All Stars

As the boys' spring baseball season was winding down, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Jaden and Cody had been selected to be All Star players for their league. We didn't even realize that their age level participated in an all-star tournament. Our time at the ball fields was not yet done!

At the end of the regular season, we attended a Little League awards ceremony. All of the winning teams from the season were awarded trophies, and then the All Star players for each level were officially announced. Jaden and Cody, along with two other players from the Braves team, were placed on the Tomball Red team, one of two teams formed to represent our Little League in the 7YO District All Star Tournament.  

Cody and Jaden were quite excited about their Tomball Red hats!

Two of the coaches, including the head coach, selected for the Tomball Red team were actually from our Braves team as well. We were pleased, knowing that our boys would feel very comfortable with these coaches.

After a couple full weeks of practice (3-4 nights a week!), our little All Stars were ready for their first game.

Each of the players wore a unifying Tomball Red hat but then dressed in their regular season uniform. It was fun to see all the different teams represented. 

 Bryce, Diego, Alex, Cody, Max, Jaden, Bentley
Jonathan, Bryson, Korbyn, Nicholas, Eliot, Dylan, Mac

At every game, each player's first name and jersey number was announced on the loudspeakers. It felt pretty professional!

Then, the players had to recite a Little League oath of conduct, which included a line about serving God.

Finally, both teams removed their hats for the national anthem.

Then it was time to play ball! Jaden's most common position was playing pitcher. Cody played outfield, usually center field.

What an exciting change of pace it was to watch these games! In the regular season, our Braves team often struggled to get to even 3 or 4 runs in a whole game. The boys on this All Star team, however, sure knew how to hit! It was so fun to watch this team hit the ball and score run after run. Fielding the ball quickly and making outs still was a bit of a struggle for us, but this was often the case for the other teams at this level too. So, the division rule was that each team could score only 5 runs per inning. Our team frequently hit all 5 runs before getting 3 outs against them. So exciting!

Our boys and their team fought hard at their first game but unfortunately were defeated. Thankfully, the tournament was a double elimination tournament, so we were still alive in the loser's bracket. Tomball Red won Game 2, and our team (plus the energetic parents and fans) was thrilled!

Our favorite game of the tournament was our team's 3rd game. Halfway into the game, things weren't looking too great for Tomball Red. The team wasn't hitting or fielding very well. Heading into the final inning, the team was down 7-10. We weren't feeling too hopeful. Thankfully, though, the final inning allowed for unlimited runs, so we still had a chance to pull out a win. Something happened to flip a switch in our players, and our guys started hitting the ball like crazy. We went through the ENTIRE lineup and nearly everyone got a hit. The team scored 12 stinkin' runs in ONE inning. It was simply remarkable! Our opponents only eked out 1 run to follow up, so we officially had our win. The parents in the stands were all going crazy. We were so proud of our boys!

The boys stayed in the tourney for a few more games after that too, but then finally lost only a couple games shy of the championship. They went on a great run and played so hard! 

End-of-Game Handshake

End-of-Game Coach's Comments

A few video highlights....

Cody- single

Jaden - double

Jaden - single

Jaden - scoring run

We were terrible at taking fan pictures at these games, but we had wonderful family support! Even though the fields were quite a drive from our home, Matt, Kim, Ian, Ryan and Nathan came out to cheer on Jaden and Cody for one game, and Sarah, Andrew, Abby, and Ben supported them for another game. Grammy and Papa drove out for several of the games too. What a wonderful gift of their time. Jaden and Cody were honored to have such large, caring fan clubs!

We ended the Tomball Red experience with a team dinner out. Coach Josh gave each player a baseball that he had cut in half and made into a magnet. He showed the boys the inside of the baseball and reminded them that, while he saw a lot of baseball growth on the outside, what's inside each of them is the part that truly matters. We appreciated Coach Josh's humble example and good leadership throughout the whole season.

The team had one final Tomball Red cheer...

and then enjoyed some playtime together outside.

We were so happy that our boys had this All Star experience. Playing with such talented players was so exciting and rewarding for them. It definitely ended their season on a high note. They're already excited for baseball next spring!