Detroit Tigers Bark in the Park!

For Nana's birthday this year we bought her tickets to Bark in the Park and went with her.  We have wanted to do that event for so long, but Bailey would have never handled all those dogs and we just haven't been able to coordinate going with Luna.  It was so much fun and I'm glad we went!  It was supposed to rain, but the rain ended up holding off and we stayed warm.  The Tigers played the Red Sox.

 We arrived an hour before game time and I'm glad we did because they had all these booths set up with giveaways for the dogs.  We were only allowed in the 200 section with dogs, but there was plenty of space to walk around and plenty to do. The kids stayed down by the dugout and by the bullpen during warm ups and Sean caught a ball from a Red Sox player.  They met back up with us just as the game started and we got situated in our seats.  

It was a great game!  We stayed until the start of the 9th inning and listened to the rest of the game driving home.  They ended up going into extra innings, but we made it home in time to see the game on TV and to see the Tigers win!  

Luna and Shelby both did a great job!  I'd take Luna again to one of these in a heartbeat.  And look at all the free stuff we got!

Evan's Legacy Silver Slam Tournament

 Last weekend Evan's team played in Brighton at Legacy Center and two other locations for another tournament.  They had a game Friday evening against the Howell Highlanders and won 11-4.  One of Evan's teammates hit an over-the-fence homerun, which was really exciting to see!  It was such a warm evening, which was appreciated after many cold games we've sat at this spring.

Saturday they had a game at noon at an elementary school against Lake Orion Crush.  We should have won, but they beat us 9-6.  Another teammate hit not one, but two over-the-fence homeruns during this game.  We had a break before our next game and our next game was out in Highland so we found a lunch spot with several teammates and their families that was really good.  

Our game at 4pm was against the Motor City Hit Dogs (a team we've played before and beat) and we won 10-6.  Another over-the-fence home run for the same kid from Friday's game.  So, it was an exciting weekend of hits.  Evan, on the other hand, has gotten into a bit of a batting slump so we hope that improves this weekend.  

Based on seeding, our pool was in a 3-way tie of 2 wins and 1 loss, but we had the better run differential so we got to play in the semi-finals on Sunday at 4pm against Hartland Eagles who had won all of their games.  It was the most intense, but well played game I've ever seen kids play.  They were tied and went into extra innings not once, but twice!  We lost 9-8, but man...it was a good game.  The Eagles went on to win the championship game against the Canton Cardinals 1-0.  

Evan's Cinco de Mayo USSSA Tournament

 

Well, this was not our tournament.  There were a lot of teams in the tournament and we lost all three pool play games on Friday evening and Saturday.  We also had to play former teammates on Friday evening's game, which made it even harder to lose.  

But, we had a fun "cinco de mayo" themed potluck dinner at the ballfield Friday night, which was awesome!  I made shredded taco chicken in the crockpot and others brought taco meat, shells, and all the fixings.  It was quite the spread!

We played the Dbacks Elite on Friday and lost 10-3.  We played USA Prime Michigan Red and lost 6-4 and we played another team (can't find our game info for that on GameChanger) and lost.  So, that was a wrap on that tournament.  Only the top four teams moved on Sunday and it ended up getting rained out.  

Evan's Swing for the Ring Tournament

Toward the end of April Evan's team did another add-on tournament in Westland.  There were 4 other teams in the tournament and they had a really strange bracket set up instead of the usual pool play.  He had a game on Saturday morning at 8am, but because of rain the night before they pushed the game back to 9.  They played the Oakland Reds and I don't know what our deal was, but we played like crap.  They lost 13-3.  They had another game at noon against the Westland Wolves.  Boy did they come back with a vengeance.  They won 13-0!  Because of that win, they played again right after at 2pm against the Lincoln Park Rails and beat them 17-5.  

Sunday we had to crawl our way back up the bracket starting with another 8am game.  We played the Westland Wolves again and beat them 15-7.  We then played the Southwest Aztecs at 10am and beat them 16-5.  We were cooking!  Then it was the championship game at noon against the Oakland Reds again.  It was a very intense game and we were tied 2-2.  Evan came up to bat in the top of the 6th with bases loaded and two outs and hit a beautiful single to drive in two teammates and to take the lead!  It was so exciting.  The bottom of the 6th they only let the Reds score one run and we won 4-3!

There was quite a bit of drama after the game.  Apparently on the bracket on Saturday it showed an "if" game so the other team thought that meant we had a double elimination game and needed to play again at 2pm.  The bracket on Sunday did not have that game on it anymore because it was never intended to be used with a team that won as many games as we did.  We played 6 games, 3 each day back to back and the Oakland Reds only had to play 3 total games.  After a good 20 minutes deliberating with the coaches, umps, and tournament director, they finally declared us champions.  

Evan finally has his first ring!  He's one happy guy! And we are excited for this season to see what else is to come for these boys.