Baseball 2017, Done

On Tuesday, the 2017 baseball season officially ended for the Bartis boys.

Sam's season wrapped up in May when his high school JV team finished up their season.  Sam hadn't played baseball in a few years so it was fun to see him back on the field.

Zac's season wrapped up in San Antonio in the semi-finals of a tournament.  As I wrote yesterday, Zac's team isn't select.  They played several local tournaments but we only traveled to two out of town tournaments.  The first one was in College Station and the last day was rained out.  The second one was this past weekend in Austin and San Antonio.

The tournament itself was a bit of a hot mess.  We had to go between Austin and San Antonio.  The fields weren't great.  The boys won their first two games on the first day but then didn't win the next four games on the next two days.

Tuesday was a different story.  They looked great in the first game.  The second game was a nail biter.  They played hard but lost.  But honestly, I was so proud of them.  It was a hard way to end the season but being blown out would have been worse.

This season was not always easy for Zac.  He struggled at the plate.  He put in extra work. Sometimes it showed, other times he still struggled.  My favorite thing he did this year was bunt.  The kid is so fast that he can bunt a dribbler just past home plate and beat it out to get on first base.  It was amazing.  The other team always looked shocked.

Zac also worked hard to learn a new position this season - pitcher.  I was not in favor of this move, I'll be honest.  Baseball is a unique in that it is a team sport but it is also HIGHLY individualized.  That pitcher is out there all alone.  The defense can't help him if he can't get the batter to swing.  It's gut wrenching to watch your kid out there struggling.

Zac got to pitch in this tournament and looked really good.  Until he didn't.  It was progress.  And I was able to watch most of his outing.  Progress for both of us.

I love watching the boys play baseball. But I'm super excited that it's time for my favorite sport - it's officially football season now!