Evan's April Baseball Tournaments

April came and went rather fast, with lots of rain and cold temps, but we made it work.  Evan's coach ended up having them play in three tournaments the past three weekends in a row and they had their first league game as well.  Their first outdoor tournament came before we even had any outdoor practices.  We did the PG Spring Opener tournament at Canton Sports Center.  There were some good teams in the tournament!  They won 2-1 against the Canton Cardinals (a long-time rival), lost 17-1 to Novi Heat Gold, and lost 11-6 against the Northville Mustangs.  Evan pitched during the Novi game for an inning (none of the kids pitched well that game and the coach had to switch pitchers many times).  Overall, Evan had two hits and two walks for his 6 at-bats.

The following weekend, we were added to a tournament last minute down in Monroe for the SMARTS Spring Fling.  All games got rained out on Saturday, which made Sunday an incredibly long and cold day.  The wind was terrible.  We had to be there for the 10am game, then we had a break to be able to grab lunch out and warm-up, and then we played again at 2pm.  We won both games, which had us as the number one seed going immediately intro bracket play.  We beat the Oakland Reds 4-3 and Dagda 16-0.  We played again at against Dagda (the 4th seed) and they saved their best pitcher for that game.  We somehow lost to them 7-4 and got knocked out of the championship game.  To say the kids were bummed is an understatement.  Evan had 1 hit and 1 walk out of 7 at-bats.  He hit a bunch of ground outs. 

The following week was our first league game against a Hit Dogs team that one of our teammates from last year went to and Evan also knew a few other players from previous years/teams.  Evan was the starting pitcher and pitched almost two innings with 3 strike-outs and 5 ER.  He had two walks and two hits with 4 at-bats.  They won 18-7.  

That weekend the boys played in their first officially scheduled tournament in Garden City, The Kerwin Classic.  We've never played in that tournament before, but it sells out every year and is super popular with the local teams.  We had our first game Friday night during pretty steady rain.  We got 2 innings in and they postponed the game until Sunday morning at 8am.  We were winning 4-2 at that point against another Oakland Reds team (their top team).  Saturday, we played at 10:45am against the Livonia Hawks and it was an intense game 0-0.  The umps made a terrible call against Evan where we should have had a run scored, but they took it back.  Then, the other team said we made an illegal line-up.  Long story short, our coaches forfeited the game causing us to lose 6-0.  We had a game later that day at 5:50pm against LCB Legends and lost 8-4.  We finished out game Sunday morning and ended up losing 14-5.  So, we had a consolation game later that afternoon against Hitmen GCAA and won 13-0.  Evan pitched two innings and did amazing!  He had 6 strike outs against 7 batters!  He was on fire.  Overall, he had 2 hits and 1 walk out of 7 at-bats (not counting the game we forfeit).  

This hasn't been the smoothest start of a season, but I'm hoping it will improve as the season goes on.  We have a ton of games to play!  Evan's not hitting the best that he can right now, but that's baseball.  Slumps are a real thing.  In the meantime, I hope he's having fun and enjoying the time with his team!  He'll get there!

Spring Break 2026: STL!

We made a last minute plan to drive to St. Louis over spring break for 3 nights to be able to take the boys to a Cardinals game and to see the arch.  It was nice to get away for a few days and for the kids to see a place they haven't been to.  Bonus, was that Sean got some driving time on the freeway in Indiana both going and coming home.  We left on Tuesday morning after dropping Luna off at our old neighbors' house.  It was a 7.5 hour drive and we stopped a few times for gas or food, including a stop at a fun gas station called Wallys.  

We got into St. Louis right around check-in time for the hotel, which was good timing.  We could see the Cardinals doing their batting practice from our hotel room, since we opted for a game view room.  We stayed on the 24th floor of the Hilton at the Ballpark.  We got settled in the room and then headed out to Ballpark Village to walk around for a bit and take it all in before going to the game when the gates opened.  The kids weren't successful getting a ball during warm-ups for the Mets and they weren't successful getting one with our seats in front row of the outfield, but we still had fun and the Cardinals won!

Wednesday was a rainy morning.  We got ready and left for a brunch at Roosters, which was tasty!  We decided to go to City Museum because everyone said we had to go there.  It was packed!  I think most of the city had the same idea on a rainy day.  The kids had fun, but I honestly think they were a little too old for it.  We stayed for about two hours and drove over to check out Union Station.  There wasn't a whole lot to do there during the day, but oddly enough, the koi pond was a hit with the kids and feeding the koi fish.  

We went back to the hotel and went up to the rooftop bar to watch the start of the day game at the ballpark.  I was surprised they let the kids up there because it was kind of fancy, but I guess during the day it wasn't very busy.  We decided to walk to a brewery where the kids got smashburgers and chicken sandwiches for dinner.  Scott and I were holding out for a BBQ place right by our hotel on the walk back.  The kids went on to the hotel room on their own, while Scott and I enjoyed dinner just us.  It was really good!  Dare I say...better than the BBQ we had in Kansas City last year?  Sean swam with Scott for a bit and then it was just relaxing in the hotel room to end the night.

On our last full day, Thursday, we woke up and walked to breakfast at a little place where you could order at the front and then take a seat.  It was okay.  Nothing special.  We had tickets to go up the Arch at 11:10am so we spent some time inside the museum and gift shop before it was time to go up.  It was crazy!  There was a little tram that fit 5 people (thankfully it was just us four in our tram) and it took 3.5 minutes to go up.  It was a windy day and you could feel the arch moving a bit.  It felt like walking down the hallway on a cruise in rough waters.  We were given 10 minutes to take pictures and take in the view before going back down.  That was enough for me! 

We drove to Ted Drewes for custard for lunch, which was a nice treat and then opted to go to the St. Louis Zoo (which is free).  I'm so glad we went, even though there was rain in the forecast.  We got lucky and it only misted for a little bit.  And there were tons of animals out and about!  The kids had a good time.  It had been a long time since we had been to a zoo with them.  We went to another brewery to try their beer.  It started pouring while we were there and it was nice to feel a cool breeze coming in the windows while putting our feet up.  The kids played shuffleboard with Scott.  Then it was time to meet my parents at their favorite brewery in St. Louis.  We stayed for a beer and had dinner reservations at Mama's on The Hill (an Italian place).  Pretty sure Evan loved his dinner!  And Sean too!  It was really good.  Back at the hotel we met my parents in the lobby (they were staying at the same hotel) and we played a few rounds of Uno.  

Friday, we woke up and got our stuff together to head home.  It was a smooth drive home and we stopped for lunch at a Chick-Fil-A somewhere in Indiana.  We got home early evening, grabbed Luna, and unpacked.  It was a fun getaway!