Last Little League games

It was a month ago now, and my memories are rusty. But I took notes, planning to write about it one day. And that day is now, since tomorrow Jack will probably have his first post-Little League baseball games. So I've got to get this down before it slips away.

Most of Jack's final Little League summer was played at different, larger fields. Some of the kids at age 12-13 are just too big. Lots of home runs, and then you want to give the kids the opportunity to lead and steal bases. So Lyon Park, where all of his home Little League games up until this season were played, was mostly silent. We missed it.

But we scheduled games there the last Saturday and Sunday of the summer season. Not ones that counted in our League standings. And neither team was particularly strong. But everyone needed those games, if only so we could say goodbye.

It rained Saturday morning. It really looked like we might not play at all, which would have hurt. But the rain stopped, the fields were OK. Kids arrived and jogged out to right field to have a warmup throw and catch. Like always.

At the start of the game, kids clamored around Coach Pete. "Who's starting? Am I starting?" Everyone wanted to know, everyone wanted in. "Jack's starting," said Pete, like he'd decided it right there. Maybe he did.

Jack pitched shockingly well. As in, he gave up a double down the line on the first pitch and then proceeded to get 3 outs with just 3 pitches. More of the same in the second inning, though a few more pitches in striking out two. The last one was on some kind of off-speed pitch. Curve ball? I didn't know anyone had taught him one. I asked him about it later. He said, I just threw the ball slower.

He had another 1-2-3 third inning, came off the mound with a big smile; as happy as I'd ever seen him. Slapping high fives with teammates and grinning. Not sad because it was ending, to quote Dr. Seuss. Happy because it happened.

Had a nice hit in the game, too, and the Pirates won big. We stayed a for a bit to watch the younger Pirates team play.

On Sunday, the Pirates stomped another opponent. Half the team, it seemed, hit home runs. Saying goodbye to the park they'd played at for years. When the game ended, we really said goodbye. Barbecue, cupcakes, kids running around and playing. Then we had a parents versus kids wiffle ball game, something we'd never done before. It was a beautiful, perfect day. In every way.

There was a little more Little League baseball. Went down to Myrtle Beach and played a tournament against some really good teams. Were competitive, but not the best team there and lost our first playoff game. And that was it.

But even then there were moments. Like the pelting rain delay that interrupted the game. Kids forgot that it was a close, tight game and remembered they were kids. They ran the bases in the pouring rain, set up a bowling alley with paper cups and baseballs, got soaked, went back to rooms, changed into different clothes entirely before we could finish the game. That rain delay might be one of my main memories of the Myrtle Beach experience. Kids running around having fun.

At the post-game huddle, I was remembering something that Coach Pete had said to the kids a year or two earlier, at the beginning of the season. These will always be your teammates. Whatever baseball comes next, whatever happens in your life. These will always be your teammates.

I miss it, but I remember that, too. Little league games are over, and they will be missed. But baseball isn't, and neither are teammates. And neither are memories, like the one of Jack's huge, happy grin when he came off the Lyon Park mound for the last time.