Play ball!

That phrase is what often pops into my head whenever I hear the pledge of allegiance. But it's also what 14 Girdwood kids did this afternoon, at Moriah's Little League game.

Moriah had the option of trying out for Girdwood's majors team but didn't feel ready to move up. So she stayed in minors and is one of the oldest on the team. I think it's great that she'll have another year to hone her skills (definitely improved since last year) and she'll have the chance to be one of the leaders on her team, which has a lot of younger kids this year. She's such a great kid and I can already see that she will shine this year in baseball.

We left babies home with Samuel and Susannah (at their offer!) and Jim and I took Moriah in for the opening game of the season. Because I didn't have two two-year-olds to chase, I was able to be one of the statisticians. If you haven't had the pleasure of keeping tabs on strikes, balls, who got to which base, runs and pitch counts you haven't really experienced a baseball game. It was a lot of fun and it forced me to watch the game with a different perspective. Plus I always knew the score, something I don't usually pay much attention to.

As on most teams, there are stronger players and developing players and Girdwood's team is no different. We had pretty solid pitching, especially from one player who threw a lot of strikes. Moriah was really hoping to pitch but hurt her arm on Thursday on the playground at school. Her coach (and her daddy) wanted to be sure not to hurt it again so he kept her at first.

Moriah got to first base on a walk her first at-bat and hit a solid single her second at-bat. Samuel had just called me so he got an earful of my excited screaming as she hustled to first. I think he heard the 'ping' of the bat when she made contact, too.

Moriah also had a good play at first. The batter hit a grounder to her, she scooped it up and beat him to the bag. A similar opportunity happened later but she missed getting the runner out by a little bit. She was pretty jazzed about her performance over all, and with good reason.

Girdwood ended up winning 7-6. A wonderful start to their short season. Great kids, great weather, great hits, great plays, great game.