192: Last weekend of softball!

The state tournament started today. So, once again Azia will spending her birthday tomorrow on a softball field! At least this is one of her favorite things to do and she gets to spend it with girls she likes hanging out with.

This is her last weekend of softball and Israel has just one more week. The first of August will be the first time in months we have a few days is a row with nothing scheduled (rather than multiple things in different towns nearly every single day). Hopefully I'll have time to get our lives organized a bit before school starts again.

120: photo day

Took team photos of these crazy girls this afternoon. What a fun bunch.

111: my catcher

 I think it's growing on her...

95: Azia's First Softball Game of the Year!

89: back on the mound

Except girls don't have a mound, but same idea. . .

87: "Hey is my sister in there?"

Azia has been so busy lately–practicing with two softball teams, practicing everyday with a group of sixth graders who are playing in a basketball tournament this weekend, doing a pretty good job keeping up with all her schoolwork and projects. Today she went from school to basketball, to softball, to jiu- jitsu, and then home to work on her movie project.

Now if I could only convince her to fill in annoying band practice time sheets... repetitive paperwork and bookkeeping tasks are not a strong point for any of my children. I do not think they are on a path to being helpful administrative assistants. (Azia's lowest grade is in band because she can't remember to keep the practice log; I think once in September Zoran wrote down time on his reading log.) Clearly these sorts of tasks are not my strength either since I can't seem to follow through on making my children get them done. (My excuses: There are so many of these kids! And so many logs for so many different tasks!) I've compensated for my flightiness in this area by having a job where others will do much of this for me at work...now if only someone would supply an employee to handle all my home office paperwork deadlines.

85: There is so much I love about this picture

A whole line up of 9-10 year old girls outside in the sunshine working at something new--focused on a task that requires them to be strong and smart.

Last year's hometown, all-state pitcher, showing up and volunteering to help out a group a decade younger than herself– not the way every college student spends spring break.

All these little girls with their older siblings' mitts...already a handful of years of experience with the game even through they are just beginning to play themselves.

83: First Practice

Since our field turns into a garbage pit overgrown with weeks over the winter, the first practice is a clean up and weeding sort of occasion. (Clearly they're all excited for the season to begin...and also work much more diligently when I don't have my camera out.)

39: winter batting practice

The Osprey team has cool little batting cages hidden under downtown Missoula (accessible only through the back of a store, with an owner who likes to pretend he has no idea they exist, down a starcaise, and into the basement). It's kind of cool to have somewhere to practice even when it's too frozen to do much outside. I wish our schedule was a little less crazy so we could get down there more often. And I wish our local Mission girls had a pitching machine they could use anywhere....

180: Bozeman Blast

Azia still likes playing a little bit of everything. Mainly she pitches and catches at this point (and jumps back to shortstop occasionally, too). In the next couple years all the girls will probably settle into one position, and I'm kind of curious where she'll end up. Of course it's fun for me to watch her catch, but she doesn't really love it so I doubt she'll end up there. She's loved short stop for the past few years and that meshes well with her liking to cover most of the field, but this year she's decided she really likes pitching. I'm not sure if she's up for putting in all the extra time she'd need to put in to really excel there.

This tournament when they played the really strong Great Falls team her and a couple other of the main infielders moved to the outfield since that's where the entire opposing team was hitting, and we needed strong fielders with good arms out there. And, she loves that too. I hadn't realized before that how stressful it is for me when she's pitching or even catching. She's usually involved in every single play that happens--for good or bad-- and she is still so hard on herself when things don't go perfectly. I think turning her into a center fielder might be good for my relaxation. :)

I do love that she loves the game so much she really doesn't care where she plays. She enjoys every position, and is always ready to play wherever her team needs her. We were talking about what she wanted to do next year for summer league and where the best place to play would be for her while still taking into account everything else the rest our family has going on. When I asked her what she wanted to do she said, "I don't really care. I just want to play." I think it's that sort of attitude that really makes me want to figure out how to make it work for her.

176: camp

Azia had softball camp this week. She stayed and did a short pitching clinic at the end of each day. They showed her a few new pitches, so she has some new things to work on. She has a long way to go to perfect them, but it was nice to have some people who know what they're doing to help her out. 

167: Tournament Hardware!

Not bad at all for their first tournament!

166: FIrst Games!

Their first games! Azia is having a lot of fun playing with this group of girls. I think this team was the right choice for this summer.

149: Indian Tacos!

Azia's summer league team dishing up some Indian tacos! The parents on this team have done an awesome job with fundraising. They already have all their tournament fees paid and have money to order uniforms, too.

140: End of Spring Season!

We had an end of the year BBQ, scrimmage, and mini-awards ceremony for the girls tonight. We had their families play, too.

And the picture that we should have taken, but didn't, was of the whole group of people that showed up to support the girls--the group that has been showing up all season: siblings and parents and step-parents, and grandparents. It's really one of the things that has made this team so much fun.

138: Team

One of my favorite pictures from the season. . . after Jenna's game-winning catch.

This is such a good image for this team this season: always happy and supportive and friends. They've done such a good job together.

136: teamwork

135: poster making

The girls made some posters for this weekend's tournament before practice today.

One table had a very neat, planned approach to designing their poster. The other table was a little more wild... and had no real design or plan.

134: long time no practice

Azia is wearing cowboy boots instead of cleats and greenery has sprouted in our infield.

It's clearly been too long since we practiced. 

130: Batting Cages (for Ahni's Birthday!)

We took the softball team to Missoula to the batting cages after school. (And then most of them headed up to Ahni's house for her birthday part afterwards.)

I'm so impressed with how far they've come in their hitting in just a month. Some of them couldn't hit a ball at all when they started--even just tossed from the coach next to them. Most of them weren't even having trouble hitting these fastballs now.