Can You Feel the Sting?

Jackson is playing on a 7U(age 7 & under) select baseball team called the Texas Stingers. This is the first time Lorena has had a select team this young. Because our team is new and rather young our games aren’t going that great, but the boys are having a blast!

Two weekends ago we played a double-header against a Midway team. Those were our first games, and a great learning experience for the boys and the parents. The team we played has been together for a year at least, so they looked awesome! It made us all realize that playing select baseball takes a lot of determination and hard work. Hopefully, our team can stay together and keep a positive attitude!

While Jackson played a baseball game, Cason and Carter played a game of their own; however, their game was a little different from baseball!
I L-O-V-E the hands on the hips!

Last weekend the Stingers played in their first tournament at the Riverbend Complex in Waco, which was an 8U tournament. Seven teams played in our bracket. There were 2 Midway teams, a team from Lufkin, one from Mansfield, one from College Station, and our very own Texas Stingers. Saturday we played our pool games, against the Braves from Mansfield and Texas Thunder from Lufkin, to determine when we would play on Sunday.

Our first game, against the Braves, started off great! We were only down by 1 going into the 2nd inning, and then our little guys fell apart. We ended up getting run-ruled in the 4th inningL Jackson usually plays in the outfield, but this game he played catcher. He had only practiced playing catcher one time (at practice, not a game), so I was nervous. In Jackson’s Little League age group, catcher is really an obsolete position. Some teams did not even have a catcher! There was a coach standing behind the plate to get the balls that the other coach pitched to the batter. If there was a catcher, they didn’t even have to move! So, this was very new for him. I’m pretty sure the umpire retrieved and threw back more balls than Jackson. After the game, Jackson told us the umpire told him not to get up. He did a great job for his first time catching, and looked super cute!

Chris McCloud, the head coach, talked to the boys after their 1st game.

The team talks always end with a huddle and a loud “Texas Stingers.”

No team would be complete without the little brothers to help cheer them on! Cason is on the left and Cage is on the right. Cage comes to every practice and game in full uniform! He is only 3, but could probably play with the big boys!
We played our 2nd game of the day against the Texas Thunder from Lufkin. The boys on that team were twice the size of most of our boys! They had 4 boys that were already 9 years old-we don’t have any. Every ball they hit went in the air to the outfield; until, they started batting left-handed. Even left-handed they hit the ball. Those boys were serious ball players! Needless to say, we were run-ruled in that game too. Thankfully Jackson got a break from catching because it was so hot, and played in right field. Of all the balls hit to the outfield, none of them were hit to right field, so Jackson had an easy game. Luckily, our boys were relentless and wanted to come back to play on Sunday.

The Stingers ended up being the #6 seed team in the tournament, so our next game was against the #3 seed team on Sunday at 11:45am. The Midway team we played the weekend before, which stomped us, was the #7 seed team. Evidently, they lost both of the games they played on Saturday by a larger margin than we did, so they were seeded last. It’s all confusing to me!
On Sunday we played the #3 seed team, which happened to be the Texas Thunder. We all figured it would be replay of Saturday’s game, but the boys had their game faces on, as Cason would say. We still were run-ruled, but the boys played very well! The games on Sunday were single elimination, so we were done. I think the boys learned a lot from that tournament too. We have a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do, but eventually we’ll get there! Our next tournament is the last weekend in July. I can’t wait to see how we do!