Last CRUSH Tourney--for a while anyway

 Emily's last tournament of the season was October 10, 2015.  We played at William Monroe High School, which to date--is the nicest field they have ever played!  We were all quite impressed, but it was not very warm that day.  In addition, their rules were a bit different and there was no time limit on the games and we ended up being there for over 14 hours!!  It was a mess, but the girls came away with the whole thing.  They won the whole tournament which was really great for them to end the season!!  This is the team with their trophies. 

 Waiting with teammates in between games.

The last prayer of the season.  I have to hand it to Jon.  He always has the girls pray before a game or tournament.  It is quite beautiful to see the girls praying each time.  Saying their prayer in unison with their arms crossed and holding hands with their neighbor.  

Emily is thinking about mixing things up next year and trying some new things.  While she won't give up on softball completely--she likes it too much--once Little League is over this year, she is going to try swim team and continue on in gymnastics and get a little more involved in it. While she is not writing Crush off all together and may end up going back at some point, she is hanging up her blue and orange for a bit.  I am happy and sad all at the same time.  I am hoping this will prevent any burn out--which has not set in at this point, but wondering if it will at some point if she doesn't take a break.  If she tries a few new things, by the time she reaches 8th grade and can try out for JV teams, she may want to take a "swing" at softball again.  Who knows.  Either way, we will support whatever she decides she wants to do.

Emily, you are one of the best kids I know!  You set your mind to something and you do it every time!  To the best of your ability and always do well regardless what you do.  I know your future is bright and you will go far and do lots of things!!  Daddy and I still think you will be an attorney one day.  :)  Whatever you do we will always be proud of you!!!

Crush'n Em

As you have all read, in several posts, Emily plays softball.  She has been with the same team and the same coach for almost 4 years.  Recently, we have thought she was just going through the motions and not really wanting to play anymore.  Turns out, we were wrong.  She was just in a slump for a while.  She had a tournament a few weeks ago and was AWESOME!  Her hitting was solid (however I kept forgetting to take a picture of her when she was up to bat) and her fielding was great as well.  Tournament was great and all the coaches congratulated her on doing so well.  Always so proud of what she can do with a softball!!

 Before each game, Emily's coach has their team cross arms and hold hands while they say the Lord's Prayer.  This sets such a wonderful example for these girls and makes them aware of the relationship they can and should have with God.  All of the assistant coaches and the coach joins in as well.  It is very moving.

Emily often plays 3rd.  Her coach has started working on moving the girls around so that they can try other positions.  Be familiar with the entire game rather than just the one position.  It has been really great as she has tried catcher, 1st, short stop and all of the outfield positions.  It is good for her to see other parts of the game besides just 3rd.

Our small town takes a stand

Each summer, our local volunteer fire department has their lawn party fund raiser.  This past weekend was the time for this year.  The lawn party is similar to a fair, but on a smaller scale.  The MVFD has food booths, games, rides, etc.  It is a three day celebration/fundraiser which also includes a parade and fireworks.  The parade is held less than a mile from our house so we always walk down and watch it go by.  The children enjoy scrambling onto the pavement when each of the entries pass by throwing candy to the children watching.  They always bring home enough candy that we often give some away.  The past two or three years, Emily's softball team has had a "float" in the parade so we have enjoyed watching her go by as well.

Emily is the one in the orange shorts.  We could not find denim ones.

This year the parade was a little different than normal.  There were still the ball teams, the church organizations, the local pageant winners and campaign goers, but there were about 50 additional entries that made me realize my little town is pretty amazing!  There were many entries of vehicles carrying the confederate flag.  With the recent banning of the confederate flag and supposedly what it symbolized, back during the Civil War, has caused an insane banning of a flag that (in my opinion) has come to simply symbolize what it means to be a "good 'ol boy" or a " redneck."  Nothing more.  While I am not one to hang the confederate flag in my yard, I don't think it is necessary to take that right away from those who do.

The row of flags went on and on.  It was so neat!!  We also hit the lawn party on armband night.  And the fireworks are always able to be seen from our front yard.  It is always a fun time!

Crush goes 10U!

Emily started her 3rd year with her Crush softball team this year.  With many of the girls aging out of 8U, they needed to upgrade to a 10U team.

10U is very different than 8U.  The big change has been the team has gone from their coach pitching to them, to kid pitch.  Kids from the teams actually do the pitching. The pitching can be difficult to master.  Some of the kids pitch well, but many of them pitch fast.  Some of them pitch some crazy ones in there.  Emily has been hit with a crazy pitch before.

Emly had a tough time starting out in kid pitch, but after this weekend, she seems to have finally found her groove.  This picture is actually from last weekend.  Crush came in 2nd in their tournament.  They had another tournament yesterday and today, but as a whole did not do as well.  Emily did much better this weekend as she was able to get in some good hits.  Wish the whole team could have done better.  She sure loves this game!!

Last tournament of the year

Emily's Crush team had their last tournament the other weekend.  We were to have another one this upcoming weekend, but several of the teams pulled out so they have cancelled it.  These girls do a great job and were excited to collect their trophies!!



Emily is typically the 3rd baseman, but at this tournament the catcher ended up getting sick and they needed to move kids around.  Her coach put her at catcher for a few innings. She did pretty well for never having tried it before.

 Waiting in line to get their tropies

                              Emily's coach, Jon, presenting
                               her with her trophy.

This particular tournament had various ages of softball teams playing that day.  There was another Crush team we had never seen before.  They were from Northern Virginia.  Two of the girls from that team came over to find the girls that were the same number as they were.  One of them was a number 1.  Emily had her picture taken with her.  It was so neat!!  They even had the same colors.

Emily can Crush it!

 In the Spring of 2013, Emily and Lydia started playing softball.  After their spring season, their coach asked them if they wanted to participate in a travel softball team.  Lydia was kind of done playing softball for the time being, but Emily was very excited to continue playing.  Their coach brought several girls from the various spring teams together to form one travel team.  They are called Crush.  Emily spent part of her first year with Crush playing 2nd base.  About mid season, he switched her to 3rd base.  While all the players could be moved to various positions, she has played 3rd base ever since.  She loves it!  After the first year, a few of the girls aged out of the 8U program so starting this year, she started with several new players.  They have all gelled together nicely and really enjoy playing in the tournaments on different weekends throughout the summer. 

Lydia picked softball back up this past spring, most likely as a result of our convincing, and played with Emily on a different team for the spring.  Crush continued practicing, but picked playing back up after the spring season was over.  We hope she continues to love this sport and wants to play for a long time.  Getting a scholarship to college would be awesome since all three of our kids will be there at the same time!!  :)  No pressure though Emily!!  If you decide to stop, we won't be upset . . . well, too much anyway.  ;)

She is very competitive and think she is a good player.  While she has room to grow--even pros can get better than they are.