Sennet’s cub scout den leader works for Amazon downtown, and invited the kids to take a tour of the new Amazon Spheres. According to online sources, “the Amazon Spheres are three spherical conservatories on the headquarters campus of Amazon in Seattle, Washington. Designed by NBBJ, the three glass domes are covered in pentagonal hexecontahedron panels and serve as an employee lounge and workspace. The domes, which range from three to four stories tall, house 40,000 plants as well as meeting space and retail stores.” Construction began in 2015 and they were dedicated in January of this year.
The tour lasted about 45 minutes. About half way through Sennet asked me, “How much longer will we be here?” That usually means he wants to go, so I said, “About 20-25 minutes, why? Do you want to leave?” He said, “No, I want to stay longer.”
Sennet’s spring baseball team is the North Seattle Baseball Twins. When the season started we were a bit concerned that perhaps some of the kids didn’t have nearly the experience or passion for the game as Sennet – especially coming from Radiator Whiskey and the Rainiers.
But the team is off to a 3-0 start – so things are looking good. So far. Sennet is mostly playing pitcher, catcher, and first base. And playing them all really well.
Sennet catching
Sennet at First Base
This morning he subbed for another team at 10am and played outfield and catcher for them and was great. His first time up to bat he had good contact, but hit the ball right to the first baseman. His second time up he got his first hit of the season, right over the first baseman’s head, then they threw the ball to home so he went to second.
Then his Twins game was at 1pm. He played pitcher, catcher, and first base – and he hit his first home run (and second hit of the season – his first for his team)!
It was a shot down the right field line and he ran like hell – including running through the stop sign at third base – and just barely beat the throw to the plate. I timed the video and from when he hit the ball to running the bases and sliding home was 14.56 seconds!
His first home run. He was super thrilled, and I think Stacie and I were just as or more. The Twins won 17-5.
Here’s the video of the home run. Apologies from the videographer (who was coaching first base) – he was a bit excited and wasn’t focusing on holding the camera steady and on the action…
We had signed Sennet up for the Mariners Kids Club at the start of the season, and we got an email recently saying he had been picked to come down on the field before the game on Saturday to watch batting practice!
We had to be down at Safeco Field at 3:15 to get the passes, and then went under the stadium and out onto the field. Everyone had to stand behind a small fence, and we got to watch as Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano, Ichiro, Kyle Seager, Taylor Motter, and a lot more players each took turns at batting practice. After a while, Nelson and Robbie came over and signed autographs. Sennet was a bit star-struck. I took some video of him getting his ball signed by Nelson, and that was also shown on the Mariners pre-game show from a different angle!
Then we got some food (pork dumplings from Din Tai Fung – which Sennet loved – and a BBQ brisket sandwich from Jack’s!) and went to the outfield bleachers to watch as the Oakland A’s took batting practice. Sennet got a ball that was hit into the outfield and dropped in front of the wall – a player threw it up to him. It was also Salute to the Military day, so everyone got a cap with an American flag on it and the Mariners S logo with camo.
When the game started we moved down to our seats along the first base line. We had second row, but no one sat in front of us so we moved up to the first row. It was a great game, back and forth. The Mariners had 17 hits, and 4 home runs: Segura, Haniger, Seager, and Vogelbach – who hit his ABOVE the Hit It Here Cafe sign way up in right field! We won 10-8, and as we were leaving we bumped into the guy who always wears a Mariners suit to the games and is always shown on TV. We finally got home (via Light Rail) around 10:30. Long, but fun day.
On April 9th Sennet and I drove down to Tacoma to watch the Tacoma Rainiers (the Mariners AAA farm team) play. We stopped off at Frisko Freeze for burgers beforehand and then took in the game. It was a Monday and even though it was a beautiful evening, it wasn’t very packed, so we moved around quite a bit to try different seats and views. Cheney Stadium is great, and we had a blast. Sennet even got a foul ball.
It ended up being a double-header, because the game the night before got rained out. They played two back-to-back 7-inning games. And we watched both!
