Gabriel's pitching debut

Gabriel really wants to pitch for his baseball team, so we spent some time practicing, and then I told his coach that he was ready to give it a try.  His coach is great and lets any kid who wants to try get a chance at least once, so he ended up putting Gabriel in during the second inning of the next game.  At this age (7-8 year olds), many of the two kid-pitch innings end with five runs being walked in, but Gabriel did an outstanding job and struck out the first two players, then walked the next two, then struck out the third!  I was so proud of him that I had to share it!

As he was walking off the field, everyone was congratulating him, and when he got over to me, I gave him a big hug and told him he did a great job.  And then he said, "Thanks to you, Mom."  What a reward for the hour or so that I spent practicing with him!  I don't know that I am worthy of that credit since he is the one who worked so hard, but I sure am glad that I took the time to practice with him since it meant that much to him.

(Unfortunately I didn't know he was going to be pitching that game so I didn't bring the camera, but here are a few other pictures of him playing.  Hopefully I'll be able to get one of him pitching sometime this season.)