Take Me Out to the Ballgame…

Y’all – I. Can’t. Even.

Nathan’s first t-ball game was Tuesday night, and it was, as predicted, an adventure. We were mostly upbeat going into it, and I even managed to get Nathan to take a nap after school so he wouldn’t be yawning during the game. In hindsight, that was perhaps not the wisest decision, but…live and learn.

The Red Sox took the field for the top of the first inning, and Nathan was in the outfield. At least, that’s where he was supposed to be. He mostly wandered around, at times running, often with neither his glove nor his hat. It was an unmitigated disaster that would have been hilarious if it had been anyone else’s kid.

Even I thought it was a little funny.

My favorite moment was when the coach realized, just a split second after I did, that Nathan was headed for the gap in the outfield fence. They both took off at a sprint, but Coach Brian wasn’t quick enough to catch Nathan before he headed into the woods.

The one and only time he decided to go after a ground ball was when one came sorta-kinda in the vicinity of where he was wreaking havoc. There were already three other kids on it, but no matter! He plunged into the fray, anyway. I didn’t have a clear view of what happened next, but I do know that what had been a ground ball suddenly was in the air and over the outfield fence into the same woods from which Nathan had very recently been retrieved.

Coach Brian is a saint, people. A saint.

I can not begin to describe to you how relieved I was when the bottom of that first inning arrived and it was time for the Red Sox to bat, as I had spent the whole top of the inning alternating between holding my breath and laughing.

Unfortunately, I missed Nathan’s first at bat. 🙁 Sarah Kate’s swim practice ended about the time his game started, and even though the pool complex is within sight of the baseball complex, it wasn’t possible for her to walk over, so I had to go get her. When I got back, he had just scored (well, sort of…go here for the replay). Mrs. Angie, his preschool teacher, came to the game and took video of his hit and base running for me, however, so I got to see how it all went down, including his decision to amble nonchalantly from second to third as if he were just out for an evening stroll.

The top of the second inning went a little better, and then the Red Sox were around the batting order and Nathan was up again.

He knocked it fair on the first swing and took off for first base – for real this time, no detours.

Wisely, the first base coach kept a hand on him until it was time to run again.

And then…he was headed for second. And he made it there, no problem!

Second base is hard, y’all, because there are no adults out there telling him to stay, go, don’t amble, don’t sit down, and so on.

Yes, he sat down on second base.

And when he made it to third he did it again. I have a photo of him about to be picked up by the third base coach that I didn’t post. Stinkus. But then came the moment of truth (a little anticlimactic since he’d already scored once, but for me it was a first): would he run home?

He did run home.

He may have slowed up as he went by the stands (the opposing team’s stands, I might add) to grin at his admirers, and he definitely stopped short of home plate so that he could do what he was instructed to do – “jump on home plate”. But he did it, which was a mighty big improvement over pretty much all of the preseason practices.

When the Red Sox took the field again, Nathan was placed in what I will generously refer to as “right field backing up the first baseman,” but a more accurate description would be “just inside the foul line within earshot of both the first base coach and Mr. Andi,” who was standing at the fence attempting to keep him in check and/or chase him down if needed. Thankfully, no chasing was necessary.

All in all, I’d say his first game did not go as well as we had hoped, but was better than we feared. Bottom line: it’s t-ball and it’s pretty dang funny.

Happy Thursday.