, Nate catches it and makes the play at first. It’s a major confidence booster, but now he’s hopped up on adrenaline. A few more pitches and Coach coaches him to slow down and take some breaths. The other team gets a few strong hits, including a beauty to left field by their biggest guy. On the flip side, their hits could partly be credited to Nate throwing down the middle, and if it comes in fast, it goes back out fast.
It was an exciting end to a pretty slow game. Nate took a risk and put himself out there. And when we got home, Coach texted me: Please tell Nate how proud of him I am for pitching today. He did an outstanding job!
It definitely sparked a little something in Nate. Today he asked me about baseball camp this summer.