Complete Game

Sunday morning, JP's 15U Dawgs played in Gallatin.  I was still in Monteagle and because it would have taken a Herculean effort to get up, pack, and leave the cabin in time to get to Gallatin for the game, I decided to miss it.  Probably a mistake, in hindsight.

What I missed seeing was JP pitch a six inning complete game win, 6 - 1.  Six strikeouts, five hits allowed, one unearned run, and no walks.  No walks!  Only 63 pitches.  He even mixed in a few curve balls.  An impressive outing all the way around.

So far this season for the Dawgs, JP has played catcher, a little infield, and outfield.  He hasn't had a chance to pitch much, certainly not to start.  On the one hand, I had hoped he would get to pitch more than he did in middle school baseball and this summer.  On the other hand, though, a pitcher's arm is, in many ways, a delicate thing, especially for younger boys.  The last thing I want is for JP to get a sore arm from overuse or, alternatively, to get discouraged if he gets pounded by older boys.  

Still, I was hoping he'd get a start, or a change to go long in relief, to show the coach and his teammates what he could do.  JP's been working hard, as always, and takes pitching lessons from a friend of mine's son - Coach Q - who pitched in college.  He's got the heart and mindset - always has, really - to pitch in high leverage situations and to go deep into games.  And that was exactly what he did on Sunday morning.

In my view, his teammates on the Dawgs needed a lift, because the team has been scuffling the past few games.  The day before, in fact, they had lost a couple of games they could have, and probably should have, won.  JP gave them a lift and the team got an easy win.

The kid is pretty amazing, really.  Most mornings, he slips out the door at 6 a.m. and runs by himself, to get his 100 miles in for the summer (the 100-mile club) and to get ready for the fall cross country season.  Today, for example, he ran five miles.  

After his run today and after I made him breakfast, I drove him to work.  Work?  Yep, his first real job.  His second week working at the MBA sports camp for younger boys.  When I dropped him off yesterday, Coach Anderson asked him if wanted to be a camp counselor, as opposed to helping set up camp.  He did, of course, and this week, he has his own group of 1st graders to shepherd around campus.  I'm not sure that he earned a promotion as much as they needed the extra help, but still, Coach Anderson asked JP and he stepped up.

Today, while Joe has an all-star scrimmage baseball game in Franklin and I play law league softball, JP is going to play golf at McCabe's with Abe, a buddy who's leaving for the rest of the summer, for camp. later this week.  

Early morning run.  Work.  Golf. 

That's a pretty good day for a 14 year old boy who is very quickly becoming a young man.

And I'm damn proud to have a front row seat for it all.