Take me out to the ball game!

My 5 year old son, Mason had his first t-ball game this week. He was beyond excited. His team is called the Sea Dogs, names after a minor league team from Portland, Maine. He was very excited that the colors were red and blue, his favorites.



I had not been to any practices yet, as my husband loves baseball and has been taking Mason to practice. But I had seen him play in the back yard. I still was not sure what to expect from the game.

It turned out to be the cutest thing I have seen. When the team is on field every single child gets to play. So, 14 little kids out there. They did sort of assign kids to certain positions - the first few innings Mason played short stop - sort of. Then the last half of the game he played pitcher - sort of, as there is no actual pitcher, but he and another player stood just in front of the pitchers mound. The rest of the kids just fill in all over the place. Some look at the sky, some twirl around, some play in the dirt, but they all seem to have fun.

For the first few innings in particular every time a kid on the other team would hit the ball EVERY SINGLE KID would run towards it and basically dog pile on it. In the second part of the game, when Mason and this one little girl teammate who is quite good were in the pitcher spot, they actually would field the ball and throw it to first base. I think they are two of the older ones on the team. Mason is certainly the tallest.

When the team goes up to bat, each inning half of the kids on the team bat. No one gets out. Everyone goes one base. And advances one base per hitter. The last batter basically gets a home run and they all run in.

Here is Mason with his very first at bat:








And then here is one fo the best fielding videos of Mason. During the game, he actually yelled into the stands these comments: "I got the ball! Woo Who!" and my favorite, "raise you hand if you think I am cool"!!