June 9

After a week of no baseball, the boys had a game this morning.

I initially worried that they'd struggle since they didn't so much as touch a bat during our time on Kauai, but I was quite wrong. Isaac played all three outfield positions and threw out a runner at home plate during his tenure in center. He also went 3 for 5 at the plate with two doubles and a walk. Pretty great for having had time off.

Brady had a pair of at-bats; no hits, but he successfully advanced runners on the basepath both times so it worked out okay. But his real success came on the mound when he threw two scoreless innings. Given that the game went 10 innings and (finally, mercifully) ended with a score of 18-16 (nope, not a typo), that's no small accomplishment.

After one of Brady's successful half-innings on the mound, the team had a quick pow-wow outside the dugout. As Isaac ran in from the outfield, he put an arm around Brady and they stood there, together, our numbers 77 and 88, listening to Coach Andrew give his motivational pep talk. I got up as fast as I could to try to take a pic, but Isaac dropped his arm just as I got into position. I can still see the scene in my mind's eye, though; the bigger brother supporting the little brother. Their care for one another is a blessing to them and to me.