they won the championship today.....

today was austen's last baseball game for the summer.  

they played 4 games in a tournament this weekend and won them all.  austen is a very good athlete but like many kids his age, he struggles with confidence sometimes when he plays.  

he can go a few games without a hit or will strike out 2 or 3 times in one game. 

yesterday he had one of those games.  struck out, grounded out, flew out and walked.   

so on the way to today's game, he was very quiet on the car ride there.  don tried to give him a pep talk but i think that made him more nervous.  

as the lead off batter, things didn't get much better for him when he got up to bat...

 his coach tried to boost his confidence

but by the look on austen's face, he didn't have any more luck than daddy did...

with the determination that he pulled from the deepest depths of his being, 

he got up to bat,

planted himself in front of that plate...

got that awesome look of determination that i love to see on his face...

and smacked the living crap out of the ball!!!

all the way down the left field line.

and as luck would have it, a hit like that is a sure confidence booster and ice breaker.

especially when it is a double.  

and you steal third base....

and then slide into home plate head first under the throw on a well placed bunt...

and are called safe.

head first sliding into home is never without its consequences, however, 

and he came up with a face full of dirt.

that ended up mostly in his eyes and mouth...

his teammates and coach were very excited for him...

and a little water helped clean him off.  

the rest of the game was very exciting and the entire team played their hearts out.

dad keeps score. 

they won 5-0.

and they got the big trophy this time...

it was half his size!!!

that one however, was the team trophy...

his was a little more manageable.

after the game we went here

 the coaches treated the boys to ice cream.

and they made sure to let passing cars know that they had won the championship...

and everyone honked!!!

i will miss every one of those boys on his team.  i have never met a greater group of kids. 

and i'll miss their parents as well.   

well done bobcats, 

well done!!!!