A Mom’s Story About the End of an Era in Little League Baseball

I still remember the day my sons started in Little League baseball as if it was yesterday.

My oldest was 6 and my youngest was 4 and they both played Instructional, and it was wicked cute. When I see the real little ones practicing or walking by with their great big baseball backpacks (which are bigger than they are), I just smile and think back to when my boys were that small and so darn cute.

Here we are, just about eight years later and last night my youngest son Brody played his last game on our Fairhaven Acushnet Little League fields.

It was a pretty big game, the final game of the best-of-three championship series. Our team, Knox Electric, won Game 1, and Roland's Tire won Game 2. So it was down to the final game, and boy, was it close.

Roland's was up by seven runs in the second inning, and then with a heated battle, we came back to score 10 runs total by the sixth. It wasn't enough, though, as Roland's still had one run on us. The game ended with a great catch in the outfield by Tommy M. from Roland's and the final score was 11-10 with Roland's Tire beating Knox Electric. So close!

Like me, the other baseball moms and dads have also been dreading these last few weeks of the season. I mean, this league has been such a big part of our lives (and theirs) for almost a decade. With most of us involved in travel baseball as well as our All-Star teams, we still see a lot of each other and know that will not change in the coming years. But we will all miss the community of Little League that is so irreplaceable.

For me personally, there's been something very special about my husband being our son Brody's coach for as long as he's been playing baseball that I am going to miss so much. And the families we've met and become such good friends with, I will miss the camaraderie we've created together. We parents are our kids' biggest fans, always. Will we still be friends and see each other? Of course, but you get what I mean.

Although so bittersweet, I have to say to my husband the coach, my son the player and to myself, the emotional baseball mom, cherish the memories created and on to the next chapter with excitement.