2 Jul 2023 - Final Day of Baseball Tourney

 

Another full day of baseball in Norwalk.  The Game Ready 12U team was in the championship bracket, so they only played one game yesterday and then the next game was noon today, so about 1100 hrs Doreen and I headed south to Norwalk.  Parking was again insane, so we drove east a few blocks and put the big ol brown truck on the street.  She simply won't fit in these parking lots, plus there is a real down side to the parking lots adjacent to the ball fields.  We discussed this yesterday.  Like I said, you usually only make that mistake once.  Well today we heard that familiar sound moments after a well hit foul ball...!  Someone say "Safelite"?

The Game Ready 12U team played very well but lost their first game 1-11 against the Gamers Academy.  With little break they moved to the losers bracket where they could fight back and still take the prize.  They won their second game against the Ballard Baseball Club 12U 13-5.  Again with little break they moved to the championship game and again faced the Gamers Academy and lost 3-6 taking second place overall in the tournament.  Daniel had a great tourney with time behind the plate, some pitching innings, a stint at shortstop, 3rd base and even a few innings in center field.  

Warming up on-deck for an at-bat

And there it goes!

Daniel getting ready to deliver a pitch

Both the first and second place teams get rings (they don't do trophies anymore) and a banner for pictures.

The kids all seemed to have fun and we saw a lot of great hits including a few home runs and a lot of great defensive plays too.  We are so glad we were able to attend the whole tournament and see Daniel play many innings.  Liberty did great as we were able to keep her in the shade most of the time.  

Tomorrow evening  we will enjoy fireworks near Slater IA just north of here with Dan and his family.  Over the next couple days we will be wrapping things up here at the campground and at home in Ankeny and then Wednesday morning 5 Jul we will pull chocks and head northwest to South Sioux City IA where we will camp for five nights.