JP's HBC baseball team played their last tournament of the summer season in Huntsville over the weekend.  Three games, three losses, including a heartbreaking 3 - 2 defeat on Saturday morning in a game they could - maybe should - have won.  

I missed the tournament because my law league softball tournament was set for the weekend, too.  I hated to miss the tournament but it couldn't be helped.  My softball team was the #1 seed and it's been a few years since we've won the tournament.  We one our first game Saturday morning, handily, are were set to play in the winner's bracket finals on Sunday at noon, only to be rained out after a brief thunderstorm Saturday night.  Bad luck, because we had a full squad for once and that's unlikely to be the case if the tournament is rescheduled to next weekend.  

To his delight, Joe was the batboy, again, for JP's team at the tournament in Huntsville.  To say he enjoyed himself tremendously is an understatement.  What's better for a boy in the 11th summer of his life than to spend the weekend in another city hanging out with your 15 year old brother and his teammates at a baseball tournament?  Nothing.  There is nothing better.

After the boys' lost their season finale 6 - 3 - a game in which JP was the starting pitcher - Joe was distraught that the season was over, according to Jude.  

"It's over, just when it was starting to get fun!" Joe exclaimed, after the game.

I think maybe he's describing his summer, too.  Over, or almost over, just when it was starting to get fun.  The start of school is on Joe's mind, I know, as July turns to August, and the last two weeks of idle time are staring him squarely in the eye.  

JP's summer baseball season was a mixed bag.  He loved playing with his teammates and traveling to tournaments but he didn't play his best.  I think he would tell you that.  His hitting never came around and his fielding - at least at shortstop - was spotty.  He pitched well at times, although not yesterday.  He needs to find a second pitch he can rely on because at his size, travel baseball players can time up a 70 - 75 mph fastball with relative ease.  He never found his curve ball this summer and he didn't have the confidence in his changeup to throw it consistently.

His experience, though, was a positive one and everything I had hoped he would get out of playing for HBC.  A lot of practice.  A higher level of baseball competition.  Good coaching.  Great teammates.  He wants to play for HBC again next season and I hope that works out for him.

What impressed me most about JP's summer baseball season, though, was the way he supposed his teammates when he wasn't playing.  As I've written in this space before, I think, JP was the first player out of the dugout to congratulate his teammates as they left the field after an inning.  He was up, engaged, and watching the game intently and enthusiastically, regardless of the score.  That's leadership and a love of the game, two things I would like to think I've helped instill in him and Joe, too.

As I write this, I'm ensconced at Red Bicycle, a coffee shop in the Nations (West Nashville) on Monday morning.  I dropped JP off at cross country practice at Vaughn's Creek at 7:15 a.m. and I'm due to pick him ups at 9:15 a.m.  After playing baseball all weekend, and pitching yesterday, he'll run eight or nine miles with his teammates on MBA's cross country team this morning.  That's JP.

Joe is off to a second week at Camp Widjiwagen.  This week is going to be busy, as Jude flied to Washington D.C. this morning for a conference she attends every year.  I'll be running transportation every morning an afternoon, so things are going be hectic as I'll be a single parent until Thursday night.  

With fall and the start of school around the corner, I want to enjoy the last two real weeks of summer with Jude and the boys.  It's been a good one.

JP and JK, in a photo I took last weekend.  The "Daily Double" for my Dodgers the last couple of years of the team's existence.  JK at leadoff and JP hitting second.