The Anticipation was Amazing

March Madness tournament.  First time to have both of the boys playing in the same tournament.  There was so much excitement and anticipation for this one.  We had to make sure Grandpa was coming because we knew we could possibly be in two places at the same time.  We arranged to stay with the Thompson's while we were there.  Then, we awaited our schedules.  I have a bit of a ritual on schedule day.  Russell usually calls me to tell me they are up (this happens 1 week prior to the games).  I take a quick look and call my friend, Roni, so we can discuss the teams and our chances and our times and locations.  It is almost as fun as the tournament itself!  This time I was SO hoping that I could catch 4 games with Stockton and 4 games with Douglas followed by two really exciting championship days.  Russell and I had no idea how we would pick which boy to go with for that day but we would work it out later.

The schedule:

Thursday:
Stockton:  9:00 am    Washington Heritage Park
                   1:00 pm    Washington Heritage Park

Douglas:   9:00 am      Hurricane High School
                  11:00 am    Hurrican High School

Friday:
Stockton: 9:30  am    Hurricane City Complex
                  11:30  am   Hurricane City Complex

Douglas:   11:00  am     Logandale High School
                 3:00  pm    Logandale High School

Championship day for Stockton:  St. George.  Championship for Douglas:  Mesquite.

For those of you that don't know, Logandale is 30 miles south of Mesquite.  Those games were in MST. Very confusing when you leave Utah to change times for Nevada and come back to Utah at the end of the day!  I must say I was a little bummed when I could see that bouncing back and forth between games was just not going to happen.  In my pre-Mason days I would have done anything to make it to as many minutes of a game as I could.  Now, it is just too much for the little guy.  Divide and conquer was now the plan!

Thursday was beautiful.  I sent Mason to Stockton's first game with Russell while I went with Douglas.  I sat next to Roni and we both kept score, something I have been too distracted to do for a few years now!  It was nice to watch an entire game uninterrupted.

Russell arranged to leave Stockton with one of his team mates to have lunch and get back for warm-ups while he scurried on over to Hurricane.  He only missed half of an inning.  Douglas' coach wanted Russell next to him on a bucket to score the game from his IPhone.  There is some valuable information on the IScore app.  So, I chased Mason for that second game.  We jumped back in the car and high-tailed it back to Stockton's second game as a family.  This is when I discovered a great way to use the back of the car for Mason's nap.  The field was right there, the windows were open, the hatch closed so he couldn't fall out. What better way to watch than to plop a chair in front of the car and let Mason snooze. That was the longest nap he took all weekend!

Douglas' team won both of their games on Thursday and Stockton's lost both.  We were floored.  It was really disappointing and surprising but sometimes a good whooping is what you need to work hard and get better.  We headed home that day knowing that Stockton's team was not going to be playing on Saturday but at least Douglas still had a chance.  His toughest games were yet to come.

I got to go with Stockton on Friday while Russell made the hour drive to tiny little Logandale, NV.  He carpooled in our big car and our friends let me take their little Honda.  The high for the day was supposed to be 64.  Little did I know that Hurricane, Utah would live up to it's name that day.  The wind gusts were 40-50 mph and it was freezing!  Mason was so bugged by it that he huddled under a blanket on my lap and fell asleep at 10:00.  Dirt was in our eyes, tumbleweeds were rolling and I was so miserable.  The boys were freezing too.  It was rough conditions to play in for games that didn't matter much, except to salvage a little team pride.  Between games Stockton sat in the car to eat his peanut butter sandwich.  I joined him with Mason and Noah Thompson, Stockton's friend who got to miss school to enjoy the lovely day!  The car is where I stayed for the second game.  I had already been wind slapped for 2 hours and I just couldn't take anymore.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a DVD player like I have in my own car, I didn't have much space and I was concerned about sticky little hands all over the place.   It was a LONG two hours to say the least.  My dad sat behind the backstop, peeking his head out from behind a blanket and I would call him if I didn't understand a play.  Stockton had a great hit to centerfield but I couldn't see where it landed because of my obstructed view.  

Yep, that is Stockton up to bat. Can't you tell!  This is how I watched the entire game only this photo is at least zoomed in!  I had a bit of a crink in my back from bending down to look under that pesky bar!

I have had better baseball days.  Stockton's team won both games.  I don't know how they endured those conditions but I am proud of them for hanging in there!  Douglas' games were an hour late getting started that day and even though I had a brief little thought of making the drive and meeting them, I thought I didn't have it in me and I knew that Mason was done.  We headed to the Thompson's to hang out and wait for the rest of the family who arrived at about 9:00 that night.  Douglas had two really tough games that were close and exciting and they won both of them.  Russell had gotten the best deal that day!

As sad as it was, Stockton losing made it to where our family could be together in Mesquite to cheer Douglas and his team on.  The sun was shining, the winds were light and I was ready for a full day of baseball.  The top 8 teams are left on Saturday to battle it out to the finish.  It takes 3 games to win the championship.  You lose one and you are done.  We were the #2 seed going in allowing only 6 runs to our opponents in the first 4 games combined.  We were in a good place.  Russell started the game with Mason due to my extra long and very eventful Friday with him.  I sat in the bleachers with the game day knot I usually get.  Douglas played second base.  We were flat.

We couldn't get our bats going, (Douglas did have 1 of the 5 base hits of the game and a tagout at 2nd base) we made a few errors (um...Douglas got some credit for that as well) and that gave the Dixie Indians the confidence they needed to overtake us 3-1.  Just like that we were left with a cooler full of drinks and a sunny and empty day ahead.  DRAT!

It was not the tournament I had anticipated.  It was a lot of fun to watch our boys play, we had a great time visiting with our friends, my Aunt Joey and Uncle Paul drove up from Vegas to watch on Saturday and we had a very enjoyable visit and lunch with them and the weather was nice (minus a day in Hurricane!).  But, due to my competitive nature, I was left with a bit of an unsatisfied and empty feeling inside.  We drove home Sunday, exhausted and weary but ready to do it all over again.  Next time we just hope for different results:).