The Week That Was In Sports

This was yet another week impacted by cancellations. One for rain and one because the opponent decided they didn’t want to play. It was another week of finality though. It was my last West Side home game of the year. It was also a week with senior day for the Harrison softball team. Below are a few stories that I liked from this past week.

A Senior Walk Off

Tuesday night was a heck of a game between West Side and Jeff. The seven inning game went to nine before senior Kerrigan Gooden hit a walk off single to let the Red Devils win their last home game of the year. It is hard to believe that we are done with home games this season. It wasn’t that long ago that the kids were in preseason drills and I couldn’t wait for the season to begin. Now the season is nearly done. Next week sectionals being. It was amazing though that the lone senior on the team gets to be the hero in her final home game.

Losing My Mind

In the sixth inning West Side still had not had a hit in their last home game. My oldest came up to the plate and smoked a ball that hit off the top of the wall in right center. If that ball had been a little higher it would have been the first home run of the year for the Red Devils. I blew some of the photos while cheering in the dugout. It is funny that in the biggest moments in sports I can be super cool and do my job. When my kids do something cool I completely lose my mind. That is the fun of doing this.

Doing It All

The game against Jeff would not have made it to extra innings without Paola Eifler. He robbed a home run late in the game, and then had a little league home run in the 7th innings to send the game to extras. Her effort took a run off the board and then added a huge run when the team needed it.

An Unexpected Baseball Game

On Wednesday I was supposed to photograph a softball game. The game was cancelled because the other team didn’t want to play though. This has been the year of cancellations. There was supposed to be a ceremony pregame of the softball game honoring special teachers. That ceremony was moved to baseball so I made my way into the Raider baseball field for the first time in a couple of years. I had a ton of fun making pregame photos so I decided to stay. I haven’t been able to photograph much baseball this year. I had a lot of fun photographing the Raiders. Hopefully the schedule works out so that I can do it again.

Finding The Fun Moments

For years I have heard photographers talk about how photographing baseball is boring. I have never seen that. There is always something to photograph somewhere. In baseball the dugout is a great place to make photos during lulls in the action. This is one of my favorite photos this year made by keeping my eye on the dugout.

Having Some Fun With The Pitching Motion

Like I said above I don’t get to photograph many baseball games anymore. I was having some fun finding the angles to best photograph each pitching motion. It was always fun for me to find ways to show off the beauty of the pitching motion. It was fun to have a few pitchers to practice on Wednesday night. The light was also cooperating to help me out quite a bit.

Senior Night For The Raiders

The year of the cancellation has seemed to hit Harrison the hardest. Game after game that I have put on my schedule has been cancelled. I really wanted to be at Senior night though. This is a fun group of seniors, and I was happy that it worked out that I could be at the beginning of the game. Senior day is always a hard one for me. This group has done great things at Harrison and they will be missed. They are going on to bigger and better things though.

Watching Della Pitch Again

Four years ago before a game my little one and I met Della Bossung. She said some nice things to my little one pregame and had an immediate fan. Over the years it has been fun watching Della play the game. She has fun doing it and is always supportive of her teammates. This year for travel ball my little one picked the number 19 and I have to think that a chance meeting pregame four years ago had something to do with that. On senior night I tried to make some lasting photos of this #19 one last time.

A Quick Trip To The Park

This was a quick trip to the park to see Harrison play. My little had a game at seven so we had to leave early. Hopefully this year the Raiders can make a run and I get another chance to see them play. I really am not ready for softball season to be over.

The Magic Of Cameras

This is a cool photo to me. I was photographing the double play when the hitter ran through the photo. They sort of blocked the play, but also showed me something really cool. The ball should have disappeared, but it somehow shows up through the runner. It is not the best photo, but one that makes me think a little and is definitely very different from anything else that I have made this year. Different is always a good thing.

Goodbye Rowdy

This week the racing world lost a legend. Kyle Busch may not have been for everybody, but he was one of the greatest to ever do it. I was lucky enough to get to photograph him a few times over the years. A few of my favorites are above.