Mid-Summer Competition

The past three weeks have been kind of a whirlwind of competitions.  There has been a lot going on and I thought it best to divide it up into a couple different posts.  Gracie has had basketball and softball; Owen has had wrestling and football practices.  Lots of traveling and just nonstop activities.  First we went to Linn, MO to watch Gracie play basketball with her Cougars team.  They played pretty well and she got a lot of time on the court.  We ended up taking 2nd in the 1-day tournament.  She won't get to play with this team for the rest of the summer.  Their next tournaments are during her softball tournaments.  It has been fun, though and it's a great group of girls!

Gracie getting some time with Cougars

"How did I just airball that free throw?"

It was pretty funny...Nick caught her on video and her reaction was priceless.

Boxing out

Looking for the rebound

Then, 2 days later, playing with her Southern Boone team.

They had her jumping for tip-off... Our team obviously lacks height this year.

🤣

Gracie jumping

We played Tolton, and she and Sadie are not friends during games.

Gracie has not been able to get to a lot of Southern Boone activities this summer, but goes whenever we are home and they have practices or competitions scheduled.  She was able to go to both of their summer league nights in Fulton this year and she made it to 2 of the 4 Wednesday night softball leagues.  She just hasn't been home...

Then on Tuesday, the day before we left for Colorado, she attended Mizzou camp.  It was so hot that day, but I think she had a great time, as always.  It's crazy to think that she went to her first camp in 2019 when she was 10 years old.

Gracie with Coach Sara Marino

Gracie with Coach Anderson

Gracie with Coach Cottrill

So, one thing after another... After a full day of camp, Gracie went home, got packed up and we left early Wednesday morning to head west to Colorado.  My parents were already on their way, and ready to meet us in Loveland for the first of two tournaments, and an 11 day stay in Colorado.  While we were driving, Owen and Nick were carrying on with their Southern Boone duties; Owen playing/practicing some football, Nick coaching some softball.  The drive was pretty uneventful and Gracie took her turn with driving a couple hundred miles across Kansas.  We stopped quite a few times, but made it before sunset and I got to walk around our neighborhood before it started to rain.  It stormed a bit on our way from Denver to Loveland.  It was not a very late night; Gracie had to be at practice at 8am the next morning.

Riding with my girl.

She got a few naps .

Practice in Windsor

I can't remember what this complex was called... we played at so many different fields.

Practice on turf

They had a two hour practice before we made our way to the venue of our first game, which was at a high school field in Timnath, CO, approximately 15 minutes away.  There was a bit of time in between, so we were in no hurry.  Just one game that afternoon... same team that we had lost to in the last tournament, but this time we won 7-2 and had a heck of a game.  Then the following day we were 1-2... So, 2-2 going into bracket play after 3 games Friday.  Each day our games were at different venues; all about 25 minutes away from our "home" in Loveland.  

Getting ready to go.

That's about all we did while in Loveland; played softball, ate, and slept.  My parents are such troopers and watched every single game that she played.  On Saturday after games, the last day in Loveland, Gracie and I went out to eat with a couple teammates, watched Owen wrestle on Flo and then went shopping at Scheels for a little while.  She was also invited to go rafting with a couple of them early the following morning before heading south to Denver.  So she got all packed up to move to our next destination.  I realize that I didn't take many pictures of softball; they all start looking about the same after awhile.  I did get a couple with mountains in the background, though.  It was a beautiful backdrop.

Picture with the coach and Kali

Gracie got to wear the chain

Here is our 2nd day in Colorado

Gracie wanted a picture with the mountains in the background...here it is.

Third day against a really good TX Glory team.

Their pitcher was throwing close to 70mph.

A view from one of the parks close to where we were staying in Loveland

The Patriot Games in Windsor (and surrounding areas) were 3 days; 6 games.  We ended up 3-3 for that tournament.  Gracie hit .467, 3HR, 8 RBI, 1CS, 0PB, 1SF.  Pretty good showing for the three days she competed.  There were soooo many college coaches in attendance!

Meanwhile in the Midwest, Owen was continuing to go to practices and then head up to Iowa for his tournament on Saturday, June 29.  Oh... And Nick had a birthday, too, which he celebrated with Trent and Kimi at their house in Swisher.  Owen made weight on Friday evening and wrestling began at 9am Saturday morning.  It was a couple hours before he actually wrestled, though, and thankfully it was in between Gracie's games.  

