Hey sandlotters , Week three of games was absolutely awesome. While watching the radar all Friday night and Saturday it was nice having the storms roll south of us and once the last game was complete and we got back to the house the rain started coming down.

So much has happened in week three starting with last Sunday and getting to see one of our lil sandlotters get baptised and it was an honor being invited. Had to leave the service right after her ceremony to get the family and go to the Wake Forest vs, Boston College game at Wake with our Sandlotters. Thanks to all who showed up and it was pretty emotional for me after the game when the kids were allowed to run the bases on this awesome field. They come onto the field by Wakes dugout and ran off behind Boston Colleges dugout. My daughter, Michaela, had a foul ball and wanted to get some signatures so she went to the BC players and allowed me to talk with a few of them and let them know we were a Christian baseball league and all of them were in our prayers. In that brief moment of talking with these courageous young men , the events of what happened the week before set in.

We can watch from our television, read the paper and the internet but it took me looking into the eyes of guys who experienced it on their own home front and all it took was to look in their eyes. Boston College lost all three games that weekend but just to be able to run out on the fields and compete was such a major accomplishment and the main point all of them told me was to PLEASE KEEP PRAYING. It was an honor to be able to talk with these guys and I hope you all will continue to pray for everyone affected by this horrible event.

Another prayer request that has come up is with one of our sandlot families , a first year sandlot mother , came to me just before her sons tee ball game and said  " Coach , you all take prayer requests right ? " I can tell the family and community love here and wanted to ask you all to pray for me and my family. "

A year ago she had a spot taken from her back that was skin cancer and last Friday she found out that it has come back and she is at stage three . She will undergo surgery in May and then Chemo treatments.
To start all of our games all day we have the athletes line up , go over our theme for the week ( this past Saturday was Sandlot Families ) then announcements then prayer requests then we pray. I asked this mother to come out onto the mound with me as I told everyone her story and then we prayed. I then told the same story for the next 7 games through out the day.

Please keep this family in your prayers and I thank you before hand. I will continue to update information as I find out during the rest of her treatment even if Spring season is over. I have not posted her name yet because I want to make sure she will be ok with it.

As for our athletes , it still amazes me every practice and game to see each ones progress at all levels and along with the athletes the parents dedication to our program in so many areas. We have been so blessed to have the coaches take such an vital role in each of our players and we are working harder this season at fundamentals and more structure to make their experience more fun .

We have built a three station batting practice area for the tee ballers and modified tee ballers and we are working on building a batting cage for the older athletes and hope to have it in place by the end of this week.

Many of the families have been donating to our program in so many ways and Shelby and I appreciate all that yall do.

We have added a donation tab to our web site since we have been approached by some who have asked about donating so if anyone feels compelled please click on that link and THANKS.

I have also been approached by different friends and family to speak to organizations about what we have done and are planning to do and am looking forward to telling them about how God is working in my families life by creating an environment for everyone to feel special while playing the awesome game of baseball.

Hope this entry finds everyone well and Lets Play Ball,

Coach Mike