Well as I sit and write this, softball has come to end at the Smith household. Randi played her last college game on Sunday, and Jessi is unable to play anymore. Since I last wrote, Randi did go to Temple and has been playing first base for the Lady Leopards, which I must say up until this last weekend, was a blast. Jessi ended up having to have shoulder surgery for the second time in November of last year. The doctor said she could come back and play but we decieded that it wasn't a good idea, that she needed to be able to use her shoulder for life instead of just softball, so it was hard to watch her say goodbye to the sport we all love at our house. Josh has been fine, he made the 'A' team football and basketball in Junior High this year and loved it. He is in the process of playing 7 on 7 football and baseball. Mark is coaching him again in baseball and while it isn't going great, its not too bad.
Well lets expand on the kids. Josh did have a pretty good year in football. Although they don't throw the ball a whole lot in the the 7th grade, what they did throw to him, he pretty well caught. Then there was this amazing interception he caught this year. So we had a good time watching him. It was our first experience with football, seeing how the other two players in our house were girls. I have really enjoyed boys athletics, it doesn't seem to be quite as political as the girls side. Anyway, then we went on to basketball, where he did pretty good there too. He really is athletic and fun to watch. Then we went to track where we found out Josh likes to practice but not go to the meets. Oh well....
On to Jessi. Well it was a rough year for her. It was not fun finding out she had to have surgery again and would thus end her softball, I was really looking forward to watching her grow as a player and have some fun watching her on the field. It was rather heartbreaking. But i guess its whats for the best. She was a basketball manager for the boys varsity this year and I think she had fun. Somedays she did, others not so much, but it at least gave her something to do. She has now gotten a job and is working a couple of days a week, which is good for her. She needed something to do besides run around. She was dating a boy from Crawford and even went to the Crawford prom this year and had a good time there, but they have since broken up, but she did look great at prom. Anyway she is about to finish up her junior year and we will see what the future holds.
Well it was bittersweet Sunday when the Lady Leopards lost to end softball for us. Randi is ready to move on to other things in her life and while I don't blame her, I will miss softball. But all things must come to an end. I am proud of her though, this year she played first for Temple and was selected to the First team all conference squad. And was named all academic. To be on the all academic squad you have to have a 3.5 or higher gpa. So I thought that was totally great.
The Lady Leopards had a pretty great season. They won the conference with a 26-2 record, but weren't able to win the conference tournament to get to the national championship tournament. I won't say much on that......Emily Leib, Randi's former high school pitcher and roommate pitched great this year for the Lady Leopards. I enjoyed watching those two together playing again. Well I am going to try and add some pictures here for all to see... Enjoy..
Josh and his snake
Jessi at prom
me and Randi after her last game.
