Advice for every parent and player out there.

[Rambler34]

Soak it up. Not just the good times but the challenges as well. I know this has been said many many times but do not take a day for granted. DD is a senior this season and she is winding down her HS career. Last week at regionals we were 6 outs from watching her play in HS for the last time before they scored 3 runs to win 3-2. It hit me hard knowing it is the top of the 6th and we are down 2 runs wondering what her mom or I could say to help ease a little of the pain. She is going to be playing in college next fall but still HS softball is almost over with the state tourney this weekend.

Her senior teamates include 4 girls she played with in 6U at our park. The 5th came over as a freshman but DD knew her from TB before she transferred in. This Friday or Saturday will be the last time these girls walk off of a field together for the rest of their lives. Since DD has known them for so long we have also known the parents just as long. I coached the girls and coached with some of the parents. I went to school with one of them myself. Regardless of the excitment about DD's future this is an end to an era.

For me this is a week of memories. Through 6 years of playing varsity I have been sitting to the side watching as she cried her eyes out and told the Seniors goodbye after our final game. Not its our turn to say goodbye and it is going to be a lot tougher than I ever imagined. I know it's not the end of her journey but just closing on chapter to write another. She will walk into an amazing situation where she has played with about 8 kids at some point in her life so it will still feel like school ball or TB for us but damn I am going to miss watching my kid play for our HS.

 

[nixxy311]

I can't even imagine and DD still has 2 years left.
We've been with a core group of girls since t-ball and I can't imagine not being with those same girls and parents.

Good luck to your daughter!

 

[Tide_will_Roll]

Thanks for sharing. Good luck to your daughter and her friends.

Despite it ending, it sounds great to have had a stable situation where the girls can make friend, play together for so long and thrive.

We have the beginning of what you have described in our travel ball team. That said. It looks likely to end at the end of this season because the individual running the team is an egoistic and would allow it to be blown up before any changes would be allowed to be made to how it is run.

The good news is, almost half will play of the same high school team together. There is that to look forward to for them.

I wish you, your family and your friends well.

 

[Strike2]

Even worse, the last game played for most is a loss, and the last at-bat is an out.

 

[_MIA_]

Even worse, the last game played for most is a loss, and the last at-bat is an out.

Teddy Ballgame for the win (actually they probably lost since they finished 32 games out of first place in 1960 )

 

[sluggers]

Teddy Ballgame for the win (actually they probably lost since they finished 32 games out of first place in 1960 )

John Updike's article about Williams' last at-bat. Updike and his wife had a fight, so Updike went out for a walk. He walked by Fenway, and decided on a whim to go to the game. Updike's article was groundbreaking at the time for sports writing. It has become an over-used template for Sport's Illustrated and ESPN Sports Center.

Boston Fans Bid Kid Adieu

From 1960: John Updike watches Ted Williams’s last game with the Boston Red Sox, at Fenway Park.

www.newyorker.com