Just a tremendous experience. I got to meet 3 other DFPers and watched some great ball games. The folks in Normal were exceptional hosts. There were a lot of neat touches like having an announcer for every game and also website updates for all the games every 15 minutes or so. As for the ball, DD's team finished tied for 9th out of 124 teams. it was a pretty special run. in 8 games, DD went 15 for 27 (.556) and hit two homers. One set of fields had permanent fences at 225 feet (very high fences too) and DD had a double that hit the top of the 225 fence in center field. For the first time a college coach actually asked our coach about her and wants DD to attend a future camp or set up a visit or something like that. It's all so new and a little bit exciting.
It was really cool meeting fellow DFPers tghorley, JAD and tommyrobertson. Nice folks! The interesting thing about meeting Tommy is that it was the beginning of our first bracket game. I was sitting in a chair and noticed a "presence" to my left. I looked his way and he pointed to the girl on deck, wearing number 29, and asked if I knew her. Well, yes. Yes I do. So tommy introduced himself. We chatted for about 30 seconds and then we watched DD hit a two run homer. I know, Shameless brag post, but it was pretty cool. Tommy gave me and my wife warm "high fives" and just seemed so genuinely happy for us. It was a moment I won't soom forget.
JAD's team made a nice run. We watched them for an inning or two and realized that one of JAD's players was actually a teammate of my DD at 10U nationals 4 years ago when we lived in Ohio. Such a small world. Tghorley's granddaughter's team went VERY deep, and his granddaughter caught every inning of every game. The poor kid had bruises on top of bruises but she toughed it out, showing tremendous courage. As I mentioned in another post, my guess is that grandpa inspired her.
Hard to believe that the season is over, and even harder to believe that 2014 tryouts are tonight.
It was really cool meeting fellow DFPers tghorley, JAD and tommyrobertson. Nice folks! The interesting thing about meeting Tommy is that it was the beginning of our first bracket game. I was sitting in a chair and noticed a "presence" to my left. I looked his way and he pointed to the girl on deck, wearing number 29, and asked if I knew her. Well, yes. Yes I do. So tommy introduced himself. We chatted for about 30 seconds and then we watched DD hit a two run homer. I know, Shameless brag post, but it was pretty cool. Tommy gave me and my wife warm "high fives" and just seemed so genuinely happy for us. It was a moment I won't soom forget.
JAD's team made a nice run. We watched them for an inning or two and realized that one of JAD's players was actually a teammate of my DD at 10U nationals 4 years ago when we lived in Ohio. Such a small world. Tghorley's granddaughter's team went VERY deep, and his granddaughter caught every inning of every game. The poor kid had bruises on top of bruises but she toughed it out, showing tremendous courage. As I mentioned in another post, my guess is that grandpa inspired her.
Hard to believe that the season is over, and even harder to believe that 2014 tryouts are tonight.