The Big Z...

I have mentioned Zerin's love for baseball before.  He has said, in moments where I have been questioning his priorities to chores and homework that, "Baseball is life!"  That's truly how he feels.

He proved it Monday night.

This year in Minor League, he is playing with the Diamondbacks.  I love his coaches...love them.  They all affectionately refer to him as the Big Z :)  They are so good to him, and really focus on the things I want him to be taking away from this whole sports experience (ie. doing your best, not giving up, having fun, good sportsmanship, etc.).  From day one, they have made him feel like he was one of the most important players on the team...the awesome thing is they do that for each kid (although Zerin was one of the first boys snagged in the draft!  Sorry for acting braggy, it was just so good to see him feel like his hard work was paying off).

His coaches told him they wanted to try out playing catcher.  That was the one position he'd always been a little afraid of, but he didn't let them know that.  The week before their first game, he brought the gear home, and he practiced every second (literally) I was not making him come in to do some menial pointless task like eating or homework.  The extra fun part of this is some of his school friends were on the opposing team for this first game, and they had been talking smack all week long to him.  But I think it just pushed him harder, because he did so great!!!  It was amazing to watch him so passionate and intense about something.  The best part was the kid who was talking the most smack played pitcher, and Zerin hit a triple off of him, and then when this boy was up to bat, he struck out with Zerin at catcher.  Not that I would wish for other kids to do poorly, but it did Zerin's heart good after they had given him so much guff.

The next game, he started off as catcher.  One of the balls part way through the inning caught the top of his mitt, and rebounded onto his knee.  The poor kid was in so much pain, but to make matters worse, two runs were scored while he was doubled over so that just added to his agony.

He was next up in the lineup, but not wanting to miss his shot, he begged his coach to still let him play with his voice still shaking from crying so hard.  He got up to bat, leg shaking like crazy, but he pelted it and made it to first.  He made it all the way to third before his team struck out.

He came home crying harder than I've seen him cry in a long time...his little face was just twisted in pain.  When we looked at his knee, you could already see the big round bruise forming, and it was pretty swollen.  The next day at school was supposed to be his big field trip to the Governor's Mansion (they had about a 2 mile walk ahead of them), but he was determined to go.  He asked Bryan for a blessing, where he was promised he would be able to dig deep, and find a way to do the things he needed and wanted to over the next few days.  I don't remember any of my children being blessed with that rather than just healing before, but it was neat.  After it was over, I tucked him in, and then he pretty much cried himself to sleep.

The next day he went on the field trip, and hurt as much as he did, he made it.  He milked it a little when he got home, but I say it was well-deserved :).

Which brings us to last night.  He practiced all day to walk without a limp so his coaches would let him run.  They played him at catcher for the first half, and he didn't even act ball shy, I was so proud of him!  In the 4th inning, they let him play PITCHER!  He has wanted to play pitcher for 2 years.  He did so great!  He did end up pelting a kid in the head, but, one of my proudest moments was watching him leave the mound and running up to the kid as he made his way to first to make sure he was okay and to apologize.

I don't know if his dreams of playing in the Majors will ever come to fruition.  But I do know that after the way he played the last couple of nights, I couldn't be more proud of him if he did.