Aly and Ruby at the very long (3.5 hours) Colorado State Championship game.
The singing of National Anthem at Colorado State Championships. Fortunately, two of the boys from the Longmont team were in a city choir, so they volunteered to sing for the crowd.
There's our boy!
As usual, baseball season kept us very busy all summer. Blake moved up to Division 5 in the city league. Pete coached the Pirates team this year. They were one of two teams that had to be added to the league so they were a very young team. Most of the kids were 13, while the other teams had several 14 and 15 year-olds. It was a big "step-up" for the 13 year-olds, but a great experience. The future looks bright for the Pirates next year!
The 13 year-old Casper Cannons had a dynamite season. Pete assisted in coaching this team again this year. They won tournaments in Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado. In Casper, over the 4th of July, the Cannons beat a 14-year-old team from Colorado Springs, who defeated the Casper 14 and 15 year-old travel teams and won the 14-year-old tournament in Casper. It was an amazing victory.
The highlight of the season for the Cannons was when they travelled to Denver to compete in the Division II State Championship tournament. There were 40 teams competing for the title. The Cannons went in to the tournament ranked as one of the bottom teams. (Mainly because they hadn't played enough Colorado teams to earn a higher ranking) However, they quickly earned the respect of the Colorado teams when their talent and discipline led them to win all 8 of their games sending them into the finals against a team from Longmont. The game didn't start off so well for the Cannons. In fact by the end of the 3rd inning, they were trailing by 10 points. Did I mention that our number one catcher broke his hand in the semi-finals and was at the E.R. when this game started? Anyway, their courage and stamina led them to prevent the other team from scoring for several innings and each inning the Cannons scored a few runs. It was the bottom of the sixth inning and the score was Longmont 15- Cannons 12. There were two players on base and Blake was up to bat. Low and behold- he nailed a triple up against the fence and the two runners ahead of him made it in. The kid after him hit another rocket which sent Blake in to score. Top of the 7th inning and the score is 15-15. Longmont is up first and the Cannons held them- 3 up, 3 down as they say in baseball. The Cannons are up to bat- one out-no runners on .... then everything went black. Literally, the lights in the stadium turned off and could not be turned back on again because they were controlled by a satellite. After a long time of debating the umphs made a phone call to the state director who told them to give the victory to the Colorado team. It was a bittersweet night. In September we had a knock on our door late one evening. It was a pleasant surprise to see Blake's coach, J.C., at the door. In his hand was a ring (similar to the superbowl ring) for Blake. Apparently the Colorado Board reviewed what happend and decided to make the championship a tie, and sent J.C. the championship rings for all of the Cannons. Whew! What a journey!!
Well, even though I said the highlight was the Colorado tournment, Jessi and Aly would probably disagree. They enjoyed the Babe Ruth State tournament- not because the team played well- (they had a really bad weekend) But, because many of us stayed at a campground and enjoyed swimming in the river, roap swings and toasting s'mores by the fire in the evening. Ruby travelled all summer as the unoficial team mascot and learned to love baseball too. Next year will be the last season of Cannons and we will all really miss the adventures, the boys and their families. They've become our summer family.
Lindsay, Faith, Jessi and Kade took a break from swimming 
Lindsay, Faith, Jessi and Kade took a break from swimming 
Jodi was there for moral support-
Joseph finally let me snap a picture of him, but only when holding tightly to his mom's leg.
Who could have a party without party faces? Can you guess the faces behind the masks?
Jessi gave a cold and wet hug to Savannah after a plunge in the pool. 