Warming up with his Dad/Coach

More warmups on the mat

Patiently waiting

Finally getting to wrestle

Owen lost his first match and then won the next two, which assured him a place on the medal stand.  I got to watch all of his matches on flosports, which was great; he ended up wrestling 5 matches that day.  After he made it to the medal round, he lost the next two, and placed 8th.  He did much better in his last match, which was against the same wrestler he lost to in his first match.  Lots of learning and getting better.

I think the best part is that he is surrounded by some outstanding people

Dwight wrestled at ISU and was a senior during Nick's redshirt year.

 He is still helping kids!

Love this!

Owen also had quite the cheering section!

Annie brought her kids, and Josh and Julie brought theirs.

Grandma Deb was also in the stands taking pictures!

I'm so happy that he had support there!  What a fun day!

We didn't get a chance to see him on the medal stand...you are supposed to order pictures through their photographer, but Nick hasn't figure out how to do that yet.

I hope Owen had a great time in Iowa and wants to keep competing!

Lake day!

After a very long day on Saturday, Nick and Owen headed to Annie's house to hang out with them until they needed to catch their flight to Denver on Sunday evening.  They got to go fishing and boating and have some fun with my sister's family.  They flew out around 7:30pm and we picked them up around 8:45 pm MT from the Denver airport.  Finally together!

Owen loved/hated the pac-man game at our rental in Denver

On Sunday, we checked out of the Loveland house, and Gracie went rafting with a couple of girls from her team and I explored some trails before picking her up and heading to our next destination in Denver.  We checked into the rental in Denver around 4:30 or 5pm and unloaded all of our stuff before picking up the boys at the airport.

The following day, Monday, July 1, Gracie had practice and then we met my parents and Ben in Golden for lunch.  I am so happy that it worked out and we could see him, but also disappointed that I forgot to take any pictures.  Then my parents joined us in Denver for the remainder of the week.  Gracie had a team dinner and Owen stayed back to have grilled hot dogs with my parents.  We got back home fairly early and prepared to wake up early for the 8am game the following morning.

Gracie's teammates at the team dinner.

They clean up really well.

Gracie's 2026 Class

The first part of our competition was the Super Cup, which consisted of 8 teams in a bracket.  We were 1-1 after the first day and both games were fairly close. I can't remember which teams we played.

Owen making himself comfy in the hammock

Team meeting after the games

I guess they were worn out

After returning to downtown Denver, Gracie got cleaned up, and we made our way up to Mt. Blue Sky, formerly known as Mt. Evans.  Then the following day, the girls had the day off and we went to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  More on that in a different post.  When we got back from that Gracie and Nick went to hit in a nearby indoor facility.

More bracket games the next day on July 4 holiday; 8am and 10am.

Gracie after she stole 2nd base.

She's so fast.

Ready to run again.

Playing a little 3B

Catching against Impact Gold Jazz again

Called strike

We were ahead in the first game and then lost it after a couple of our errors and timely hits by the other team.  Then we played Jazz... again.  Just didn't have it this time.  Gracie and one other girl were the only ones to get hits against them.  Unfortunately the hit wasn't a homerun, and we gave up two grand slams...very unfortunate.

On the bright side, we had the rest of the afternoon off and went to eat lunch with my parents and got to see a long time friend at a different ballpark...watching her daughter play!  Again, I completely forgot to take pictures.  We saw Beth Heinrich (Lischer) and her husband Jeff and watched her daughter, Maddie, play for about an hour.  It was so great to see them again!  It had been almost 8 years since we visited them in Colorado.

We started bracket play at 4pm Friday afternoon and continued with struggles at the plate, despite hitting in cages before the game.  Gracie did ok... 2-2, but very few other hits, and definitely not strung together to score any runs.  We finally came alive with hitting during the elimination game on Saturday morning, but it was too little, too late.  Lost that one, too, and we were done.  

Gracie catching in the last game

Gracie hitting in the last game

The team did not do so well in the Super Cup/Sparkler, but Gracie ended up with .615 BA, 8H, 2 HR, 4 RBI, and a stolen base.  Only 1Error during those 6 games.  Disappointing as a team, and I'm sure Gracie would rather have her teammates do well and win games.  But, we get to move on and play again this week in the KC area.  Always more to do and opportunities to improve.

We gained a passenger for the trip home!

Kali got to join us for our final night and we had a bit of fun before leaving Colorado. 

Owen looks so excited to be sitting in back.

More on Colorado fun in the next post.