State Champs!!!

Bennett's baseball team played in the Illinois State Championship this past weekend in Jacksonville, IL...and they won!! GO TEAM ILLINI!! Six games in three days was a lot, but the weather was perfect and winning all six games made it sooo worth it :) The drive took us 90 minutes each way and we drove it three times...put over 600 miles on our car..yuck. A lot of the team stayed all weekend at a hotel, but I had signed up to run a 5k Saturday morning at 8am (where I beat my personal best time by 5 minutes, thankyouverymuch) so we had to come home after the 8pm game Friday night. Thankfully, Scott's parents stayed in Jacksonville both Friday and Saturday night and kept Bennett and Brady with them. Cate was a trooper, making the trek all three times...I'm so grateful that she does so well in the car (except for her non-stop talking). Of course, I took a ton of pictures and videos...here are some of my favorites

Brady and Scott warming the team up before the game. Brady is the team batboy and sits in the dugout during every game. He loves being with the boys!

Great effort diving for a foul ball
Scott got a little fired up during one of the Sunday games. I captured this picture of him charging the umpire after a blown call. Ok, he wasn't really "charging" him, but he did make it known to everyone within ten miles of the field that he was not happy with the call :)

With 35 kids between the ten families on the team, there is always someone to play with during the games!

She had lots of popsicles

That's A Winner!!!!


After each game, the coaches award "game balls" for 110%/team leader, offensive, and defensive players.
"And the winner of the Team Leader award for the Championship Game is........"
"Brady Smallie"!!!!!!!! He called the final three games coin tosses, winning HOME team advantage each time.
He hasn't put it down yet!

Running the bases after the final game

Kerrigan, Tyler, Lauren, and Cate playing on the field. Doesn't Tyler look just like Carter at that age?! Carter kept saying "Tyler is so cute"!!!!!!!!!

Receiving his trophy. That's one proud grandpa watching in the background
Proud little sister or just happy to finally be going home?? Maybe a little of both. Next up? We leave Friday for another Team Illini baseball tournament in Owensboro, Kentucky. Let's hope for another great weekend!!