Little League Baseball State Tournament

We left Friday morning and journeyed down to Des Moines for Zach's State Tournament! The first game was scheduled for 6PM on Friday evening against Johnston. We ran into rain about halfway to Des Moines and it rained the rest of the drive there -- needless to say, by 4PM the game was cancelled for the evening and the boys had a free night! Most of them went to the new Jordan Creek Mall and saw Batman -- this movie is 3 1/2 hours long, so by the time they got back to the hotel, it was almost curfew (10:30)! Zach said the movie was okay, but he did start to get bored and tired... he thought it was too long. Brianna wanted to go swimming, so CJ and I sat around the pool with all the other parents of younger children who wanted to swim also!

Later on Friday night, CJ and I went to Ames to pick up my brother, Derek, when he got off work. He wanted to come down and see Zach play, so we went and got him since Ames is only 30 minutes away. Of course, when we got back to the hotel, we stayed up way too late visiting and had a little trouble get up to the alarm when it went off at 7AM!! The hotel had a free breakfast buffet from 8AM - 9AM that was really good! Then we had to get ready and be out at the ball park by 11AM. My sister, Jenny, and her fiancee, Matt, and all the kids came down for the tournament also. They showed up just before the first game started! Zach's Morningside team played Indianola for the first game and won 4 - 1. Zach did an awesome job at 1st base, and he batted a double and a single when he went up to bat! Morningside played Dubuque for the second game and won 7-3. Zach played 1st base, then pitched during the last inning! He did a great job at both! My cousin, Amy, came to this game since she only lives about 10 minutes from the ball field! We finally got to meet her boyfriend, Joe... a really nice guy! It was so good to see them and visit while watching the game! Zach kinda remembered who Amy was, but Brianna doesn't remember... this only means we need to get together more often!!

After the game, the team went to Hooters to have a late supper. Derek really enjoyed the waitresses and the service, not to mention the view... if you know what I mean!!! While we were in there eating, it started to downpour... buckets and buckets of rain coming down! When we were leaving to go back to the hotel, the parking lot was such a "raging river" from all the rain coming down that I almost lost my flip flops trying to run!! What a mess! We thought for sure the games for Sunday were going to be cancelled, but when we got up in the morning, we were told the games were still on as scheduled! Surprising, since it rained more on Saturday night than it did all day Friday. I think they didn't want to postpone any more games and have the tournament run into Monday, when most people had to be back to work, etc.

Morningside played their "makeup" game at 10AM Sunday morning against Johnston. We started out really well, keeping them from scoring the first 3 innings and the score was 2-0. It was really hot and humid out there with no breeze whatsoever. By the 4th inning, we started making errors in the outfield and Johnston just took over the game. We ended up losing 11-4. We still made it into the Championship game since we only had one loss! We ended up playing Johnston again for the Championship -- needless to say, Morningside lost 8-4, but it was a really good game! Zach played awesome at 1st base, got a double and finally got his homerun his last time up to bat!! He brought 2 runs in with this homerun! Way to go, Zach!!! Nothing like waiting till the last minute!!! Johnston has a very good ball team... their high school team is ranked #1 in the state and are undefeated this season! So Zach's team didn't feel so bad losing to them! Now baseball season is over for Zach and we were on our way back home while Johnston is on their way to Regionals in Fort Wayne, Indiana!

All in all, it was a great weekend! Saw some really good ball games and spent time with family! Who could ask for more, right??!

Iowa District 6 Champions!

Zach had the All-Star District Championship game last night! What a game!! Both teams were "neck and neck" up to the 6th inning! The score was 1-1 at the end of the 1st inning; 2-2 at the 2nd inning; 3-2 at the bottom of the 3rd, with Morningside (Zach's team!) taking the lead. I had to leave the game when the 4th inning started because I had to take Brianna to her swim lessons. She couldn't miss this night because they were testing over everything she has learned. She had to be there to see if she could pass the class or not. While sitting at swim lessons, my sister Jenny kept me updated with texts and phone calls! The score became 5-4 in the 5th inning, with Morningside still in the lead. Morningside then ran away in the 6th inning with 4 more runs, making the score 9-4. We had "last at bat" so once Headid went up to bat at the top of the 7th inning and didn't score any runs, we had the game won! Zach played really well and got a lot of doubles when he went to bat! I got back to the ball field right after the game was over and we had a meeting about the State Tournament, which starts this Friday in Des Moines! Wish Zach and his team well!! We will update this blog again with the results of the State tournament when we get back!State Bound, Baby!!!!

