Safe!

It was a LONG and hot weekend. We spent the past few days at a ballpark, since Mika's 8U All Stars team had their first tournament. They only ended up playing two different teams (4 games total). One team was... not good (poor girls!) and the other team gave them a run for their money. Today was the semi-finals and unfortunately, after a very tense and anxiety-ridden game, the girls lost 10-9, despite coming back from being down 8-1. It was a tough loss, especially since we thought they were good enough to advance to the champsionship game. Oh, well...

This was the most exciting softball photo I've managed to capture of Mika so far - here she is, sliding into home, beating the ball and the catcher's tag. SAFE!! Look at the dirt fly!

We think Mika shows a lot of promise as a softball player, so we've begun to think she's worth the investment of better equipment. We bought her a really good bat (not top of the line, we're not totally crazy), which is a lovely flashy green color. I've named him "Buster, the Green Monster". She's still getting used to her new friend, but her swing does look better - smoother and faster. We've also invested in those snazzy red cleats - I've had my eye on getting those for her for the past 1.5 years, but we waited until we found them for a good price. Plus, they really top off the uniform, don't you think? ;)

I know I'm biased, but look at her stance! Doesn't she look tough? Yeah, girl!

DaddyDude has been teaching her, obviously. We often stay after her practices to work on her fielding and batting (and Marika, too). Today, I was struck by the fact that Mika even stands like her daddy on the field. I've got to make a side-by-side layout of the two of them standing by their bases in "ready" position... :)