Lucas's Spring 2012 Tee-ball

Lucas played his first season of tee-ball this spring.  He was lucky to land on the Rangers team (which of course is the most popular team choice around here).  He was unlucky in that the Rangers had the biggest roster of all the teams -- 16 little 3- and 4-year olds.  It was a mess.     

These pictures are from their very first game.  At the start of each game, they lined up to recite the little league pledge. 

Lucas makes a play at second base!  Lucas was the only kid to make any outs on his team.  The other kids would fight each other for the ball and then just hold it up and show everyone that they got it.  They never tried to make any plays.  We were afraid Lucas's skills would actually regress in this league.

Lucas was also one of the big hitters for his team.  The dads (who are always competitive, no matter how sorry the team is) loved him. 

First base had a train whistle embedded in it.  When a runner landed on the base, it would sound off.  The kids loved it!  Lucas is jumping up and down on the base to trigger the whistle. 

 Lucas fielded the ball in this play and winged it home to his coach. 

Lucas finds out the hard way that even if you make an "out" in this league, the runner gets to stay.  He just kept holding his foot on that bag, wondering why the runner was still there, until a dad had to come over and tell him to give it up. 

GAME #2

Playing third base.

Lest those third base pictures deceive you and make you think the other kids played positions, this is what the rest of the infield looked like (see Lucas playing SS, along with several other shortstops):

And this is what the infield looked like after a ball was hit.  Fourteen kids ran for the ball and made a giant pile-on, one kid was invariably playing in the sand (see bottom of photo), and Lucas stayed in his position, every time.  I was so proud of him.  Every game we praised him for being the only kid who stayed in position. 

Overall, Lucas had fun and enjoyed his first baseball experience.  But we will not be returning to the YMCA league.  He'll play regular Little League in the fall.