Auburn family pics

Here's the happy family of our league champion Auburn Tiger:

Austin Parkway Elementary Walkathon

Thanks again to everyone that contributed to Payton and Macy's school fundraiser, it was a big success as usual. We sponsored the 40 foot tall inflatable slide playthingy. It was popular enough that the parents of children in line when they finally shut it down were very irate. I guess that's a good thing. Anyway, Macy ran into Justin from her class and family friend Carrie Sistrunk.

Rapunzel's castle

Macy and Ed built Rapunzel's castle. Ed bought some wood and brought over some tools and they sawed, hammered and glued a new toy.

Happy Birthday Sophia

Sophia celebrated her 80th birthday with a fun surprise party at Susie's house. Here she is with Susie and Christy.

It's party time - Macy style

Here she is with Annie McLemore showing of some slick dance moves.

Galveston

Nancy took the kids to the beach a few weeks ago. Macy, who wants to be a zookeeper when she grows up, always finds some critters.

Baseball update

The Lightning did win an exciting game 9-8 against the 99ers last night to qualify for the semifinals this afternoon. It was the best game I've ever seen them play. For you Payton fans, he played extremely well, made all the routine plays at 1st base, caught a couple of pop-ups, made a wicked dive for one in front of the other team's dugout, crashed into the fence unfortunately he didn't quite get to it. And his hitting was good including a smash to right center - the farthest I've ever seen him hit one. Unfortunately there he tried to stretch into a triple and they got him at third.

Baseball action

Payton is back in action as the Lightning are playing in the First Colony fall shootout tournament. These pics are from their second game this morning, note the ball in the air above the head of the third base coach John Conlon - click the picture to get it full size. The second pic hows Payton safe on 2nd base after that big hit.

The Lightning were beat in their first game by the Missouri City Power - the team they beat in August to win the Missouri City tournament. They looked very rusty and still didn't get going until about the 4th inning this morning. But the bats came around and they started making the routine plays in the field. They turned an 8-5 deficit into a 17-11 victory over the First Colony Storm. We leave in 5 minutes to take on the Missouri City 99ers. A win gets us to the semifinals, a loss we'll have to wait and see.

Baseball fall champions

Payton's Auburn Tigers won the First Colony Little League Pee-Wee fall championship Sunday defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 18 to 7. This was sweet revenge agains the only team not only to beat them in the regular season but the only team to keep the score within about 10 runs. The Tigers were a powerhouse!

Payton played third base for most of the season and seemed to quite enjoy the change. Not that he's giving up first base on the Lightning by any stretch of the imagination though. As the oldest kid on the team, he was the one best able to make the throws all the way across the diamond. He did a very good job, besides some routine plays in the championship game he made one sparkler - a very sharp hit down the line that he backhanded on one hop and fired across to get the batter at first. His hitting was a bit off on Sunday, swinging over the ball and hitting grounders but I think he still went 3 for 4.

There were a few plays of note by other kids for sure - in particular Kanu came up big. He made a diving catch at shortstop early in the game to save what looked like a double. He also hit a big double in the middle innings that scored a couple of runs and in the bottom of the 5th he made the play of the year. The Tar Heels, trailing 15-7 but still showing lots of life, had the bases loaded with one out and John Noork at the plate. John had already slammed two home runs and was eyeing another. He ripped one to center field and Kanu made another sparkling diving catch. The runners of course had all taken off and so the Tigers scored an easy double play to end the inning and the Tar Heels last threat.

And in the top of the 6th the Tigers needed three runs to put the game out of reach - there's a ten batter limit per inning so an 11 run lead is insurmountable in one inning. Victoria, the team's most improved player throughout the year, slapped a single and later advanced to third on some throwing problems when runners ahead of her stole. Collin Lucas, hitless all season long, finally connected and was safe at first scoring Victoria for the championship clinching final run. That was definitely a terrific finish.

Now, for the truly terrific performance, check out my exquisitely artistic shot of the team posing under the winning scoreboard. This phone of mine is certainly a fine instrument.