Day 58: Final Cooperstown Baseball Day

The day started off fantastically, thanks to this cart ride that all three of us enjoyed.

In the first game, Cooper’s team was down for much of the game, but they came back for another victory, moving them on to the “elite 8”.

The stands look different at the Cooperstown fields. There is a “parents dugout” with lawn chairs next to the players dugout with green wood all around so you can’t watch from just anywhere.

What ended up being their final game was really close, but they couldn’t pull off the win this time. The kids were bummed, but with time they should feel super proud of how far they made it in the tournament and how well they played this week.

Post-game, we went back to the multifamily house for more bonding time (and to do more laundry) which was perfect. We have scored to have such wonderful kids and families on Cooper’s baseball team. What a week to get to spend so much time with so many awesome people.

We headed back to the park for the closing ceremony where each kid got a ring and paraded through the main stadium one more time. The kids and parents then took pictures before the kids went back to the bunkhouse to pack up. This took a VERY long time, but the kids also did it independently since parents weren’t allowed back there to help.

We loaded up the car and then went back to the main field to watch the fireworks and start of the final playoff game at 9pm. Yes, those kids in the playoff game had the first game at 9am, then 4 more games before their final game at 9pm on the same day. The ultimate winner of the tournament was a team that looked like young men who played super clean baseball, excelling at pitching, fielding, and hitting and were by far the best team we saw play ball this week.

We will all enjoy a full night’s rest in our respective accommodations and are thrilled not to have to be back at the park for the assigned 6am-9am pick up time. It was SO worth the packing wait this evening.

Cleaning up each evening really helps with a smooth start for the next day, but that didn’t happen tonight. With all the bags of Cooper’s things from being away for a week, bringing back extra items for teammates, and our own bags to get us through a full day at the field we simply hauled it in and went to sleep.