The end of Classic Baseball

One of our first cheers:

 and to our last cheer:

I have dreaded this post.. The day we started this team, I knew this time would come. When some of our boys head off to highschool, and we all would not be together. I thought "Classic Baseball" would live on, that Alex and Jesse would just get new kids (maybe younger) and continue it. But.. that didnt happen, they went on to highschool club-ball. (which I didnt know when this ended).
When we returned from Reno, it seemed right away everything changed. The kids kind of scattered to different things. I had never been so attached to a baseball family as I was with this one. People may tease me for this, but I became sort of depressed for a bit.  I have no real family here in Vegas, and very few real friends. So Baseball was my life. The reason I jumped out of bed super early on the weekends. At this time, I knew Xander was going to SLAM. He would be playing baseball with a lot of friends, and parents I knew and loved, so it did help me. I thought Casey, Anthony and Cesar were also going. Casey eneded up going to Libertys feeder team, and Anthony started football (at SLAM). I found out while we were in the Domincan Republic that Alex and Jesse were going to be coaches at Slam. (for the 13 u team). This also made me happy. Though they wouldnt be coaching Xander directly, they would still be a part of the "team".
We (Xander, myself and with Emmilys help..<Anthonys sister>) Had created a video of pictures and videos to share with the team. (I will post at the end).
 Coach Sonny was hosting a 4th of July party, all the team and coaches were to come, I had created little gifts for the boys. and the boys and some of the parents also had plaques made for the coaches to thank them!

I made this for the boys, and framed it:

My heart is here:

Okay, so this is alittle over 30 minutes long.. I promise its worth watching!

While Xander loves all 4 of the coaches, he had been with Alex and Jesse for a few years, so leaving the team was a big adjustment. (maybe more for me..but it was hard on him too)
He (with my help.. he picked out the quote, I arranged the pictures) made these for them:

Xander was with them from this:

 to this:

Piranhas 

 (and that very short time he played on that one team, he still considered Alex his coach, those home-runs Xander made with the Legends had nothing to do with the Legends coaching, it was Alex's coaching)

warriors:

and Classic:

Beginning of Classic:

End of Classic:

See more videos of the team, from fun times in Reno, Alex's babyshower fun, crazy time between games, and time outside of baseball, here -> YOUTUBE<---

and thats a wrap on Classic...

up next: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!!

Youth Baseball Nationals in Reno

We had preparing for this trip since we first started the team. Fundraising as much as we could. The entire team stayed at the same hotel (minus one family). So the time the boys werent on the field, the spent developing even stronger bonds.
Most of us met up at McDonalds and we caravaned to Reno. We had to get into Reno, check in the hotel and get to opening ceremonies, so we had to get an early start!
I had been looking forward to this tournament and also dreading it since the fall. I knew it would be fun, I got to spend a week with my favorite families and boys I just adored, but knew that once this week was over so was Classic Baseball.  Xander would no longer have Alex and Jesse as his coaches, and I really had a hard time letting that go. I knew that some of the boys were going to the same school that fall, and would be on the same team (or I thought so anyways). I knew if all these boys kept playing together they would be unstoppable as a baseball team. But.. that couldnt be. So I shed a lot of tears over this week, and as I write this post, Im sure I will shed more..

We got all checked in, then headed to the field for Opening Ceremonies..

Saturday was an "off day" for the boys, So the coaches located a field nearby and the boys had practice in the morning. Parents used this time to grocery shop, as we had to live in a hotel for a week, eating out each meal would add up. Some of us got microwaves in our room.

The tournament games.. well they did not go good. We won one game. We played some tough teams and made too many errors.  Each boy on our team is a great ball player. So watching them lose was heart breaking. What we took away from this tournament was the game wins. Though they did get rings at closing ceremonies. But it was the family and friendship, ending our time with Classic with great memories.

Non game down time:

 

The friendship between these 4 ^^ became so much stronger this week. I saw a side of Spencer I hadnt seen before. He was always that quiet boy, this week I realized he was far from that. He is so funny and not shy like I thought. Elijah and Xander spent pretty much every moment together this week. Xander and Cesar have been playing together since the Warrior days, and were about to head off to the same highschool. Their friendship just grew tighter.

This video was our time in Reno (and some other times). (thank you to Emmily, Anthonys sister for capturing moments I was not there for)



While sometimes when we look back at our trip to Reno as the week the boys didnt play the best. I hope that they remember the fun the had, the memories they made off the field.

This was when I really started to cry....

The end our last game..

 Our last after game talk..

our last walk out of the park wearing the same uniforms..

Our last cheer....

We all drove to a close by park for a BBQ. 

The boys went home with these:

I keep waiting for the tournament to upload all the videos from this tournament to their you tube page but they havent done it yet..........
Their site: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrJpfXLbw7mH9mk5_1TejAQ

up next.. End of Classic