All-Stars...

Zach's team beat Lawton-Bronson on Sunday night! The final score was 16-4... still no home run from Zach. He did get a single and a double and brought several runs in, though! Since Morningside remained undefeated during this tournament, they will be playing in the Championship game tonight! Three other teams ended up in a 3-way tie for 2nd place (their tournament records were 3-2) so 2nd place was determined by which of these teams gave up the least amount of runs. We will be playing Headid (from Sioux City's northside) for the Championship! Go Morningside!!!

All-Stars Update...

Zach has played two more games since the last All-Stars posting. On Friday night, Morningside (Zach's team) played against Headid (a Sioux City team) and beat them 12-5. Zach struck out once at bat, mostly because the other pitcher was a lot slower than what Zach is used to. He did manage to get a double and a single his next few times at bat. Two of Zach's friends on the team got home runs during this game, but we are still waiting for one from Zach!

Today, Morningside played Northwest (another Sioux City team) and this game was just miserable! We had them 10-runned by the time the 3rd inning started, but we had to play out the whole 5 innings... the final score ended up being 22 - 1. Zach got a single, a walk, and a double -- this last hit looked like it was going to be a home run, but it dropped just inside the fence out in center field! Darn it!!!

Morningside has one game left in this district tournament. Tomorrow night they will play against Lawton-Bronson. Since Morningside is the only team in this tournament that is still undefeated, there is a pretty good chance they will be playing in the Championship game on Wednesday night. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Let's Play Ball!

All-Stars Baseball has finally started for Zach! It was supposed to start last Sunday, July 6th but there was a rain delay due to severe thunderstorms coming through the area. We had a tornado touch down on the north side of Sioux City that afternoon in the Stone State Park area. Rain continued on Monday morning, so all games scheduled for Monday night had to be postponed because the fields were too wet...


Zach had two games last night. The first game was against Hinton... Zach's Morningside team won the game 14 - 2! I don't have any "stats" or details since I didn't get to go to the games. Brianna was home sick with the flu so I stayed home with her! Morningside played their second game against Westside (another Sioux City team) and won this game 18 - 2! Way to go Morningside! Still no home run for Zach, but he did get a triple with two runs batted in!! If this keeps up, we could be looking at a trip to State! Woo-hoo!!!!

Happy 4th of July... Belated, That Is!

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! Ours was pretty "mundane" this year. As some of you know, CJ and I are building a deck on the side of the house. We started on Father's Day and have basically just been working a few hours here and there when we are not running off to a ball game! Since we didn't have to work on the 4th, we decided to spend the day working on the deck.

Brianna's friend, Nichole, invited her out to their cabin out at McCook Lake for the July 4th weekend! McCook Lake is in South Dakota, but is actually only about 6 - 7 miles from home! It is just over the border! They went out Friday morning and spent the night and Brianna came home Saturday night. She had lots of fun and it worked out for us too, since she wasn't bugging us all day while we worked! Zach was home and he helped us out quite a bit, but he also ended up going with the neighbors and shooting off fireworks later in the evening. This was fine with us... we were just glad we didn't ruin the holiday too much for them! They are used to going over to South Dakota and getting fireworks and shooting them all off all night long! When this deck is done, we are going to owe Zach and Brianna some "quality time with mom and dad"! They have been really good about it, though, and we try to let them get involved with building this deck as much as they can so they can say that they built it too!

End of Phillies' Regular Season

The Phillies' regular season ended on July 1st. I know I quit posting "game stats, etc." but it was getting pretty monotonous... I felt like I was just typing the same thing for each game! I will just sum up the season with this post!

Zach had a wonderful pitching season, and he did get a lot of doubles and triples, but no home runs this year! He still has All-Stars, so maybe we can get one out of him then?!

The Phillies ended their season with a record of 20-1. Good job, Phillies!!! They had three games that were shut-outs, and basically almost 10-runned everyone they played. They ended up with the 1st place trophy from the League. The team that came in 2nd place was six games behind the Phillies! Zach's team had some really good players this year! Congratulations, Phillies!!!