Last Varsity Start

baseballmomx4,

I'm right there with you.  This is a really hard pill to swallow as a high school parent.  The high school baseball sun is setting on my youngest son.  He did mention the possibility of playing American Legion this summer, so there is hope.  You have college ball to look forward to.  I'm not in that camp, and youngest son is moving onto new things already.  

It looks like I'm going to miss senior day on Thursday as I have a business trip.  Secretly, I'm hoping for rain so they can do it another time.  I know that is selfish, but this is my last rodeo and I really want to be there with him.

Good luck to your son, and enjoy every minute it college.  If you think high school baseball went quick just wait for college.

Fenway, 

I can't even imagine the state I would be in if this was it it. He has college ball to look forward to and a summer season, plus I have 3 younger guys that still play. It's funny that just 12 years ago baseball was not even a part of my life.  I signed my oldest up because all the other kids in the neighborhood were playing. He loved it and the rest is history. Then his younger brothers wanted to be like their older brother and now baseball has taken over my life. I wouldn't have it any other way. The time spent with my boys and the memories made are priceless. 

Good luck to your son, and I hope it rains for you so you can make Senior Day

My son's career ended prematurely due to injury to throwing arm after JR. year in HS and precluded a college option to play.  His younger brother quit baseball for Lacrosse after 8th Grade the same year.  Double whammy.

It was 4 years ago and honestly it is really this year that I feel like watching baseball again the way I used to. 

My son is wrapping-up his Sophomore year (played V) and I'm already wondering where the time went. Especially at Senior Night. I kept thinking that will be us soon.

We'll all be there soon baseballmom!

Have a Junior and freshman.

Seems like yesterday I was coaching them as the DP combination on the 7-8 year old division.

Remember vividly my 6 year old getting a bloody nose on a bad hop.

Stuffed some tissue up it and threw him back out there. LOL!

Hopefully they will continue in college.

Nonetheless I will surely miss it when the time comes.

Hope you have a ton of videos

I still vividly remember my son's final HS game from three years ago.  State quarterfinals.  Up by one going into the bottom of the 7th - three outs away from going to the final four. Starting pitcher is done (~125 pitches).  Reliever in.  A strikeout, a walk and two well placed hits and the season is over.

We wait patiently for him afterwards.  He's the last one out.  Hugs his girlfriend, his Mom and finally me.  I could hear him sobbing quietly.  Told him it's okay - he did his best and college ball (JuCo) is waiting. 

Three years later and his D2 university team has advanced to regionals and hope to break through to the D2 CWS.  It has been a wonderful ride.

Aw, Baseball mom, you're going to have the rest of us in tears too!  Hopefully you can catch lots of his college games next year.  It's hard to believe how fast the years go.  

My son is playing in college....so I've got some more baseball to watch.  A good friend's son is leaving for the Marines on June 15th.  I've known this guy and his son for 4 years....and everyone figured the kid would play in college too.  He decided last fall that he didn't want to go to college and decided on the Marines.  His dad is crushed...1) because he's afraid of his son going to the Marines and the dangers that it will present...and 2) he's done with baseball much sooner than he expected.

He's a single dad...and the kid has lived with him most of the time.  When asked "what are you going to do?".....his response was...."go to the Domican, adopt a 5 year old...move to Florida and start this whole baseball thing over again"...   Obviously he is kidding, but I have a funny feeling I'll have the exact same thoughts when my son gets to the end of his baseball career!!

I totally get it. I have a 2016 and a 2018 so I have a few more years before "its all over" but...so many times I have said "I wish they would stay this age" and then I love the next stage just as much.  I hope I feel the same way always with "whatever comes next".

my son is a 2017, yesterday was Senior day at our school...it hit me hard how close it is. the kid next door is a SR, he has always been the one my son chased around, followed in LL and onto the travel circuit, he has been giving him rides to winter workouts for the last 2 years and this season when my son made the varsity the kid asked if he wanted a ride to school everyday so he wouldn't have to jerk around on the buss with his bat bag...he basically looked after him all spring! Hell I was sad just watching him get his picture taken with his parents at the game!

had a beer with my neighbor last night after the game, he just laughed and told to me enjoy the ride because the next 2 years make the first 6 seem slow...

Our usual routine with our HS program goes as follows...

senior day is, of course, the last regular season home game and we have the usual parent procession, flowers, announcer stating players' future plans, etc.  Touching but we aren't done yet, so not overly emotional, except for maybe those parents.  We also usually expect at least one home playoff game in our future.  The last regular game of the season, same thing.  Done but not done.  On to playoffs.  The last playoff game, whenever that may be, things usually end unexpectedly.  That's when reality and emotions really kick in.  Then, the end-of-year banquet...  again, this one can be tough to get through with the seniors.

