Nothing but Fun!

On Friday at 4pm, Mark Kraemer & I left Crown Farm for the University of MN to pick up John K, who had been at a songwriter's class all week. From there, we headed down to Rochester, where the boys dropped me off at my college roommate's house and headed over to Winona for the state church league softball tournament. Shelley and her family arrived shortly thereafter, and we had a great visit, catching up on the past few months. They had a French 16-year-old staying with them for the last month, which provided some interesting conversation.

In the morning, after delicious homemade whole wheat cinnamon bread by Jon, the head of the house, who turned 48 - 47? 46? - that day, Shelley & I drove to Winona to watch the tournament. It must have been close to 90 already by 10am, when the first game started. Because we were there to watch Svea's team, I got to explain to Shelley who everyone was, some of their statistics, and other details. She did know Joel and Daniel, who played 3rd and 2nd respectively, and a couple of guys who had been to Leadership Quest three years ago with Shelley and family. The only other Svea fans there were the families of the two married men on the team. We marveled at their commitment; Nicki was there with her 9- and 5-year-old sons and 2-year-old daughter, and Emily with her 2-year-old son, for the whole blistering day.

The first game was a disaster - the St. Cloud team scored 6 runs in the first inning, and when Shelley & I went to get cooler clothes and sunscreen on (the bleachers were in full sun), we missed most of the Svea rally. I think our guys were tired (they had tented in the heat last night) and a little nervous at finally facing some real competition. They almost caught up, however, and lost 9-7. That put them in the loser's bracket right away and meant a 3-hour break until the next game. The clouds in the west were already looking threatening, but the head umpire said they'd play through pouring rain if necessary; they would only stop a game if lightning flashed.

We walked around the river path for a while and commiserated with each other on our various challenges in parenting college students and teenagers. It was great to connect for such a big chunk of time. When we returned to the car, the wind picked up and it was obvious the rain was coming. We got in and drove in the pouring rain, trying to find a restaurant. After finding a McDonald's, we sat in the parking lot and waited for a lull to get the GPS out of the trunk. It directed us to a Perkins, where we had a nice lunch and then tried to find our way back to the tournament - the GPS didn't have the location mapped, and it turned out we had gone in a big circle. We happened to catch sight of "Huff Street" and recognized the name, so returned in time for the next game, which was only about 15 minutes late. When we got there, the guys were a little frantic because the two dads still weren't there; they had gone in the pool with their kids and without their cell phones, so didn't realize it was time to play. They arrived in time, though, and the next two games were solid victories for Svea. The first one was good competition, and provided some fun spectacles, such as Jason sliding through a water puddle to catch a foul ball - which popped out of his glove - and Mark making a diving catch in the outfield. Another bonus was the shade which was available - it hadn't cooled down at all.

After the two wins, we were in the loser's bracket championship against the team which beat us first. We beat them 9-2 with great defense and offense. During the game, the undefeated team - Atonement Angels from Bloomington - sat behind us and scoped out our team. One guy mentioned the "two who look alike," and when I confirmed that they are twins, he queried, "Dare I ask how old they are?" "Eighteen." "Is there anyone on your team older than 18?" he wondered. He kept making comments about how their youth would enable them to keep going in the heat and so forth, but when he told us that Atonement comes to this tournament every year, and that it was his 31st season playing softball, I knew their experience would make it a difficult game to win for Svea.

Sure enough, Atonement scored 6 runs in the first inning. After that, our guys brought one outfielder behind second base, and we beat them 5-2 over the course of the rest of the innings. That wasn't enough, however, and we lost 8-5. That was OK with me, because it was already after 6pm, and the Kraemer boys and I had to get back home that night. Plus, there was plenty to be proud of; in their first year at the tournament, Svea took second place. Shelley & I had a wonderful visit, and everyone got safely home.