Admittedly, in years past, I have taken my boys of summer a little for granted, with spotty attendance for the home games.
Not so this year.
This was, after all, their last year here.
True, there will still be baseball at the stadium, but... it will not be the same, of course. "The same, but different", as one of my Lunch Ladies would say.
Last night was the final game of the season. Even though school has begun and I had lecture and lab responsibilities, I was there anyway, hoping to soak up those last innings. Turns out the field was too soggy for play, but I was still allowed to throw a first pitch. Hooray!
Sure, the Savannah Sand Gnats will be back for a Playoff game on the 11th, but that isn't part of the regular season. That's extra baseball because the boys have played so well this year. They won the first half of the SAL season in the Southern Division, with 39 wins out of 70 games played, guaranteeing them a slot in the Playoffs. (Amazingly, they've done that for five of the last six years.)
To top it off, they made an amazing comeback, including a 19-game winning streak, to also win the second half, with 44 wins (and a tied game) out of 65 games played. That bodes well for them becoming the SAL Champions once more.
How awesome that would be before they are forced to go to Columbia, SC! Up on top, with a BANG!, not a whimper.
However it may turn out, I have certainly enjoyed these twenty years in their company.
And these past five months especially, bittersweet as they may have been at times. I have had to concentrate only on the game at hand as I cheered them on. To allow my thoughts to wander to the finality ahead would have had me in tears at every game.
That's a lot of tears.
The first home game was back in April, ya know.
It's now September and there have been seventy-two home games, though some of those dates were rain-outs in other towns, leading to doubleheaders here. (The southeast has a bit of a rainy season in the summer.)
Again, that's a lot of tears.
Bill and I split the Season Tickets this year. Each of us had thirty home tickets. I gave him all of the Thirsty Thursday tickets and the "Bark in the Park" Sunday ones, too, for him and Tucker. He had all of the Dollar Monday games, too. That way, he had tickets to share with others! After all, who would use an $8 ticket when one buck is all that is needed?
(smile)
He got the Monday and Wednesday tickets for those nights in April, May, and August when I had class and lab. Plus, I gave him the June tickets for those travel days I had already planned to Alabama, North Carolina, and south Florida.
(By the way, I had deliberately chosen the dates in June to coincide with a minimal number of missed games. Planning is good!)
Like I said, we both had thirty home games, not including the two extra games which were played here for rain-outs elsewhere. All in all, there were twelve days that had doubleheaders, either here or away and only two games that did not get played, anywhere, because of rain.
That's pretty amazing, especially when you consider how much rain falls in July and August. I don't know if anyone has kept statistics on such things. I've only taken the time to tabulate it because it was the last summer at Grayson Stadium for my boys.
Bill and I actually made it to four games together this year! His work schedule tends to get in the way, but we hit the ground running for the very first game, and even made it to another game the next week in April! That was it until my birthday in May, when he sprang for box seats on the third base line. July 2 saw us together again, shouting encouragement and telling the Sand Gnats to "get a hit, hit, hit!" And we managed to get in one more time, just a few days ago, during a doubleheader against Augusta, when he joined me for the second game.
That's not to say I went solo to those other games. Oh, no! My first niece and her family joined me several times, as did my karaoke buddy, Sandy. There was even a night there with Live Out Loud!
And on those occasions when I did go stag to the game, I was never alone. I had the company of other regulars, like Mister Willie Smith, Bruce the Riverdog fan, the Tuten Boys (Jack and his dad), Fran Luce and her husband Jim, and, of course, the "Sweet Caroline" girls, Lauri and Lynn Engler. There were other regulars, too, like Candace and her dad, that I knew passing well.
I'm going to miss being with this crowd.
Some I will still see, but others are out of my regular loops. The only time I ever saw those folks was at the games.
Still, we will meet again. We have a Playoff game on the 11th, and perhaps another on the 12th.
I can hardly wait!
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