Fall 2022
We'll start with softball season.
I don't even know where we left off. There have been lots of games and the Eagles finished the season 15-11. There were a few games that we should have come out on top, but most of the losses were to pretty good teams. Gracie spent most of the season behind the plate and we had to miss a weekend that she did really well. Luckily we could see some of the gamestream on the app, so we were able to follow. Grandma and Grandpa filled in that weekend while we made a trip to Iowa (more info to follow). Here are a few pics from more of the games played.
Thumbs up, I guess.
This was the night that she hit her first high school homerun.
Action at shortstop and third.
She spent most of her time here, though.
🠋
Catcher
Hitting
There were quite a few moments during the season, that I thought to myself "how does she do that???"
Mostly in a positive context. From the times that she executes a delayed steal to third (she's not exceptionally fast) to pushing bunts down first base line (very unexpectedly) to move or score runners. Picking runners off third and framing pitches so well that it leaves the batters baffled and her pitcher smiling. Then there is the fact that she played the last two weeks of the season on an ankle that was purple and blue, refusing to sit it out. A lot of the time my critical brain focuses on what she can do better and how to keep improving. But wow. She is so much better at softball (among other things) as a 14 year-old than I could ever hope to be at anything. Don,t get me wrong, she still does some bone-head things, but she is a student of the sport and has pretty high goals. She is freaking amazing most of the time and definitely recognizes when she is not performing to expectations, both hers and others'.
With 2 weeks left in softball season, Gracie came down wrong on her ankle during open gym for basketball and this was the result. I cannot imagine how much it probably hurt to squat and run. She played four more games like this and hit a home run 3 days after this happened.
We hosted the first round of districts due to Centralia having too much rain to use their field. We ended up getting beat by Centralia and our season ended a little earlier than we had hoped. Even so, Gracie had an amazing freshman year. She was named 1st team all-district, all-conference, and all-region as catcher. Post season for our Southern Boone team, she won the Gold Glove award for defense, she was the offensive player of the year with a batting average of .486, and she earned her first Varsity letter for high school. She started every game and led the team in almost every offensive stat, including stolen bases. Again, Gracie is not that fast, she just has the instincts of a veteran player. She had fewer than 5 errors for the whole season. The stats say only 1, but I know there were at least 2 more. Regardless, that number is impressive for a position that has the most number of total chances to make plays. Gracie was the only freshman to be named to the all-conference team. We are still waiting for All-State teams to be named, which will most likely happen in the next week or two. State competitions just wrapped up for softball last weekend. She is setting the bar pretty high for herself. It feels very strange putting all this out there about my kid, but I have to share the accomplishments Gracie made this year and how proud I am of her. She has worked hard and deserves it.
Travel ball started right away for Gracie. We were scheduled to play in two tournaments this fall, but the second was canceled due to rain. So, the weekend of October 22 we headed to St. Louis to play more softball. This was the first weekend with her new Aces team and I think these girls are going to have a lot of fun together! I have zero pics of my own from that weekend, as I ended up taking stats and doing the livestream for every game. We used the app to stream the games so at least we have her at-bats recorded there. The team was .500 on the weekend and played pretty well against a couple good teams. Gracie hit over .500 that weekend, had 2 HRs and 7 RBI's. She played mostly shortstop and third and it was great that we have two other catchers!
After Homerun #2
Saturday night's games were delayed by over an hour, which meant that we didn't get done until around 10:30pm. Of course the coach and player were starving, so Waffle House was the solution! When we drove by and Nick and I were both like "Yes! Waffle House is open!" I think the kids were in disbelief that we were actually going to have a meal at 11pm before heading to the hotel. The only downside was that we had to be back at the field at 8am. Ugh. The life of travel ball.
And so...softball season ends until spring and we are doing basketball for the next 4 months!
Iowa State Wrestling Reunion
We had a great time the last weekend in September with some friends from college! One of Nick's teammates was honored and inducted into the ISU Hall of Fame and all 5 of Nick's graduating class made it back to celebrate. Gracie was missing, but she had to compete with her softball team. Owen had practice on Friday afternoon, so we headed up to Iowa and arrived pretty late at my sister's house. We missed the banquet on Friday night, but what a fun weekend. I can't say enough how happy I am that we made the trip and got to see so many people! The ISU sports complex has also changed so much in the seven years since we left!
Owen got to meet Cael Sanderson!
Yes, Cael flew in for the occasion.
Lots of wrestling Alum were in attendance!
Attending the ISU football game! We had great seats!
The graduating class from 2002
Mark Knauer, Billy Maldanado, Joe Heskett, Nick, and Cael Sanderson
That is pretty awesome that they were all there.
We had seen Billy and Mark at Mark's wedding in 2016, and I'm sure that Nick has seen Cael at some point since 2002, but I don't know if this will ever happen again with these five.
Owen found Cy, of course!
We made a trip down town after the game for dinner/drinks after taking Owen back to my sister's. He was kind of itching to get on the 4 wheeler with River.
My goal this weekend was to say yes to anything and everything that Nick wanted to do to celebrate the occasion. There were a few of his teammates who even took a drive out to Coach Douglas's house just to say a quick hello and let him know that they still think of him. Coach Douglas barely came out of his house, but hopefully he knows how much he meant to his athletes.
