Game Day Ball

This weekend has been a marathon of sports for our family. It started with Tanner's baseball game at 9:15am Saturday morning, then both in their flag football game at 11am in Irvine (another nice win!), then back to Aliso Viejo for Keegan's baseball game at 2:15pm. It was a great day, full of fun, and I was ready to relax by the time we got home. Scott however, went back to the baseball fields to ump a 7pm game!

Since we've had so much rain the past 4 weekends, the baseball league decided to schedule make-up games for Sunday, today, which is very rare. So, today we went to church at 9am, then rushed back to the baseball fields for Keegan's 11:30am game, then headed to field #1 for Tanner's game at 2pm. Another fun day, but again, I'm enjoying this downtime at home.

The funniest thing happened after Keegan's game today. Keegan was given the "Game Day" ball, which only goes to one kid on the team after each game. Coach Joe game it to Keegan and he was so proud to have received it. It's just a regular ball, nothing special, just the ball used in the game that day.

After the game a bunch of kids were hanging out and Keegan was playing with his ball, when he said it rolled off the bleachers and then he couldn't find it. I could tell he was on the verge of tears just telling me and was devastated. I promised him we wouldn't leave until we found it. Mind you this is a very high-traffic area and I was sure someone probably walked by and scooped it up for themselves. There wasn't very many places for it to hide.

It was nowhere in sight. All I can think is to switch it with the numerous other balls we have in our bag without Keegan knowing. But first I wanted to make sure it wasn't around. I told Scott about the search and as I walked away, picked up a ball in the bat bag and thought about switching it, but decided against it because that ball had a smear on it and I was sure Keegan would know it wasn't the same ball.

So, I continue looking and actually got caught in a conversation with a friend, when I see Scott take a ball out of his pocket and place it slyly by a tree. Then as Keegan and him continue to search, Keegan spots it and is so excited to have not lost his Game Day ball. Yeah! He saved the day!

So, want to know the real story behind the ball Scott placed behind the tree? Well, turns out when Keegan's Game Day ball bounced off the bleachers, just like he remembers, it landed in front of the Laderer's dog, "Tanner" who snatched it up. The mom, Rachel, saw it and not knowing the significance of that ball, took it out of the dog's mouth and threw it in the bat bag. So, the ball that Scott took out of the bat bag to sneak behind the tree, WAS the Game Day ball! How funny is that!