The Week That Was In Sports

This was a week with a few washouts for my rec league softball games. I did get to see two great baseball games this week, and a really good softball game last night. Below are a few stories that I liked from this past week. As I write this I am not sure what next week will hold for me. Next Saturday could be another week off for the weekly sports column.

Raise It Up!

Saturday I was at Loeb Stadium to photograph Rossville winning their regional championship. This was a very good and quick game. That quickness was very lucky as a big storm came in washing out game two. Rossville played very smart baseball though and took home the win. I love these stack up shots of the team and the trophy. You never know how the photo will turn out when they hand the trophy to the athletes. They could turn your way, or maybe not. Here I was lucky and it worked out for me.

Emotion!

I didn’t get to see much of the Rossville game Saturday. It was originally supposed to be a doubleheader so I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get too hot on a very warm day. Of course once game two was rained out I felt pretty silly for not photographing this whole game. It was a really good game filled with emotion.

A Little Drama Helps

My 3:00pm game on Saturday kept getting moved back. In fact it was moved all the way back to noon on Monday. Central Catholic was up going into the top of the 7th and I was planning my photos for when they clinched the win. Of course baseball is a cruel sport and Lapel tied the ballgame. Going into the bottom of the 7th CC had a look like they would walk it off. I tried to pick where to go. A lead off triple made the walk off seem inevitable. I moved to the end of the CC dugout to get what I hoped was a dog pile around first base. With the walk off hit being a sacrifice fly the celebration was fairly close to me. It was a last second move, but a good one. I love how this photo turned out. I think that if CC had just won in the top of the inning it would have not been so emotional. The added drama though added to this photo.

Some Pregame Fun

When I saw LJ working on his bat pregame I knew that I had to make a photo of him. To start this is a fun pregame photo that I knew would help to tell the story of the game. Another reason is that LJ is a really great umpire that I get to see work a couple of times a year when my little one plays out at battleground. You always want to reward people that do great things.

Emotion!

If you read this blog then you know that I love emotion. It is what makes what I do fun. Playoff baseball is full of emotion. Here are a couple of my favorite images of that emotion from the Monday game.

Sense Of Place

I always like to include photos of the water slide in my backgrounds. You can make tight photos of the players, but every now and then I like to show off the surroundings. You don’t have to put the entire water slide in the background, but a little bit lets you know right away what park this was made in.

Another Shot At The Trophy Photo

This trophy photo was a little harder than the Saturday one was. I put myself in the same spot, but the kids in front of me were very tall. I must have been behind the basketball team. I made a few photos through the arms, but it was much harder than the other regional game.

A Last Second Trip To The Park

Friday night we made the last second trip to Bittinger Stadium to catch a state finals game. I made this photo during pregame, and then never picked my camera up again. I was there to watch the game. That isn’t to say that I wasn’t clocking things that if I was working that I would photograph. I did enjoy just sitting back and enjoying a game for once though. Next year it would be great to have a team that I know in this game so that I can have a reason to break the gear out.