The game of his life.

CAL is playing baseball this year. He took last year off, but missed it so much there was no way he was going to sit out another year. It has been a difficult year so far. Our team is pretty good but CAL has yet to "prove" himself.

We have three coaches and they have four kids, and then there are two kids that are no-doubt-about it good, so that only leaves four positions open. CAL has not been able to secure one of those spots.

Friday night we were playing the team that won it all last year. There are four kids on that team that are CAL's friends. He was very nervous about playing. He knew that he would be stuck in the outfield, or worse ride the bench, and then get teased endlessly at school. The age in this league goes from 10 to 12. CAL would be on the older side so riding the bench is just a tad bit humiliating. Then to ride the bench in front of your friends is about the worst thing that can happen to a 12-year-old.

The game started and it was worse than any of us could have thought. CAL was on the bench for the first three innings. The coach started 10-year-olds before him. I had a feeling that he was in the dugout on the verge of tears. I said to the husband that I was glad it was Friday because if it had been a week-day game I would have kept him home from school the next day, these kids would pick on him for weeks about this game.

Finally when CAL came into the game, he went into the outfield. Usually when you think about bad things happening, they are not as bad as you thought. This game was worse. None of us thought that he would sit and then play outfield.

His first at bat and he had two strikes on him. His team was winning 3 to 2 at this point with a man on. My boy gets up to the plate and nails the ball. It was only a few feet short of a homerun (I have not seen a homerun in this league yet). CAL is not a fast runner so he got a double out of it. He also earned a RBI. Now his team is winning 4 to 2.

When it came time to go back on the field CAL was rewarded and played third base. We are now in the top of the sixth. The first ball hit by the other team is a hard shot to third. My boy grabs it like a pro and throws the guy out at first. The team went wild. It was a nice play. The very next play another hard hit ball with a strange bounce. He again snagged it like a pro - looked the runner back to second and then fired the ball to first. The kid was out. No runs scored. The next batter the ball was hit to the first baseman for an easy out. The team rushed CAL he recorded two of the three outs in the sixth and final inning. His team won 6 to 2. I am not even sure how the scored ended up that way. We went from being so depressed - to such a high in just a matter of minutes.

The frustrating thing about baseball is that you cannot take pictures of the big moments. You never know when the ball is going to your kid. I guess that is ok because I would have taken so many of him the other day that I would have had to purchase a micro sd card to handle the thousands of pictures.

It was the best game that CAL has ever played. Today he had a game at 10:30 am. He started at third and played the entire game there. He struck out and flyed out. The ball never came to him once in the field. Strange what a difference a day makes.

I think he proved himself on Friday but in these leagues unless you are a coaches kid, your spot is never secure. We will have to see what happens......