I forgot to mention that Mary Claire kicked off our busy Birthday Blitz weekend last week with an outstanding softball outing. Both she and Kelly have joined church league teams and have been having a lot of fun learning how to hit, catch, throw, and run.

Claire was excited because she had been selected to play first base for the game (the base where most of the action is.) She played the position well, stretching to make several catches and outs at first.

Claire ended up being the best hitter on her team, often getting it out of the infield (which is rare with the elementry school team and their extra-soft softball.) She batted clean up last Friday. Two girls were on when she got up to bat the first time. Claire smacked it over the shortstop’s head, and the ball rolled past the outfielder. Claire was able to speed around the bases for an in-the-park homer with three RBIs. At her next at bat, the bases were loaded. She repeated a hit to left field, but this time the outfielder got to the ball and threw it in. Unfortunately, for the other team, two throws missed their mark, and the ever-aggressive base runner, Claire, was able to round all the bases for an in-the-park Grand Slam.

Her big brother would have been proud. We sure were.