Spring Sports...

I've said many times that fall is my favorite season.  And fall sports are a big part of that.  But this spring season of sports in the Prickett house was the most successful and exciting season to date.

We had 3 sports going on:  volleyball for Hannah and baseball & 7-on-7 football for Mason.

Here's a little rundown of the awesomeness:

Volleyball
Hannah's team (6 girls that have been together for 4-5 seasons and 1 new girl who fit right in and caught on quickly), the Lady Devils, had an amazing season.  They all showed so much growth and improvement:  serving, setting, working the net, and communicating with each other.  Hannah had a super sweet serve, and her team went undefeated for the season.  Then came the playoffs.  Something happened that day...the girls were off their game.  They were making mistakes they hadn't made in months and just weren't the team we were used to seeing.  Somehow, though, they managed to keep it together enough to make it to the championship round.  They were going to be playing the winner of the game right after theirs, so they stuck around to watch.  And HOLY MOLY, those girls were big...and talented...and able to spike!  They demolished the team they were playing, something like 25-5 each round.  Us parents were worried, especially given how the girls had been playing that day.  But the Lady Devils rallied.  They got pumped up and started playing like they had been all season.  That other team was good, but that day, at that time, we were better.  It was a shut out.  Hannah's team won both sets and clinched the 1st place championship title!  Even though they were undefeated, they were the underdogs of that game...and they WON!  It was FANTASTIC!  They remained undefeated for the season, including playoffs.  We are SO proud.

7-on-7
This started out pretty slowly for us.  Mason's team lost their first game, we decided right away that it was boring to watch, and Mason even said that it was boring to play.  But I think it all just took some getting used to.  Coming from tackle football to touch football was a big change.  But as time went on, that first game was the only game they lost.  And as time went on, either the games got more exciting, or we knew more of what to expect...or both.  It was fun!  I guess touch football is still football, which by its very definition is AWESOME!  They ended their season undefeated...well, except for that first game.  They went to the playoffs and continued to kick everyone's butts until they won the championship!  Another champion in the Prickett house!  We are SO proud!

Baseball
Mason was playing baseball at the same time that he was playing 7-on-7.  It made for some hectic weeks getting the kids to and from practices and games each week, but it worked out pretty well.  This was his first season in kid-pitch, and he had it in his mind that he wanted to pitch.  We were a little unsure.  We knew how hard he always is on himself, and we just didn't know if he could handle to pressure.  But that kid would go out there and amaze us every single time he pitched.  He could shake off the bad pitches, block out the crowd, and do what needed to be done.  And when he wasn't pitching, he was playing short stop or second base.  We went from a low of 4th/5th place up to 2nd place by the time the playoffs came along.  We had two games to play that day.  We get there and the games are falling an hour behind.  So we wait.  Then, it's game time, and our boys play great!  There was great pitching, great catching, and great hitting.  Mason even hit a triple! (of course, he ignored the 3rd base coach's sign to stay on 2nd, but whatever)  We won that game, and we moved on to the championship game.  We were playing against a team that was made mostly of Mason's friends from school.  This was the first place team.  This was a team of great pitchers and big hitters.  This was also a team of good sports with parents who were good sports.  It was a heck of a game!  Mason pitched 3 1/2 innings, giving up only 3 runs.  When we were down 8-4, and the bases were loaded, Mason comes up to bat.  He let himself get a full count, and then...BAM!  He hit a GRAND SLAM and tied it up 8-8.  Then, the other team had last bat.  We made it so close, but alas, we lost.  But we couldn't have lost to a better team, and 2nd place ain't too shabby.  We're SO proud!!

To put it simply:  Hannah and Mason are amazing, and they've had the good fortune of playing on amazing teams with other amazing kids.  Sports.  Are.  Awesome....and We.  Are.  Proud.