Braves Highlights

Our family was kept busy this spring with Jaden and Cody's full baseball schedule. It was such an enjoyable season to watch them play. Both boys demonstrated a much deeper understanding of the game this year and improved remarkably in their abilities. They always tried their hardest but didn't get too down on themselves when they made mistakes. We were so proud of their good sportsmanship and their talent this season as our little Braves!

The Braves team was made up of some cute but crazy and energetic little boys. Many of them, however, were beginning baseball players, so as a team, we weren't the strongest in the league. In fact, many of their initial games were lost by huge margins (like 15-2). The Braves ended with only 2 wins and 1 tie for the season. Still, they seemed to maintain good spirits and definitely progressed quite a bit as the season went on.

Assistant Dads and Coach Josh
Fletcher, Lukas, Jack, Cody, Jesse, Jaden
Caffrey, Korbyn, Beau, Davis, Liam, Jonathan

Cody typically played outfield or shortstop throughout the season. He didn't get a lot of opportunities to field the ball but made some good stops when the ball did come his way. Cody was a batter the team could usually depend on to get a hit. He had a great, strong batting form. He was a SUPER fast runner around the bases and wasn't shy about sliding.

About halfway through the season, Cody expressed interest in trying out catcher. He got accustomed to the position and all the gear during practice. I loved these pics of him catching with Jaden batting!

Cody even tried catching for a few games. The ball from the pitching machine came SO quickly, so the boys playing catcher all had to be so tough. It was quite common for the catchers to be hit by a ball or two during a game. Cody especially did a nice job of throwing the ball cleanly back to the pitcher's mound. We were impressed that he was willing to try out this position!

Here are some videos of Cody in action:

(two singles, a double, then a triple!)

Jaden was the team pitcher for the majority of the games. Since it's a machine pitch league, his primary job was receiving the ball from the catcher and passing it off to the coach running the pitching machine. Also, at this position, Jaden had quite a few hits come his way. He had to learn to field the ball quickly and make a strong throw to 1st. Jaden made some good outs this season with our team's 1st baseman, Jonathan. It was fun watching those two work together.

Jaden was a very consistent hitter for the Braves. He made contact with the ball on most at-bats throughout the season and occasionally even hit the ball past the infield. He definitely had a good eye as a batter!

Many times when Jaden was at bat, he would hit the ball off the very first pitch. Often, Mommy was still struggling to get her camera set onto video mode and missed capturing the action! So unfortunately, I don't have nearly as many videos of Jaden on the field. Both of these videos are of Jaden hitting singles, but the first one includes an RBI (guess who Jaden batted in?!).

After every game, the coach presented a player or two with a game ball to recognize them for a significant game-moment. Both Jaden and Cody were just THRILLED when they received a game ball on the same day for their good hitting. The game ball came after a winning game, so it was especially exciting.

We loved having LOTS of family fans come out to cheer on Jaden and Cody during their season. Grammy and Papa attended nearly every Saturday game, and even cousin Macy and Grandpa and Grandma from out of town were able to be Braves fans in the stands for a game! MKIRN attended a game early on in the season too, but we forgot to take a picture of them that day. Bummer! What a gift it was to have all of this family support.  

And of course, sweet Adley attended nearly every game, even some of the late night ones that lasted until 9:30! Adley especially enjoyed exploring the baseball grounds, climbing around under the bleachers, eating a snack in the stands, and playing on the playground. She definitely learned to yell out, "Go Braves!" at the top of her lungs and was very faithful in cheering on her brothers when they were up to bat. I'm pretty sure this girl earned the Most Valuable Fan award of the season!

At the end of the season, we were so honored when both Cody and Jaden were selected to be two of the league All Stars for their division. So even though our season as the Braves came to an end, our baseball adventures would still continue...