Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Summer Ball

For the past 14 years, summer meant sitting in the stands watching the boys play baseball.   (With the exception of our years in Florida when winter meant sitting in the stands watching the boys play baseball, a confusing concept for an Indiana girl like myself!)

Last year Ben graduated from high school and his years of summer ball came to an end.  Then Andy decided to hang up his baseball shoes and take up golf.  What were Mark and I to do with all this free time?  Our camping chairs, cushions for sitting on the stands and our small cooler all found storage space in our garage.  We reveled in this new found freedom!  But in truth, we missed summer ball.

This summer Ben joined The South Bend Cardinals.  It’s a baseball team of men and college boys who play in a local league purely for the love of the game.  Ben is playing with some of his teammates from high school and a couple of his best friends.  There are no practices during the week, just games on the weekend.  This is great for Ben’s arm (a story I’ll write about later.  It involves a skateboard, two surgeries, a lot of metal and screws and one cadaver bone).  Mark and I have caught a couple of innings but last weekend my parents and I got out our chairs and cooler and enjoyed a Saturday afternoon watching the Cardinals,  and Ben, play. 

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Andy, on the other hand, has found his summer ball mojo in a completely different way.  Last summer my brother-in-law asked Andy to sub in a couple of his wiffle ball league games.  Well, this summer Andy became a starter on The South Bend Sour Wowers Wiffle ball team.  And he is having a blast!  Until Andy joined this team we had no idea how popular wiffle ball really is!  A quick visit to the Sour Wowers website set us straight!  The team clinched the wild card spot and are currently in the playoffs. 

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Might look a little different than what we are used to but it’s summer time……………….PLAY BALL!

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