Living and laughing with a disability - cerebral palsy; ordinary life, extraordinary circumstances.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Bam Bam is pitching? Naa!

Eric's baseball team had a tournament in Scappoose over the weekend. We played higher caliber teams.

Two games Saturday, two games Sunday. We lost them all. A couple of the games were close...except for a few errors.

The final game Sunday was against a team from Scappoose. Their first up they hit a few homeruns and had over 10 runs. I stopped keeping track.

The game could have been a lost cause. The coaches decided to have some fun. They let boys pitch who never pitched before.

Bam Bam is a boy on Eric's team who has ADHD. He is a special kid with a huge heart. While the other kids are dealing with the 13-14 year old attitude stuff, Bam Bam is positive. He is also loud at times, sometimes drawing taunts from opposing teams.

Each time he is up to bat, he pounds the plate with his bat -- Bam! Bam! His mom yells "Give it a ride Bam Bam!" We all cheer for him, all the parents and all the team.

On Sunday, the news that the coach was going to put Bam Bam in to pitch. We all thought "Naa!" His mom told us that he had never even tried to pitch.

Bam Bam got to the mound. We were all yelling our fool heads off for Bam Bam.

I then noticed that over from the dugout, my own precious son, Eric, was calling out step by step instructions to Bam Bam. It was Father's Day, and for me my gift was to hear my son coaching and rooting Bam Bam on.

The Scappoose players were hitting at everything. One kid got on base, one kid homered, one kid even struck out.

Bam Bam's pitching debut was a short one, and it may be his last one, but it will not be forgot.

A lesson that there is more to the game of baseball than scoring the most runs.

No comments: