Congratulations are in order...

Brandon's men's team FINALLY won a softball game!!! Actually, TWO games!

In an amazing come-back effort, from 2 straight seasons with no wins at all (other than one forfeit), the team finally pulled one out of the hat and won. Brandon assures me that he has taken the reigns of this team and plans on winning games in the future too, but that remains to be seen. (The other team must have been suffering from the plague last night...)

Brandon tells me that I have doubted his coaching abilities in the past and that I owe it to him to write a blog praising him.

"Oh, Brandon...I'm not worthy!!! I'm not worthy!!!"
(There you go....Happy, honey?)

It's not that I doubted Brandon - I just doubted some of the idiots he has on the team. However, he has FIRED (that's right, FIRED) those idiots and has picked up some pretty good players. *He is transforming the team to be like his team back in Chattanooga. They even won with 9 players on the field last night rather than 10. Also, one guy even tried to carry Brandon off the field - a "VICTORY" carry.*
*Brandon made me write that part....direct quote

Tonight is another double header - this time with the Co-Ed team which is pretty good.

Below is the email sent last week from the Co-Ed "Coaches" (if that's what you'd call them). Again, I can't make this up!!!

Hello everyone,

Next game is 6:20 PM against ____ at Field 15. They are in 5th place but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security, this is a very good team and I want us to destroy them.

Our scouts submitted this report:

Deep lineup

All girls are base hitters and fast on the base paths

Two guys have home-run power

Same defensive lineup as us - male left infield, female right infield, split outfield

They forfeited to the church team the first week of the season, so not sure how that impacted their stats but we both are averaging almost 12 runs scored per game, and our defense is better, so should be a great couple of games.

Also don't forget that Jimmy Johns is throwing a picnic party for us afterwards so plan to hang out for a little bit if you can. Again we are hoping they will sponsor us next year so try to work them over :)

Weather tentatively looks good, and I'll be out at fields early if anyone wants to get in a little extra BP since we haven't played for 2 weeks. Everyone should be at the game, if that's not the case let us know ASAP.

Goooooo Hellfish!

Seriously, I hope they DESTROY the team tonight!!!

Until next time...

Homemade Applesauce

I sure hope my Grandma is seeing this blog, because she would be SO PROUD of me!!! Today, with the apple loot we picked yesterday, I made HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE....just like my Grandma's!

It's in the freezer right now, because that's just how I like it....with ice crystals! MMMmmm... Reminds me of visiting my family in Ottumwa, Iowa!

A Day at the Apple Orchard

Brandon and I had the most wonderful afternoon!!! Not only did I get off work at 3:15pm today, we also went to an apple orchard outside of Columbus! The weather was beautiful and the apples were awesome!

Growing up, my family always went to the pumpkin patch in the fall where we would pick pumpkins and apples. Lately, Brandon and I have really gotten into watching the show "Little People, Big World" on TV which chronicles the life of a family who own a pumpkin patch/farm and are a family with dwarfs. Each time they show the pumpkin patch, I think back to my own childhood and smile.

That's why, when I got off early from work, I called Brandon and said, "Let's Go!!!" And being the wonderful husband he is, he said "No problem......but YOU have to drive!"







The apple orchard also sold home-grown veggies, which I couldn't pass up! Total haul:

10 lbs Jonathan apples
4 Honeycrisp apples
10 lbs Red Potatoes
1 lb Fresh green beans
1 pt Fresh okra
2 Zucchini
3 Cucumber

(Okra is one of B's favorite veggies...and we haven't been able to find this in Ohio until NOW!)

It was such a fun time that we will definitely be going there again this fall!

Still in the SWING of Things

Brandon's fall softball season started last week. He's playing on a men's team (the same team he played with this summer) as well as a co-ed team. I'll start with the men's team, as there isn't much to say about them. They are HORRIBLE. They lost every single game of the summer and are headed that way for this fall. I take that back - they did win their last game of the summer - because the other team had to forfeit. But, assuming no teams forfeit this fall, they will probably finish dead last. Below is a picture of Brandon's reaction when a ball was hit to left field. He looks totally into his team, don't you agree?
Wrigley, on the other hand, is still a huge fan of softball. She barks every time Brandon gets up to bat. It's pretty cute!Now, the co-ed team is a different story.

They are actually pretty good. They run-ruled the team this past week!

The only problem with this team is the slightly, nope - intensely, crazy people that are "coaching" this team. Somewhere along the line, they were not informed that this is a coed slow-pitched softball team and NOT the USA Olympic team. While I appreciate their enthusiasm for coaching coed slow-pitch softball, the 5 pre-season practices they held were a little insane. Don't get me wrong - practicing relay plays to the plate is an important part of softball (but NORMAL softball...NOT coed slow pitch softball). I was surprised they didn't go over bunt coverage....

I've included an excerpt from the last email Brandon received from the "coaches". I don't think I could come up with material this good....

Hey Everyone,

What a way to start the season by beating last year's league champs! Even though we had a slow start in both games it was encouraging to see the team come together and fight back for the win.

Defensively, we had a great first week. I noticed a couple of areas that could be improved upon such as communication in the outfield, hitting the cut-off, and making throws to first (hint hint shortstop). Offensively, we had some clutch hits that allowed us to win both games but overall we need to improve our hitting as a team. We need to make sure we swing at good pitches and just relax at the plate.

I mean, COME ON!!!!! They're crazy! Gives me a good laugh each week though.... And FYI, they even have a computer program for each player's batting stats....and they use it. I would have added a picture of the stats on here, but B is off on a business trip and I don't know how to screen shot. I will say that Brandon is leading the team in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and RBI's. He's leading in doubles and triples....and even hit an in-the-park legit home run this past game. Oooohhhhh yeaaahhhhhh.....atta babe! (He's come a long way from sitting the bench last summer!)