As I continue to track the Yankee’s run to October, we’ve started a little run of our own.  Ry started baseball as part of Southington’s Fall Ball season.  If you’ll recall, last Spring Ry was heavily engaged in battles on the T-ball diamond.  He was continually hammering the ball just short of 2nd base, nearly once in every ten at bats.  For the first month, before they switched to coach-pitch ball, Ry had a 1.0 batting average off the T!!!  He was a monster.

This year, the league combined 6, 7 and 8 year olds into one team.  The “older” 8 year olds are actually PITCHING!  Watching Ry in his first round of games this weekend, I had no idea what to expect.  I knew, though, that after watching him go 6-36 last year against Coach Tom, this wasn’t going to be good.  Turns out I was wrong!  In four at bats he went 0-2 with 2 walks and 1 run scored.  Hey… a run is a run… and my little man is learning to enjoy the game.

The thing I’ll say the most is how impressed I am with the kids.  For all of the anti-bullying campaigns we’re running, I think the best way to defend against bullying might be through sports.  As long as there are responsible, caring adults, teaching the kids the love of the game and the love of a team, that’s all we need.  On Ry’s first strike out, he went back to the dugout confused.  T-ball didn’t have strikeouts.  His teammates patted him on the helmet.  One kid said, “Hey Ry, way to get up the pitch count.”  Another young boy went over to Ry and said, “Hey, you strike out more than you don’t…that’s baseball” Yup, that’s baseball…and my little man is growing up faster than an 8 year old’s 20 mile per hour fastball!