Three-Peat!

I haven't blogged about baseball much this year. Probably for many reasons. #1--With two girls under the age of 5 I don't get to as many games and when I do get to the games, I don't get to watch too much of them. I usually try to see Cole hit-but often am told by friends that I just missed him (of course you would think they would have caught on and tried to tell me that Cole was up although when they did try to do that I often missed it anyway). #2--The MO Bandits just didn't have the season that Tom, Cole or I had hoped for. #3--I haven't been blogging to terribly much anyway.

But to our surprise, Tom, Cole, and the rest of the Bandits pulled out a win, when it was needed the most-the Championship for the end of the season tournament. This is the third year in a row that Tom's team has won this championship. I guess it goes to show that the team really does improve each year and by the end they are winning and playing their best baseball.

Cole did amazing (of course I would say, as usual) in the first game of the tournament. He pitched a two hit shutout (for those of you not baseball inclined, this means that he pitched the entire game and only gave up two hits and no runs). He had 8 strikeouts and walked 1. He went two for three at the plate. We laughed because his shot up the middle for a double was when he only swung half way-if he would have had a full swing he would have hit one out.

Since we had a bye the first round and the team we were to play after the first game forfeited, we were granted our second game into the championship game. We dominated this team that during the season beat us. Cole went 4 for 4 during this game at the plate as well. He played first, third, and short stop and did well. I am proud of the Bandits for pulling out the championship win, even though it did delay our vacation by a half a day.

The sad news is that due to lots of circumstances, there will not be a Missouri Bandits baseball team this fall. If your child is in competitive sports, you would understand the Drama that is involved in competitive sports. Our team was no different. Unfortunately, Tom who works so hard for the team, was going to lose some players if we didn't get rid of some players. We decided that it was just best at this time to pursue a better team for Cole. Although we know that all parents think their child is the best, we do feel like we need to push Cole to work up to his potential, something he wasn't getting to do with our players. Fortunately while all the Bandit drama was going on, Cole was able to try out for a 12U AAA team. He played with this team in their World Series over the 4th of July and pitched for him. Again, I may be a little bias, but he did awesome. He struck out 4 batters while he only pitched a few innings. This was the first time Cole pitched to much bigger and better players and he hung! He will be playing with this team who will move up to 13U this fall. We are keeping our options open for the spring, but are hoping that this move will be best for Cole. Tom's a little sad as he will be moving into a father role instead of the coach, but I think it will be best for both daddy and son to have a break away from eachother for a season. Look forward to pictures of the KC Elite this fall!