From the Heart of Indiana: I Thought Those Days Were Behind Me....

There was a range of years between 1990 and 2002 that we spent our summers traveling throughout Indiana and Illinois with Carrie, Katie, Colleen and Chrissie while they played on various summer softball teams. We lived out of hotel rooms, suitcases and many an iced down cooler, dragging Kelli and Kevin wherever we went. After Chrissie graduated, we got a reprieve. Now, seventeen years after we made that first summer roadtrip with Carrie, we're back on the road again - with Kelli. We left on Friday afternoon for Warsaw, Indiana. The Clay Colonials softball team was entered into a 25-team tournament of high school teams from Indiana and Ohio. We started off with a win on Friday night - home at 10:00 - up at 5:00 a.m. and on the road again at 6:00. We lost our first game on Saturday morning at 8:00, but then again I've never known a team we're associated with to play very well at 8:00 a.m. We played again at noon and at 6:00 - winning both of these games and winning our pool. With yesterday being Father's Day, I told Bob to stay at home and go to church with his children and that I would run Kelli back to Warsaw for her 10:00 a.m. game. By now, pool play has completed and based on our ranking, a single elimination tournament was played all day on Sunday. I actually figured we'd drive over, get beat the first game and be home shortly after lunch. The girls had something else in mind. We 10-run ruled the team from Elkhart in our morning game, beat the defending state champions from Ohio in the 2:00 game, beat the team from Gas City, Indiana 4-3 in the last inning of the 4:00 game after trailing the entire game and ended up facing a very tough Mishawaka team in the championship game at 6:00 last night. We lost the final game 6-1, but we couldn't have been more thrilled or proud of our bunch. Clay's Varsity team won 9 games this past season and the summer team - made up of returning varsity players, three JV players and an incoming FRESHMAN won six games over the weekend. Kelli played right field in the eight games - making some great catches and even throwing out a couple of runners at first base. Throw in some clutch hits, a handful of RBI's and even a couple of stolen bases and it was definately a successful weekend. Her coaches told us that she had really impressed them and that right now, she's high on their list to replace the graduated Varsity outfielder for next year. She knows she'll have to work extra hard to earn it, but she's determined. As we drove to Warsaw yesterday morning and talked about the games played and the day ahead of us with the 90+ degree temperatures, she said something I'll have to remember to put into her scrapbook...."What could be better than spending the weekend with your best friends and playing softball?" I think her older sisters might agree.

Angela Miller and Kelli taking it easy on Saturday - prior to game number 4 of the weekend. Nothing like a little shade and a batbag for a pillow on a HOT day.