Well, my son pitched Tuesday night in first game of championship series (2 out of 3). The team has had a great year. Setting wins record for the league and so have home field advantage. First game was away in WV. 8 hours away from his team and 4 from me. I took advantage of a day off and a work meeting closer to WV and went to see him pitch.
First off he pitched really well, 6.1 innings gave up 1 run, 5 H, 4BB and 4K. Kind of fell apart in 7th, gave up the run, 2H, 2BB and was pulled with one out. Reliever came in and slammed the door with 2 K. Up to that point, my son was cruising. LOVED watching him pitch and compete. Only second time this summer, I have gotten that opportunity. He has had a really good summer in general, low ERA, good WHIP and K/BB ratio. Basically pitched extremely well except one bad outing. Fans for WV were great. In the end, he got the W with 2-1 score.
But as much as I cherished and loved all that, it was basically seeing him that is what the most to me. I panicked a bit Monday evening when I realized I was going to have to get tickets at the stadium vs. order them online (I couldn't print them out, no access to a printer). So I left in time to be there right when the ticket office opened. I did not want to get there and find out they had sold out. I got there an hour and 45 minutes before the game. He knew I was coming to the game. Once I got in the stadium (I was second person to buy tickets
) I just went by the fence to watch his team hit BP. He ran over to me, gave me a big hug and said he was watching for me. THAT meant more to me than anything. We talked baseball both his summer team and college team which he rarely wants to do with me. After the game he was the first one out of dugout, looking for me to give another hug and kiss. Those are the memories I will cherish.
Hasn't always been that way, I coached him for a long time and then helped / pushed him thru the recruiting process that he wasn't ready for until it was almost to late. He felt I was in his business (his words to my wife/his mom). So even last year at college, he rarely talked baseball with me and it was hard on me. I came to the realization that I had to separate Jeremy the baseball player from Jeremy the son. Let the ball player go and love the son.
I have done that pretty well in last 6 -9 months or so and Tuesday night validated to me, that it is working with him as well. He recognizes I love him, not the ballplayer
It was a great night to be a Dad who's son happens to be a very good ball player doing what he loves
