Austen Finishes His Baseball Career

Austen pitching one of the last games

And, just like that, he's 15 and playing in his last baseball game (ever). Unless he's like Michael Jordan or Tom Brady and says he's "retiring" but changes his mind.  

It wasn't that long ago that Austen was playing in the Humboldt Park baseball league in the city when he was just 4 years old and running down those poor kids who hit a weak grounder to him at the pitcher's mound. Instead of just throwing to the first baseman whom he knew couldn't catch, he would run and tag them out. It was awesome at first and then embarrassing after a few of those that none of the kids actually got to play. Little did we know that that was his strength. Fielding. Not perfect but he was good. Always. 

This season as a high school freshman, he had many double plays mostly from short stop but at the end he also played a little outfield and made at least two double plays from there. His hitting - well he grew as a hitter. When he was younger - he was a great hitter and then came kid pitch. Austen was deathly afraid of getting hit by a pitch so he wouldn't swing at all. He would wait for the walk. He had many games/seasons where he was trying to figure out his hitting. As he got older and worked on it more, he got better. He worried less about getting hit and worried more about striking out. The last two to three years though his hitting steadily improved. He wasn't perfect but not even the best are. 

This year, he had only a few strikeouts but he made contact with almost every single pitch. My kid who used to wait for the walk was aggressive at the bat. Maybe sometimes too aggressive as he wanted to hit everything but you don't want to curb that since that's important in baseball - being aggressive at the plate. He had many singles, a few doubles but the home run eluded him as he hit the fence at least twice. He struggled sometimes with the pop ups but a short video of him hitting and some YouTube videos were good for him to figure out what he was doing wrong. In fact, during his last game, he adjusted and hit no high pop ups, hitting a double and a single before hitting a great hit between the right fielder and center fielder who made a great catch and then he got out on a grounder (that I missed because I had to take Peyton to swim). He made a few double plays and some key outs in the field too. 

I'd say he ended on a high note with a great coach surrounded by some great friends. He said he was sad thinking he wouldn't ever play again but it was hard for him. There were many nights where he was exhausted and went to bed late because he had soccer practice right after and homework still to do or a test to study for. He was tired and digging deep to hang on (to performing in baseball, doing his best in soccer and continuing to maintain his A average in school). It was a struggle for him and I knew it. I'm not sure he'd be able to continue at this pace next year as both sports and school are only going to become harder. So while I'm sad to see him retire his bat and glove, I know that he worked hard this spring to be able to do all three - baseball, soccer and school. It took a lot out of him, and it took a lot out of us too (going from one game or practice to the next).  But I'm proud of him for the discipline he showed in trying to do all three well. It wasn't easy. But he did it. So I bid adieu to Austen's baseball career with his last three at bats (minus one that Tom failed to capture while I was running carpool). 

The Double

The Single

The Great Hit to the Outfield That Got Caught

PS. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention in his third to last game - bottom of the 7th inning (they play 7), bases are loaded, two outs and Austen's up to bat. He has two strikes on him (from foul balls) when his coach shouts to him, "Austen, pretend this is soccer - we really need this goal!" And with that, Austen hits a line drive to center field scoring the winning run and the team erupts in victory. It was a sweet moment and one that I'm glad he got before the end of his baseball career.