February 23

Brady had his first start of the spring season this afternoon. 

Overall, he pitched well. Adam remarked that he seemed to be throwing harder than last year, and his control was, save one hit batter, solid. He threw three good innings, getting out of a jam along the way, and then started the fourth. And then a defensive meltdown struck that resulted in several runs scoring and him being relieved of the ball (although he never lost control -- I think the coach was probably more concerned that he might eventually lose control and wanted to nip it in the bud).

In the end, they lost the game by a final score of 2-5. (But the team that beat them went on to win the tournament 9-3, so there's that!)

I felt badly for Brady because it seems like he often falls victim to defensive meltdowns, but he handled it really well, and was in a decent mood during the drive home, which was a huge and unexpected blessing.

I'm grateful for his resilience. And I'm grateful that there are more games to come, too, which will no doubt provide more opportunities to practice being both gracious losers and gracious winners.