The Week That Was In Sports

This was another fun week covering sports. It was the last week that I will be covering high school sports. It is sad that the school year has come to an end, but it is also nice to get some rest. This week was also my last softball game of the year. I have really enjoyed making softball photos this year, and I am sad that it is ending. At some point I need to find a travel ball team to photograph. Below are a few stories that I found fun this week in sports. Right now next week might be very light on sports. It will be interesting if this post will happen.

Seeing Clinton Prairie Play

This year I had heard a lot about the Clinton Prairie team, but I hadn’t had a chance to see them play yet. In fact I have seen very little high school baseball this year. Clinton Prairie was a fun team to watch, and they took care of business in their first semi-state game.

The Good Light

This was my favorite place to make photos during Aviator games during blue hour. They have proven elusive to contact this season so I have to find other times to make these types of photos. I really like how this one turned out. At this point of the game I had given up on game action, and I was focusing on making fun photos close up.

Kouts Wins Semi-State

In the semi-state nightcap Kouts took the game and the semi-state title. They will now play for a state title. There were some familiar last names on the roster that got me thinking about my time living in Northwest Indiana. If you had to have a time to win the game it would be during blue hour. As the outs were winding down I was hoping that the light would be just right. I got really lucky and it was.

The Good Light

There is a point during games at Loeb Stadium when the light becomes the star. Here you see it peeking into the frame. It is at this point when you start to focus more on the light than the game.

Hey Coach!

I was sitting on the third base side of the field photographing the game when I heard a familiar voice. I looked over at the third base umpire and realized that it was my old football coach Bob Schellinger. I only had Bob for my senior year, but I watched from afar for years as he built the Slicer program into something more than a laughing stock. It was really cool to see him coach in the state title game ten years ago. He is still looking good, and contributing to high school sports in Indiana.

Thinking Of Dad

Last weekend was father’s day weekend. It was the first one for me since my father passed. We could talk about anything, but our language was baseball. He had a bat iny hand when I was in the hospital. If we ever had a moment of silence baseball would solve that. The last time that I saw him we talked baseball for well over an hour with my mother just sitting there watching us. I can’t think of a baseball game without thinking about what he would think. He was always my biggest champion, and he loved giving me feedback about my baseball photos. Baseball seems a little empty without him around. On father’s day weekend though I wanted to make sure that I got at least a game in. To get two games in was a real treat. I wore his Sox hat just to make sure that he was with me. I also always found a couple of seats when I sat somewhere just in case he wanted to sit next to me. As my little one played her final game on Tuesday I also couldn’t help but think about how much fun he would have had watching her play. She was wearing #9 which was the number the Minnie Minoso wore. My father loved Minnie. He would have marveled at how much she started loving the game, and how she would take control of that field. I ‘d like to think that he was watching from above. He is probably watching right now telling me to get that tear out of my eye.

One Last Game

Unless a game gets added after the fact this week my little one played her last softball game of the summer. It is amazing at this age how fast and far you can get in one short season. I was having so much fun watching her play that I never wanted it to end. With another month her growth would have really gone through the roof I feel.

Practice?

I am usually not the guy who makes practice photos. The wire that I work for wants nothing to do with them. When I was asked to photograph this open practice for the Purdue women’s team though I jumped on the chance. I had made some group photos on Cardinal Court before, but never any kind of action. It would be fun to make photos in a new place. It is always good to shake some of the rust off as well when it comes to a sport. Basketball season is still far away, but getting any reps in is always good. I was at the practice for the Greater Lafayette Sports Report. Mike Carmin has always been one of my favorite writers so to help him out in any way is a very cool thing. If you want to find out more about the new faces on the Purdue squad he is a great source. Give him a follow.

New Faces

This Purdue women’s team has a lot of new faces on it. With the way that college sports is set up right now it feels like every fall I will be learning new players on basketball teams. The last couple of years have felt like that for the Purdue women’s team. There were a couple of faces out on the court that I can’t wait to see in game action. That is about four months away though.