Then we stopped to see a former co-worker and spent an hour or two catching up at his house. To end the night, we drove Cyon back to Ankeny before retiring to the Wearmouths. We ended with a low key evening hanging out in the Wearmouth garage. It was a very long day, leaving by 7am and not getting back until around 9:30pm, but so worth it.
Owen has such a great time visiting Iowa!
I'm not really sure what he was shooting at, but this is typical Owen.
We headed back on Sunday to make sure that Gracie was able to get to open gym for basketball after her weekend of softball.
Homecoming 2022
Homecoming week is kind of a blur at this point for me. I know there were some softball games, a jh football game, and a high school game that were all attended. There was also the Homecoming dance and preparation for the dance. I'm not sure if I mentioned, but Gracie is on Student Council this year, so she had a part in making sure that the dance happened and that it got picked up afterward. So, here are some fun pictures for all of the homecoming festivities.
Owen and his football friends after the parade
Gracie and Owen before the parade
Gracie and Haley during homecoming
All the girls who gathered here before the dance.
During the morning of the homecoming dance, Gracie had a "tournament" up in Mexico. But it was really just a round robin type of competition, and we only played two games. So in between, we prepared for girls to take over our house while Nick and Owen went to the Mizzou game. I think the afternoon and evening were successful with lots of girls here getting ready for the dance. Following the preparation here, Talleys hosted both boys and girls in their barn for dinner and snacks before sending all the kids off to their freshman homecoming.
Getting a ride in the IH truck over to Talleys
Lainie's dad provided the transportation.
Some of the freshmen softball girls
My girl and me
Gracie, Nova, and their dates
Gracie and Chase
This is their second dance together
Gracie and some of the basketball freshmen
Some of the girls have actually decided against playing basketball this year unfortunately.
Another picture of the softball girls in attendance at the Talley house
Gracie, Chase, Jackson, and Arely
Arely actually is homeschooled and lives in Columbia, but she and Gracie danced together for four years while she was going to Columbia Dance Academy. It was so fun seeing her again. I love that Arely is wearing sneakers!
Talleys provided Chick-fil-A for all!
Everyone else brought drinks and sides, but the sandwiches and nuggets were a huge hit!
It was also great that they had tables set up for everyone to eat at. It was such a fun night for all of the kids! I hope that we can continue to do this.
M
Another picture from dinner
My Gracie girl at her first homecoming
Fun night with the softball team
Prior to postseason play, we hosted a softball fall party at our house for the team. We had games, food, a hayride, fire, and s'mores. I think it was a great night and the girls had a lot of fun. There were only a couple girls missing who didn't make it.
Some of the girls were pretty excited to play with the horses.
Others were having fun playing 4-square volleyball
Everyone had plenty to eat
Here are the freshmen girls who attended. I think Micah came late.
Ready for the hayride!
I think we had 15 girls here!
Kegan and Owen were in attendance, too.
Middle school football 2022
Owen had a great season of tackle football. Honestly, I do not know what he is supposed to be doing most of the time, so it is great to just watch in ignorance. I get to cheer everyone on when it looks like they're doing good things. :) I only missed one game, I think because Gracie had a game the same night and it was Nick's turn to watch football. I am so happy that he had fun and still loves it. He came home exhausted after most practices with bruises all over his arms and kept going back for more. He said there was only one time during practice that he really got hit hard and struggled. His 7th grade team ended the season 5-1, only losing to Boonville. They were a tough team.
Owen really likes playing defense and being able to tackle people.
This was his last game at Osage and he also scored a touchdown for the first time! He has been playing tight end most of the time, but his primary duties are blocking, I think. He seemed pretty happy to score, but I think he looks even more excited when he has a great hit on the opposing players.
Owen after the Hallsville game
Another pic of my #32
The Bentlage boys after their last game in Osage; Knox, Kellen, and Owen
They are missing Rowan, but Rowan doesn't play football.
A group of the 7th grade boys after their last game.
School pics for football
Looking pretty tough
More football pics
That's a wrap for 7th grade football...next is wrestling.
Wrestling will be fast and furious, doing all of their meets in under 6 weeks.
School pics 2022
Owen 7th grade
Gracie 9th grade
This has taken so much longer to write/post than I thought it would, and there is probably way too much information for one post. Hopefully I will get a little down time to update more often. There is so much more even since the pictures post here. It has been a whirlwind of a fall so far and we are heading into winter sports. We had winter sports meetings almost 3 weeks ago and I realized how long basketball season actually is for high school. Gracie will most likely be playing JV and at least sitting with Varsity, so double the fun for us! Owen's wrestling season has started and his first meet is November 11, with the season ending before Christmas. He will most likely transition to CWC again after Christmas to continue his wrestling competition season.
So much more to look forward to in November and December. Gracie is in Texas right now trying out for the USA softball team at the 14 u level. Owen has his first wrestling match in just one week. Gracie's basketball season starts on November 22 and we leave right after that for Thanksgiving in Colorado! I am counting down the days!!!! I cannot wait to go on vacation.
There is always more to come...
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