The Week In Sports

This is a sad time of the year. The high school sports season is winding down. Monday I saw what was probably my last West Side softball game of the year. It has been a blast seeing the team grow this year.

Back At Harrison

My week started at Harrison with an afternoon game there. I had planned on being at both games that day, but a private client offered me a job photographing a youth soccer game. After the game was over I drove to Harrison to catch the last few innings of their game against Roncalli. It was a rematch of the state title game a few years ago. This Harrison team could have all home games on the way to state this year. Right down the road from me could be some good sectional, regional, and semi-state softball. The way that this team plays with so much emotion I would love to get a few games in with them on that journey.

More At Harrison

Seeing Harrison play Roncalli was pretty cool. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was photographing that game at the Bitt. Now the freshman on that team are graduating. Maybe in the next few weeks I can make some of the photos of the team that I haven’t been able to make yet this year.

The Last Game At West Side

On Monday I saw what was probably my last game at West Side this year. This has been another fun year following this team. I made it to nearly all of the games this year. Only late in the year did the conflicts start to make it hard to get to games. In fact it is a conflict that will keep me from the sectional game that they play this week. I went into this game thinking that it would be my last game photographing the seniors. The hard part about covering sports and seeing one team so much is that you start to really enjoy watching the players do their thing. This senior class has been a great one. You have Bree at first base who has locked that spot down for a while now. She now has some team records to show for her hard work all of these years. Allison had her season cut short by injury. She was a team captain, but also the captain of the outfield. She is the reason that my oldest got to practices and games last year too. That is an MVP performance off the field that meant a lot. Megan has been the catcher since I have watched West Side games. In fact when I saw her play as a sophomore I thought that she was a senior captain. That is just the way she plays the game. Back in the day she would umpire the rec league games and gave my oldest some catching pointers back then. All three of the seniors have left their mark on the program. I hope that they can win that sectional game to give me a chance to see them play again.

Trying A New Spot

It is hard to photograph from the third base line in softball. For some reason no matter where you are down the line you can’t get a clean shot of the players at this park. I found a new spot at the end of the dugout that let me see the batter, but also get a clean line down to second base too. It paid off here for this play at second.

Over The Rainbow

On the night I made this photo both kids were supposed to have games. The rain made sure that our night went from too busy to be everywhere to trying to find something to do. I was in the office with the blinds closed when I noticed a glow outside. I ran out to see the start of an amazing sunset with a nice rainbow in it. I ran down to the local ballfields because it is so close to my home to make this photo. This isn’t really an action sports photo during a game which this post should be about. It is a photo at a field that I don’t get to as often as I used to though. It has a baseball field in it so it makes the list this week.

More Photos From The Week

This week is another week where the photos are all softball again. It is crazy to think that my softball season is coming to a close. I have had so much fun capturing this sport this year. I have one way with a pro league where things might be able to extend a little. There might be more on that in a future post. For now here are some of my favorite images from this past week.