Both Geri Ann's Johnson City team and Tara's Pinckneyville team won their Saturday games at the state tournament for middle schoolers or junior high age. Although a sixth grader, Geri Ann got put in to pitch with bases loaded and JC went on to win. Tara is head coach at the junior high and Pinckneyville upset Murphysboro, which had been considered the top team in the tourney.
So here with go again. Tomorrow the Glasco sisters and their teams will face each other to decide who wins the state tourney in this end of the state. (I don't know who is playing for state champions in the northern end of the Illinois.) No matter who wins, the winning sister will once again shed tears for the loser just as happened last spring when Pinckneyville High School, where Tara is assistant coach, knocked Johnston City High School out of going to the state tournament. This kind of competition is difficult for grandparents.
We did not get to see Geri Ann and Tara's teams play Saturday because we were in Notre Dame seeing Erin play against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Parkway (University of Wisconsin). Three visiting teams were on campus that day for the second set of practice games, where each school played two games. Vickie had stayed in Pinckneyville to watch the other daughters' games, and Gerry came up to Notre Dame, but we kept up with the play at Pinckneyville through cell phone conversations.
Gerry, Vickie, Tara, and Geri Ann had all gone up the previous Saturday for the first set of four games. Notre Dame won all four practice games, and that will be all they play until the real season begins in the spring.
We were upset to see Erin limping from a knee injury and were grateful the coaches did not have her play the entire two games. She did catch a few innings, played first base in the second game, and was DH. She did well in all positions, but grandmother had a lump in her throat as she watched Erin walk with an iced knee after each game.
Saturday evening Gerry and Erin came to our hotel room, and we all watched the Notre Dame football game on the television set there. We enjoyed taking Erin out to eat during the weekend, and on Sunday we got to walk all over campus and see her dorm room and meet a couple of her roommates. As we had been told, the campus was very lovely. Since the football game was at Purdue, the campus was not congested.
We drove home through central Indiana, and Gerald drove the entire way. He suggested we stop at Kokomo for a root beer float as he wanted to see if he could find the house where Mary Ellen and Brian lived one year. We did find it, and Gerald got to see the wall he built at the end of their driveway so they could park their camper there.
We were back home at Woodsong by l0 p.m. tired and happy. We had left home after lunch Thursday to attend the Baptist Student Reunion at Meadow Heights Baptist Church in Collinsivlle, so it had been a long weekend. I'll have to share our reunion experiences tomorrow.
4 years ago
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