Congratulations to Sean and Jess!!

Jessica and Sean have a new baby girl!! Mia arrived this afternoon weighing 7.11 lbs and by all reports looking great!! Mom and baby are both doing well I hear. I can't wait to hear more news tomorrow! Rest well all of you.

Tropical

Boy it's been steamy the last several days. And there is not alot of hope in sight as it appears it will continue through the week.

It has made for some beautiful evenings. Meg took this shot last night of the setting sun - truly a big red ball in the sky.

Fawn 2005!

We were fortunate this morning to have a deer wander quietly up the treeline on the NorthEast side of the house while we were having morning coffee. She kept coming nearer and it was a real delight to see her up close. Meg was going through some magazines and held up an issue of Vermont Life with a beautiful deer and fawn on the cover. Not two minutes later, I realized that the deer we were watching *had* a fawn with her, previously obscured by the tall grass!

This fawn was new! It was nursing much of the time and Momma was licking the little shaver every chance she got. Long story short, they wandered up closer to the house, actually coming out on the lawn and we took about a billion pictures. Here are a couple.

Champs!!

[AKA Marty's victory dousing!]

Marty and the boys went to Burlington and delivered big time again, beating Northfield 3-2 in a tense but strangely familiar South Royalton victory to become Division III Vermont State Champions!!

Though Northfield scored first, there was a feeling of inevitability about the ability of the Royals to come back and do what they needed to do. They did just that when Justin Densmore slapped a ball through the right side of the infield, scoring SoRo's third run. That was all Nevin Fulcher needed as he, and the SoRo defense (led by catcher David Manning's pitiless putouts at second base the only times Northfield was foolish enough to attempt stealing) held Northfield scoreless over the last six innings. Nevin worked hard all day, but owned Northfield in the seventh; once he threw the first pitch of the inning, we knew the game was over. And indeed it was as shortstop Paul Manning gunned down the last Northfield batter to give the Royals the State Championship.

These kids have had an amazing year, ending the year 19-0, going to and fro on a luxurious bus paid for by the royal fans of South Royalton who bought hamburgers at the SoRo "Cook Shack" run by Marty's Mom, buying 50-50 tickets all summer, giving TV interviews, dousing their coach after the game, and many of them graduating tomorrow. Tonight South Royalton was to celebrate with fire engines carrying the young heroes threw town. Now that's support.

It's been such great fun to watch these kids - a reminder of the intensity of high school emotions, as well as a poignant illustration of the greatest and most beautiful of sports. I thank my friend Marty for leading these champions and allowing me to vicariously participate in a very special slice of life that I might have missed had I stuck to delighting our customers with world class software solutions.

Northfield's futile waving at Nevin's pitches.

It was a beautiful day for baseball at Centennial Field at UVM.

South Royalton goes to the State Championship!

The boys from South Royalton did it!

They beat BFA-Fairfax (the team that bounced them from the playoffs last year) 3-2 in a wonderful pitchers duel in South Royalton this afternoon. As usual, Marty's boys put a couple runs on the board early, but unlike previous games they were unable to extend their lead. The good news was that Paul Manning, ostensibly their #2 pitcher had his game of the year, striking out 12 and walking nobody, taking a three run lead into the seventh inning. Despite BFA-Fairfax pushing 2 runs across that inning, Paul struck out the last batter of the game (above) to preserve the 3-2 victory and catapult the Royals into the Division III State Championship game at Centennial Field at the University of Vermont, either Friday or Saturday afternoon.

It was a great game and a great way to go to 18-0. One more little item to take care of...

Royals Prevail

Marty's South Royalton gang worked a tough win yesterday in the second round of the 16 team playoffs, beating Green Mountain 7-5. It was the best high school baseball game I've see to date and was only over when the Royals first baseman made a diving over the shoulder catch of a foul pop-up with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, after Green Mountain had already brought a run across to draw within two.

The Division III playoffs are down to four teams and SoRo will play Tuesday afternoon at home against - I think - BFA Fairfax, to whom they lost in the playoffs last year.

It was a gorgeous but HOT day for baseball - several of the players were visibly worn down by the heat.

Go SoRo!

Marty's South Royalton Royals took an easy win against their first round Playoff opponents 10-4. The game was not nearly as close as that as Marty put in the subs in the third inning after gaining a nine run advantage, starting his second string pitcher.

It's interesting to watch all this. Marty's team is from a town not any bigger than the SAD 74 Carrabec Cobras for whom I gave my all twenty five years ago. He has a bunch of very talented farm boys who, when in the right frame of mind, are almost unbeatable. Much remains to be seen, but Marty's team is very definitely a contender for the state title. The apex of my high school career was pitching in the Carrabec's losing effort against Jay in the first round of the state championships in 1980. I felt for Williamston today as they really played quite valiantly.

The South Royalton Royals go again Saturday at 4:30PM again at home and against an undoubtedly tougher opponent (not yet clear who it is). They will throw their ace Nevin Fulcher, who while passable doesn't have my fastball (ha!) and I feel for the competition as Nevin is a pitcher with stuff like location and selection. Hmmm. Interesting notion.

Anyway, I got this nice shot of a beautiful June afternoon in Vermont with Marty overseeing the whuppin'. Fenway has absolutely nothing on a beautiful afternoon in South Royalton!