And Yet, there's more...

Check out that swing, that classic swing.  Eyes on the ball, arms extended, weight shifting forward. That swing turned into a double.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Little League season ended two weeks ago; I've been too emotionally drained to blog about it until now.

  Landon's game was first.  He plays the game the way it should be played; he is attentive and unselfish.  He shows the game the respect it deserves, but with the apparent nonchalance he shows for everything he's not quite comfortable with.  I think Landon's motto for life is  "never let them 

 see you sweat."

Landon had a good game; he fielded his positions well, he got on base every time up, and he slid into home.  Attaboy, Landon!





Miles' game was next, and, at the risk of being understated, he was spectacular!  He played first base one inning and got all three outs.  In another inning, he got the batter out from short stop.  He hit with his typical efficiency.
Late in the game, he hit a ground ball single up the middle.  The next batter hit a ground ball that stayed in the infield.  Miles dashed to second and slid, to avoid being out.
The next batter hit another ground ball that stayed in the infield.  Once again, Miles (the Natural) dashed and slid into third.  Safe!
Miles likes to slide.  He always slides into home, generally unneccessarily.  But his slides into second and third were totally necessary.  I'm tellin' ya, he's a natural.
The next batter singled.  Miles crossed the plate standing up, like he's been there before.

At this point, I was thinking that was a nice way to end the season.
But to my dismay, there was time for another inning.  I'm ashamed to admit I didn't want Miles to get up again; I liked the storybook ending as it was.

Boy, was I wrong.  There was more to come.

That swing, that classic swing pictured above,  occurred during Miles' last at bat of the season.  After taking several pitches, Miles picked one he liked; low and on the outside corner of the plate.  Eyes on the ball, arms extended, wight shifting forward; the crack of the bat was sweet music to my ears, as a viscious line drive whistled into centerfield.  The first base coach told Miles to dig for two.  He practically skipped into second base.  A double; almost unheard of at the Rookie League level.

Now, that's the way to end the season!

Yet, amaysingly, there was more.

Miles played centerfield for the last half of the last inning.  With two outs and runners on first and second, the batter hits an apparent single up the middle.  But wait!  There's Miles playing a shallow center.  He fields the ball flawlessly, catching it before trying to throw it or run with it.  He runs to second base and records the inning ending, season ending out!

Now that's really the way to end the season..............but, you guessed it; there was still more.

After the game, the coach rallied his team together  to congratulate them on a great season, and to hand out the game ball.  I heard some of the players calling out Miles' name.  They thought he was going to get the ball.
They wanted him to get the ball.
The coach talked about a player who always tries his best, always knows what base to cover, what base to throw to.
He talked about a player who always hustles.

Now, I gotta tell you, "hustle" is all about what kind of person you are.  If you are hustling, you are giving  your best effort, you are striving to be the best that you can be.  Baseball skills are taught on the ballfield, giving your best effort is taught at home.
Good parenting, and maybe a dash of good grand parenting.

Miles got the game ball.  The day was clearly his.

But, Landon will no doubt get his turn.  He has a huge advantage.
He has a big brother.