Fall Ball is Done

Oh of course there will be more games coming and more seasons, but this weekend marked the last traveling team tournament.  Amy said we weren't doing "lasts" on this trip; and she may have had some dust in her eye as she braided Grace's hair in the hotel room.  Maybe it was the last braiding on tournament weekends or that Grace was unhappy with the quality of the braid and wouldn't let her do it again anyways...but either way it seemed that there were some emotions.  We drove to the Chicago area in the dark, given the time of year there are few other options and stopped for some soup/sandwiches on our way.  Interesting that our hour long dinner stop actually saved us 20 minutes of road time as it allowed the traffic congestion to pass.  The Saturday morning games were cold, but Grace played strong score easily through out the day.  There were plenty of recruiters around, but that isn't really out concern anymore as she is locked in for the '26 cohort. Amy and I cheered out of pride and as a means of staying warm in the rain and 38 degree temperatures.  Grace slumped her shoulders and hung her head after the game when she noticed my rain suit was full camouflaged (I was actually a little surprised she could see me at all).  Amy had the best chicken sandwich of her life from a tournament kiosk and then we headed off to do a little shopping to pass the afternoon away.  Dinner found us at an more upscale Italian place than we were dressed for but they kindly ushered us in and out very quickly.  Sunday morning had an added adventure as the hotel had lost power some time during the night, likely from the winter storm that blew in.  The room was cold and dark.  With no hot water for a shower we packed up by the light of our phones and headed to the fields.  They only lost a single game during the pool play, but the point differentials apparently weren't enough to lock in a 2nd place seed for them in the tournament brackets.  We had waited at a coffee shop with pastries and hot drinks for the news but seemingly nobody was too upset that we could head home before noon rather than play in the cold and snow again.  As it turned out the area would get 4-5 inches of snow as we drove north on dry roads.  She will practice and prep over the winter months but as for actual games we will have to wait now until March.