Baseball, Baseball & More Baseball

Okay, so everyone who knows me can completely understand why I have really enjoyed these past three weekends - because we have played in three consecutive baseball tournaments! Nothing makes me happier than to be at the ballfield!

President's Day weekend we played in the President's Day Pandemonium at the park closest to our house. It was nice to stay in our own beds as the previous two tournaments we played were overnight trips. Not to mention it was GREAT baseball weather - shorts, flip flops & sunglasses required! Pool play has not been our strong suit thus far in the season - we have been struggling on Saturdays. The trend continued this weekend as we lost game one and tied game two. Bradley pitched in our second pool play game and did an amazing job. This gave us the early Sunday morning call at the field with a rematch of our second pool play game against the Miracles. We cruised through this game winning 10-3. That put us in the semi-finals against our first pool play opponent from Saturday, Orlando Panthers. Knowing this was elimination Sunday, our boys came to play and cruised to a run-rule victory over the Panthers and moving us into the Championship Game against the OTown Patriots. Unfortunately, we couldn't get our sticks going in the last game and lost 3-1. Bradley did a great job all weekend but especially on Sunday when he, once again, caught all three of our games! His bat continued to be one of our best - going 5 for 11 with one walk and one strikeout (on a ball that was truly not a strike).

Sometimes Bradley is all me (even though he looks like TR spit him out) which can easily be shown in the photos below as he is so not happy about a second place finish!

This past weekend we headed to Plant City for the War on I-4. Again, our dismal Saturday record continued as we lost both pool play games. The first one we were tied going into the top of the sixth and gave up 5 runs. The second game, Bradley pitched the first three innings and we were tied up when we had to make a pitching change in the fourth (daily pitch limits requirement) and then ended up losing 7-5. On Sunday we opened our day with the Rawlings Gators, beating them easily 17-5. Then we played the Tampa Titans, who beat us in the first game of pool play on Saturday. This time, there was different outcome as we beat them 5-3. For the Championship Game, we faced the SFL Swamp Rats. Bradley took the hill but succumbed to a migraine after facing four batters in the bottom of the first. Looking back on what happened in between the games, he had all the classic signs for an on-coming migraine but he led me to believe that he had gotten dirt in his eye and it was scratched and that was bothering him. Pedro came in to relieve him and pitched good, but our sticks had died and we made a few errors, losing 8-2 to a team that we run-ruled two weeks ago. I hate to lose - especially to a team that we have beaten easily before! Bradley did get a break this weekend, catching only one game on Sunday and playing the outfield in our other game. His bat was on fire going 6 for 11, walking once and no strikeouts!

Next weekend we do it again - on to Leesburg - then a weekend off at home!!

In non-baseball news, Bradley had to make an emergency trip to the dentist last week - calling me Tuesday telling me that one of his permanent teeth was loose. Upon further questioning Tuesday after school, he tells me that it happened on SUNDAY when he was playing ball. Now, I wasn't certain that this was a permanent tooth and thankfully it was not! However, since it had broken off, the dentist did have to pull it out and clean it all up. So while mom & dad had to pay for an emergency dental visit, Bradley came out smelling like a rose with a visit from the tooth fairy.

Cranking Up

Sorry it's been so long but life has been very busy since our last post. November 1st brought the newest addition to our St Cloud Family - baby Landon Roe. We have all had so much fun with him and he's growing so fast. The Powerhouse mom's never miss a chance to spoil him rotten!

This exciting event was followed by the USSSA National Meeting in Daytona Beach. It's always fun to see our USSSA people from around the country each year. Even better was the chance to see our Pride family. Luckily, Wednesday morning I was able to trek back to St Cloud and pick up Bradley for the rest of week. This allowed him to participate in the first ever USSSA Corn Hole Tourney and spend some time with his Pride girls - namely a fun dinner with Cat at Bubba Gump's! TR was also honored with the USSSA Award of Merit during the Friday night award banquet. Still can't believe we managed to keep that one a secret and surprise him.


National Meeting was followed by a quick trip to Virginia for Thanksgiving to visit family. December was also very busy. We had a visit from Jeff, Missy & Alli and were able to meet them for dinner while they were here. We played some baseball and then had lots of Christmas stuff to do. On Christmas Day, we packed it all up & headed to the Keys - where it was FREEZING COLD! We did manage to do a little kayaking and fish a little but it definitely wasn't our usual Keys Christmas weather.

January brought the start of another year when I'm not evern sure where the last one went! We have been blessed to keep our Powerhouse family together and look forward to another great season and many fun times. Powerhouse has a really big tournament in March in Atlanta. We had a Texas Hold'em Poker Fundraiser in January to try and raise enough money to cover our hotel rooms for the weekend. It was a very successful and fun event! All the boys had to stay home, except for Baby Landon who was representing in his Powerhouse attire!

We started off pretty slow this season for baseball - not at all what we expected. At the end of January we made a trip to the West Coast to play in our first tourney of the year. We made an early exit, losing our first game on Sunday morning. So what do you do when you get knocked out early? You go to Hooters for lunch (think of it as an educational field trip as Briar had never been) and then head to the beach. It would have been a shame to miss the opportunity to go to Clearwater Beach when we were so close! For us Florida parents, it was still a little chilly for shorts and such but the boys (and girls - Jamison, Kaitlyn & Kennedy) had no qualms about getting in the frigid water.

TR & I made a quick trip to New Orleans (more cold weather - I'm starting to see a pattern when I travel) for our Midwest/Southern Slow Pitch Divisional Meeting. While we were there, we did get a chance to have lunch with Renee and her sons Sam & Henry. It was great to visit and catch up.

And now we are back into baseball full swing. Last weekend we headed to Riverview to play. This weekend we are home in Osceola and then we head to Plant City, followed by Leesburg. Then one weekend off before our big trip to Atlanta in March.

This weekend the boys started slow on Saturday - losing their first pool play game and in general just not playing well. We did win the second pool play game which seeded us in the second flight for Sunday. Sunday they managed to pull it all together, winning three games and the tournament. Bradley caught every inning of all three games on Sunday! Let's hope they continue their winning ways this weekend. This past weekend's win was dedicated to Poppy, TR's dad, who had open heart surgery last Friday as we all wish him a speedy recovery!