This year, one of our seniors is a catcher who missed most of last year with injury and faced a long recovery to get back on the field in time for this season, albeit not 100%.  About half way thru the season, he re-injured himself in a freak way and he has to go thru rehab all over again.  His HS baseball is done, in fact, maybe any baseball.  Very high character team guy.  Hoped to play club ball at a high academic D1.  He has held himself together and continued being the vocal supporter remarkably well.  Well, Senior day came this past week and he lost it...  both before the game with the parent embrace and after, kneeling at home plate, not wanting to let it go.  His parents lost it too.  The raw emotion came out earlier than we coaches anticipated - really caught us off guard.  It's times like these when it really strikes you just how much being part of a team can mean to a young player... and their parents.  

Hopefully, Ryno has 3 more games left.  The State Playoffs start on Thursday, and if they win, they'll play in the Semi's on Friday, and the Championship on Saturday.  They have a chance to do something special!  They are 27 & 0!  The crew has had several close calls this year, so you never know.  That's what's great about baseball.  You can't ever count on the best team winning.  Everyone has a chance. A walk hear, a bad call, a couple bloop hits, an error...

If your kid plays for a successful program you aren't quite sure when it's the end. You expect them to win the next game. Around the sixth or seventh inning comes the sudden thought, "This could be it." 

When end my daughter was a senior (playing softball) my son was about to be an incoming freshman. In my mind it was "next kid up." My daughter was crying after her team was eliminated in states. She wasn't that upset the team lost. She was upset five close teammates, who had played since 7th grade would never play together again. When my son's team was eliminated in districts it hit me the high school ride was over.

I remember senior night for my son last year and I remember being told that when we are walking across the field and they are playing the message we recorded for him, to keep my eyes on the ground and not look up.  Got about half way and looked up; big mistake. That was brutal.

His season came to an end in 2nd round of plays with pitching a complete game against #1 team in state and our final batter strikes out looking with bases loaded and the kid had been clutch all year.  Done, season and hs career. 

This year we got to go watch his first college game, watch his first start on the mound, watch his first homer he hit and first stolen base ever (including HS and summer ball).

It was great.

He comes home and will be here for about 2 weeks before reporting for summer ball. He is hitting, throwing and lifting daily.  He doesn't need the old man to soft toss anymore and it makes me sad. The conversations over soft toss are some of the best ones we had.  He has 10 more days before he leaves and hoping to get to do it 1 more time.

you guys are killing me!  I'm sitting here sobbing and have to teach a class in 15 min. I'm reliving every moment too, and the realization that tomorrow is it for my 2015 ( Sr. Night; already eliminated from playoffs).  Last night before bed he says, " Dad, we're not a very good team ( 1-23), but I wouldn't have missed the chance to play for x school.  Thank you for teaching me the game of baseball".  Before I get any more tear stains on the screen- thanks to all who have replied to my previous posts about my young, academically gifted 2015.  Your responses were poignant and spot-on. On a brighter note, he will play at academic D3 next year.  So, it's not totally over.  Now, I'm going to continue the torture by looking at some video and pics from his youth.

Sadness all around. Our team went out Monday with 8 senior starters. Seeded #2. In Colorado, the post season starts with 32 seeded teams broken into 8 District single elimination tournaments with the winners advancing to the state double-elim tourney. We went into districts as the #2-seed and an 18-1 record. Expectations were that this was a formality. However, we fell in the district finals 1-0 to the #15-seed. My freshman son came out of the post-game meeting with tears in his eyes saying that meeting was the saddest thing he'd ever seen. Lucky for us, we've got three more years, but for most of those seniors, that's it. Two will move on to college. The rest are through. An unexpected end.

Oh my you and me both...my wife and i refer to the local cage as his happy place. we are there almost every day of the week from March to end of October, one of the happiest days of the year is the last Sat in February or the first one in March when we hang the cages, this past year my son and couple of his buddies shoveled the snow out the cages the day before we hung them...it was awesome there was 4 or 5 inches of snow everywhere except in the cages, the black from the modified stone took the heat and melted the remaining in hours. We were hitting the next day in what appeared to be an island! good times!!

Our kids don't stop accomplishing things just because sports end with high school or college. They still accomplish big things. If you think the last varsity game hits you, wait until you walk your daughter down the aisle.