All-Star day was moved to May 20 in the hope of catching better weather, and the weatherman delivered!  It was a beautiful cool but sunny day, with a lot of laughter and some good baseball. 

There was some "suspect" softball, too, but that's a mystery (see below). 

The morning saw the base paths warmed up with always-fun T-ballers, followed by the new group of Coach Pitched kids, who are having a good initial season under their heroic coach volunteers. 

Minor league games (East vs. West), Coaches vs. Girls Softball, and Little League games (East vs. West) rounded out the game action. The East teams won out except for the second Little League game, when the power-packed East team inexplicably hit one pop up after another. 

The highlight, or lowlight, of the games may have been the Coaches vs. Girls Softball, when the Coaches somehow blew a late game lead through fielding errors and extremely poor baserunning. Christy White pitched well for the Girls Softball team, though she sorely missed her cleats after trying to get to first base on a bunt. 

After the games, a baserunning competition and the home run derby finished out the evening. Brandon Twigg surprised everyone by taking the gold around the bases, and Michael Twigg found the magic spot on the bat SIX TIMES to pull away from the field in the home run derby. Congratulations to the Twigg cousins on their achievements!

As one of the premier fund-raisers for the GBA, All-Star day seemed to do well, selling food, tickets for team gift baskets, and various lotteries. Thank you to everyone who helped make All-Star day such a fun success!

There's only a week of regular season baseball left, and the seeding will soon be set. The Mets, under Coach Jimmy Gregg, occupy a familiar spot in the #1 seed, but the last games will determine the rest of the seeding. 

The Orioles have to win on Tuesday against the Cards to avoid being stuck at #4 -- a loss would put their record at 3-8. The Orioles have been in every game, but the "comeback kids" have usually come up a bit short in every game. 

The Cardinals are the only team this year to beat the Mets, and they hope to do so again this week to grab the #2 seed.

The Red Sox have gotten a lot of power production out of the top of their lineup to be competitive in all their games this year, and they are the other main competitor for the #2 seed. 
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What has been fun to watch throughout the season are the relationships between the kids, who remain friends even when they are facing off against each other in particular games. Home run hitters are congratulated by their friends, the opposing pitchers. Timid players at the plate are encouraged by both sides to step up and swing the bat. At times like that, GBA demonstrates community baseball at its best!