Mothers, Wins and Autographs

There really is a part of me that wants to be everyone’s mom. Ask the people I work with, they’ll tell you I mother them when they are hurting, I mother them when I think they are misbehaving and then I let them know that someone loves them when they are in need, the most important mothering skill of all. This weekend when the moms were told we were going out on the field with our sons I didn’t immediately think, ‘this is going to be awesome for me’. Instead, I thought this is going to be very tough for some of these guys and I can only imagine how their moms will feel when they hear about it. Don’t get me wrong I still think it was a great idea and I truly felt honored by it. I just wanted every boy to have a mama there on Sunday. I knew this was a great chance for Cole to honor his grandmothers and it meant so much to them to be able to stand down there and be so proud of ‘their boy’. I adopted Greg Blake and Ryan Daniels for the day since their moms couldn’t be here but when I turned back after the anthem and saw all the boys sitting in the dugout I just wanted to run over there and wrap my arms around each of them and just be their mom for that one brief moment. I know there was no doubt their moms love them and wish they could be here, I just didn’t want them to sit alone. I know, I know, we moms worry about this kind of stuff way more than our boys do, but let the record show if you ever need a surrogate mom I’m your gal.

So we moved right from the emotional feeling of wanting to be the “all mom” to watching the mom with it ‘all’ on her plate. There they were, The Shieder Family walking slowly out to the mound as fast as little Mack’s legs could carry him, he got his baseball and let it rip (okay it kind of dribbled out of his hand) but he knew what he was doing. He was throwing out the first pitch-really did it matter how far it went-there wasn’t a batter yet. He scooped it up and did it again. I took a quick look around because I didn’t have my BIG sunglasses on and I was at risk of major rivers running down my cheeks without them. It looked like I was in good company because my sister was just one pitch away from going in to the big ugly cry. I’m telling you I’ve seen a lot of moving things in my life but by golly (did I really say that) I think this one took the cake. That little boy, who wasn’t walking a couple of months ago, who got out of MUSC on Wednesday from major chemotherapy, who had a mask on his face, marched right up there to get the job done. I never saw a greater pitch, ever. My life changed Sunday because of Mack Shieder. He has courage beyond comparison, his parents have strength that is immeasurable, and the family is surrounded by love that is unbound. This young family can teach us so much. I am holding them up now as my example to live by and learn from. I thank them for allowing us this glimpse in to their lives and am happy that baseball could do some small thing to make one of their days better. Maybe more will come from this but if it doesn’t a lot of people saw the best pitch of their lifetime.

I want to give a HUGE shout out to Ryan Johnson who had his jersey hung on the wall of fame on Saturday. I have known Ryan for a long time. I knew he played for The College and I knew he was a very good pitcher but I sure didn’t know he was one of the greatest to ever wear a Cougar uniform. He’s a modest guy; he works hard now for the Town of Mt. Pleasant teaching young boys about baseball so he’s come full circle and that is a wonderful thing. I’m glad to call such a great guy my friend and proud that the College acknowledged him.

Oh those mighty Cougars how they roared this weekend. Friday night was beautiful. We went ahead early and although we gave up the lead we charged back and sealed the deal. Rodriguez was truly the man of the night at the plate and I would say Owen Brittle was the man on the mound. I think it takes a very special mindset to be a closer and I’m sure glad my son isn’t one because I would have to leave the stadium. Owen looks like he loves the challenge and God bless him for it. Kevin Decker had a very nice outing on Saturday night as we put another win in the record books. Sunday the story had a different ending and The Citadel won but I’ve got to give a big shout out to Joey Bergman for his major league play at second to hold the runners-it was phenomenal. My highlight moment of all the games this weekend was after game two when I had to run down on the field to tell one of the marketing guys something and looked over in the dugout and there was a pile of young boys surrounding Jose Rodriguez waiting for him to sign their hats. Now that, my friends, is a great thing. He was patiently signing away and those young boys thought they were sitting at the feet of a giant and that’s why I love baseball.

We're packing up to head to UNC on Wednesday (after we play USC Upstate tomorrow) and then on to App State for our last SoCon series of the season.  I can't believe how it has blown by.  I have so many memories from this year and am so glad that I have committed some of them to paper but I am sure there will be a future blog all about that. 

Until then,

See you at the field.