Pitch, Hit and Run with the Colorado Rockies

Our son Kache had the experience of a life time in June and took us along for the ride!

Kache participated in the local "Pitch, Hit and Run" contest in Cedar City in May. This is a nation wide baseball skills competition that is put on local communities every year. Points are accumulated by hitting the ball, pitching to a target and a timed run from 2nd base to home. Preston took Kache to participate because he isso obsessed with baseball.

Well, Kache won the local competition easily. He was pleasently surprised. The next step was at the state competition held at UVU in Orem. Here Kache competed against all of the local winners and amazingly won the state title!!!!! We couldn't believe it! He was told that if he was in the top 4in the Western United States he would be invited to Colorado where he would compete at Coors Field, get to participate in a pregame awards ceremony out on the field and get to watch a Rockies game. We thought okay, what are the chances of that happening! A few days later we recieved notice that Kache had made it to Colorado!!!! After I picked Preston up off of the floor we started making arrangements

to go (they only gave us a weeks notice). We flew out from Cedar City on June 2oth and landed in Denver a few hours later. What an amazing trip! Kache took his first flight ever and was much braver than me (I freakin HATE to fly). Anyway, we made it alive, rented our first car and found our way around Denver. Brinley and Kolby stayed with Grandma Linda so it was just the three of us. We had a total blast! The next morning we arived at Coors field at 8:00 a.m. to get registered. Kache got a cute little uniform and some "Rockies" memorabillia. Then it was down to the field for the competition. Talk about nerves!!! Poor Kache was scared to death! The field was bigger than you can imagine to a 10 year old boy. We got out our video camera like all of the other gazillion parents and cheered as loud as we could for our boy. He did great! He took 3rd place! The only thing that bummed him was that the scores he got in Cedar and Orem would have won it in Colorado! He scored a little lower in Colorado. I don't know how he (or any of the kids) could keep composed enough to do it. Talk about pressure!!!! Anyway, the experience for Kache was unbeatable! He was on cloud 9 the rest of the trip.

After the morning competition we drove over to Pepsi Stadium, home of the Denver Broncos (Preston and Kache's favorite NFL team) and got pictures and then it was off to the mall. Let me tell you the malls in Colorado ROCK! School shopping is almost done thanks to that!

That evening we arrived at the Rockies game and got to enter ahead of the huge lines. They took all of the boys out onto the field for the awards ceremony. While Kache was on the field #21 for the New York Mets, Carlos Delgado ran past to warm up and gave Kache a "high five". Kache said, "mom I didn't know you could get cold chills in 95 degree heat." Needless to say, it made his life! The game was a blast and the ROCKIES won! The only thing that could have made it better is if they were playing Boston. Kache Idolizes pitcher, #19 Josh Beckett.

After the game we went back to the hotel and got up early the next morning to catch our flight. When we flew into town we hurried home to kiss Brinley and Kolby. We missed them and got them some presents. What an amazing experience! Kache says he can't wait to compete next year and now Brinley and Kolby want to do it also.