T-ball Column from the Yellow Springs News

• International night at T-ball
  (July 7, 2016) They’re considerate, these T-ball kids. Cruz Drew, 6, took me aside around 7:30 p.m. to explain to me he was sorry, he didn’t have control over it, they had to go get his mom, so that was why he was leaving early.
• Love! Love! Love! at T-ball
  (June 30, 2016) It was another wonderful night at T-ball.
• T-ball’s constantly moving maelstrom
  (June 23, 2016) We had so many kids show up for T-ball last Friday that I asked a mom-and-grandmom sitting on the bench with the kids to count. “Count?” she said. “They’re all moving!”
• T-ball’s rascals, scamps and scalliwags
  (May 26, 2016) Spring is here and the distinctive sounds of kids, teens and young adults playing ball at Gaunt Park — the cracks of bats connecting with hard balls and soft balls, the shouts of joy, the roars of approval, the moans of dismay as another runner crosses the plate — fill the air.
• High-five hellos at T-ball
  (August 6, 2015) There is joy. Infectious. Mysterious. Wondrous. Astonishing. Impossible to miss.
• The little and big miracles of T-ball
  (July 30, 2015) They’re all little miracles. Sometimes big miracles.
• This T-ball diamond sparkles
  (July 23, 2015) Tommy Moore, 7, is a home run king. When he comes to the plate he requests that we raise the tee as high as it will go.
• T-ball keeps ‘em coming back
  (July 16, 2015) Our Perry League t-ball program is for all children ages 2–9 regardless of race, color or creed, sexual orientation, ethnicity, spiritual inclination, ability or disability. We’re at Gaunt Park every Friday night from 6:30–8 p.m.
• The marvels and wonders of t-ball
  (July 9, 2015) Perry League t-ball is at Gaunt Park every Friday night from 6:30–8 p.m. Children can begin to play at any time and there’s no requirement to play every week. Come when you like, come when you can.
• T-ball, mud ball, having a ball
  (July 2, 2015) And that’s our Perry League, Yellow Springs’s T-ball program for all the community’s children ages 2–9 regardless of race, color, or creed, sexual orientation, ethnicity, spiritual inclination, ability or disability.
• Amazing moms and dads of T-ball
  (August 14, 2014) It says in our “Guide to Yellow Springs” entry that the Perry League is a self-supporting, all-volunteer beginners’ baseball program for all our community’s children regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, ability or disability, sexual, spiritual or religious orientation. Self-supporting? We spent $1,800 this summer on T-shirts, baseball caps, a dozen new soft dot […]
• T-ball’s sweet, goofy monster
  (August 7, 2014) Sophia Purdin, 3, has a flower tattoo painted on her face. She walks right up to me, her eyes shining, lifting her hands so they are as high as her ears.
• Learning to fly with T-ball
  (July 31, 2014) Darija Lackovich-Van Gorp, 4, is delighted with her brand new Perry League T–shirt. She tells me how wonderful it is as she stands at the tee not swinging her bat.
• T-ball’s no joke, but fun abounds
  (July 24, 2014) We’re doing knock-knock jokes. I don’t know who started this. We were doing our exercises. We were about to get on our hands and knees and crawl around two other people when someone said, “Knock, knock.”
• Me the Bridge and the T-ball gang
  (July 3, 2014) One of the exercises we do as part of our warm-up is to get on our hands and knees in the thick, three-inch long, green, green grass of the right field — “I know,” Tommy Moore, 6, says when we finish touching our noses to our toes, anticipating what comes next.
• Eye-popping joy at T-ball
  (June 26, 2014) The children’s capacity for joy is remarkable. Mind-boggling. Like Sophia Purdin, 4, cousin of one of my all-time favorite T-ball alums, Scotty Purdin.
• T-ball is full of kindness, surprises
  (June 19, 2014) We’re rolling our arms, warming up, but two of our animated, creative and delightful players, Rowan Brown, 5, and Kian Rainey, 5, are doing their own variation of this exercise.
• T-ball, a place for healing
  (June 12, 2014) A mob of us are doing our warm-up exercises in right field -— 65 to 70 children, 40 to 45 adults.
• Jimmy’s back, so is t-ball
  (June 5, 2014) Spring is here, summer is right around the corner, and that means it’s time once again for the Perry League, Yellow Springs’ all volunteer, 10-week t-ball program for girls and boys, 2–9 years of age.