The Week In Sports

This was an interesting week. It started off with two softball games on Saturday morning. A rare Purdue baseball Monday game followed. The the rest of the week I had five softball games in four days. As this post goes live I am hopefully photographing another Saturday morning doublefheader. At the beginning of the year I told myself that I would pace myself. I didn’t want to get burned out of editing like I did last year. I have been having so much fun making photos though that I haven’t been able to stay away. This coming week is looking busy too. At some point I should be able to get a break in. The softball season is so compact though that it really hits hard during the short time that it is here.

Saturday Morning Softball

My week started off with a series of two games that started around the time last weeks week in sports post went live. These doubleheaders can be tough to photograph because you start to feel like you are repeating photos. I started just trying to play around though, and ended up having fun the entire time.

An Amazing Catch

There was a stretch during an inning where the West Side first baseman made two amazing plays. The first was a line drive catch in foul territory that looked more like a save she would have made as a goalie. It was a great play though. Not long after she made another circus catch up against the visiting dugout. You can see the players in the dugout diving for cover, but Bree bounced off the dugout, but came away with the ball. It is still early in the season, but she has already made a handful of gutsy plays over at first base.

Using The Warm Ups

This is a photo that is impossible to get during the game. During warm ups though you can lean over the fence a little and make some fun photos of the catcher. I really like how this one turned out. It took a couple of tries to make sure that the pitch was where I wanted it, but it was worth the effort.

Son Of A Son

Monday afternoon I went down to Alexander Field to see some baseball, but also to see Landon Hairston. When I was a kid Jerry Hairston was a main stay with the White Sox. I remember seeing a baseball card showing him and his dad Sam Hairston on it. The as the years went by I was able to see and photograph both of Jerry’s kids at the Major League level. Jerry Jr. and Scott kept the family legacy going. Now after Monday I have photographed the fourth generation of Hairston that hopefully will make it to the big leagues. Landon Hairston is Scott’s son, and batting in the two hole for Arizona State as a freshman. It is cool to see the Hairston name on the back of a jersey again. The number 51 reversing the number 15 that I am used to seeing was a cool treat as well. As I get older I am no longer photographing the son’s of players that I grew up watching. I am starting to photograph their grandsons.

Monday Baseball

The game at Alexander on Monday was the first time that they have ever played in the stadium on a Monday. I have now photographed a game in this stadium on every day of the week. Thursday games are rare, but around Easter and the end of the regular season they can happen. Monday baseball was a fun treat. It was fun to get out for a little bit and photograph some baseball before I had to leave. Purdue sent the faithful that could stay home happy with a walk off dinger.

Emotion!

Tuesday I had the chance to finally see the Harrison softball team play. They play with a special brand of emotion that is fun to capture. The fact that on Tuesday they were playing their rival McCutcheon probably amped that emotion up a notch. These seniors are kids that I have covered for four years now. That is crazy to think about. They are fun to watch and the way that they play the game just makes for good photos. If the weather holds out I should be at their park as this post goes live.

Bringing The Heat

Harrison has a new pitcher that absolutely brings the heat. She had a perfect game going as the seventh inning started. I was thinking about where to be for the final out. The scoreboard does not show the hits, but I think that I was going to try and work that into my photo. You would have seen all the other zeros up there for McCutcheon, and it could have told part of that story.

Finally Seeing Avery Layton

I have heard about Avery Layton at Rossville for a while now, but I was finally able to see her play on Wednesday. She really is the real deal. She pitched a great game, and also hit a home run. It would be cool down the road if Virginia Tech would come play a series at Purdue.

A Quick Game

Wednesday I only had about an hour to be at the Harrison game against Rossville, but I knew that I could make a few photos while I was there. It really was a good game to make photos at as both teams had their moments during the stretch that I was at the park.

Playing In The Rain

On Thursday I was at Clinton Central to see West Side play. The beginning innings of the game were played in a fairly heavy rain. West Side made that first inning a long one by putting up a big crooked number. They kept doing that in route to scoring 27 runs on the day. They were having a lot of fun out there in the rain, and on a kind of cold day it is always more fun to be on the winning end of these deals.

A Sense Of Place

This year for away games I have been trying to work more of the park into my photos. At home you have all the familiar stuff. On the road though the little details of the park remind you of that place that you played that one time. Thursday the one feature that showed the place was the scoreboard. I tried to work it into a few photos during the night just to show where we were. This week I get another chance at another new park to try this out.

A Homer In The Rain

West Side hit a couple of bombs on Thursday. Two in the same inning to be exact. On this one I lucked out with the bat being a little wet so that the water is flying off the bat with the ball.

Bonus Photos

Here are a few bonus photos from the week that I liked. This was a busy week with me making photos at six games in five days. I am not complaining though. As I write this I have two games tonight that I will talk about next week. As this goes live if the weather allows I will have two more today. This is a fun time of year to make photos. Softball is becoming a sport that I love to photograph, and even on my nights off I have been finding myself trying to get to a game.