As Sennet’s season with the North Seattle Baseball Cubs was ending, Coach Dan pulled us aside and told us about another team they had which had 5 kids from the Cubs on it (Troy, Cayden, Brooks, Miles, and Luca). This was a travel team that they put together to play in tournaments around the state. He said they would like Sennet to join the team. In addition to the Cubs players, Radiator also had Coach Dan, Coach Jason, and Coach Ted – all whom we both really liked and thought were great, patient, positive, teaching coaches.
We had wanted Sennet to play some summer baseball, and had in fact signed him up for a try-out for the very next day with a summer team in Bellevue. We thought about it and decided we’d love to stick with the coaches we knew and players we liked.
Radiator also had some kids from other NSB teams: Noah, Julian, Christopher, Jack, and Malakai. In addition, Malakai’s dad Jordan was another of the coaches.
Sennet played in a scrimmage with them against another Bellevue team and did fairly well. Radiator had a few practices and then it was right into his first tournament with them. It was down in Fife, about 40 minutes south of Seattle over the weekend of June 24-25.
Radiator won their first game of the tournament 15-0, against Port Angeles. Ump called the mercy rule end of the third inning. Sennet walked his first time up and stole second and ended up scoring. His second time up he he hit a fly ball that was caught but he wasn’t too upset because he didn’t strike out. He also pitched an inning and did great – only one hit and gave up no runs, obviously. Great start.
They won the second game of the tournament too! But it was brutal. First game was over around noon, second game started around 5:15! Team went to a restaurant for lunch, but the rest of the time tried to relax in the shade since it was in the upper 80s.
Sennet tweaked his shoulder messing around. That combined with the heat and he sort of mentally checked out and said he couldn’t play. The team was pretty low energy and fell behind to the Washington Athletics Gold team early, 0-3 in the first inning. Took them a while to come around, but then they woke up both on offense and defense and ended up winning 8-4. Sennet didn’t play.
Since Fife was so close, we all drove home to sleep in own beds and get ready for Sunday.
Sunday’s game was at 11am against IBC Purple. Another victory and another shutout. 8-0. Sennet’s neck felt a lot better after a good nights sleep. He played right field and second base but didn’t see any action. He flied out and struck out swinging his two times up to bat. The coaches and us were pleased with his aggressiveness at the plate. With that victory Radiator was in the Championship game, which wasn’t played until 5pm.
The team went to a BBQ restaurant for lunch, and then laid under the trees in the shade to stay rested for the final. At one point Coach Ted hacked the sprinkler system and we all ran through the sprinklers in a welcome relief to the 90 degree day.
The championship game was against Rock Creek Select. Sennet played right field, and also got a walk, stole second and stole third (which was super close he was almost out but for his speed) and scored a run. But the team is strong and the coaches are stellar and they got the victory: Radiator won 9-5, and that was the most runs they gave up in any game this tournament. GSL State Tourney Champs.
The second game of the NSB Cubs playoffs was crazy, to say the least. It was scheduled for Wednesday, June 7th at 6pm but the umpire never showed up. Eventually he was called and came in (he didn’t know or realize he was umping that night). So the game started 45 minutes late…
Cubs were the visiting team so they batted first. We got 3 runs and seemed be looking good. But then the Braves were up to bat and scored 14 runs in the inning! A combination of the pitcher having a tough time pitching (eventually had to be pulled for another pitcher), lots of errors, walks, drops, etc. It was pretty ugly. Sennet played catcher and didn’t do great, had a few mental errors, everybody seemed to be moving at half speed and not focused. Game seemed to be over almost before it began.
The next time the Cubs went up to bat they started to battle back. I think they got 5 or 6 runs back.
Troy pitched the next couple innings too and did well, but the Braves kept scoring runs. Then the Cubs started hitting better, and the pitching for the Braves fell apart and we had some good hits and A LOT of walks – walked in quite a few runs for us actually.
By this time it as the middle of the 4th inning and it was getting late. Braves were up 22-19.
Sennet pitched the bottom of the 4th and did very well. The first out was a grounder hit off to his side and he dived for the ball, knocked it down, picked it up, whirled and fired it to first to get the player out. Next out was a towering fly ball to centerfield and Logan made the catch. Last out was another big fly ball to right field that Wyatt had to sprint towards the line and just got his mitt on the ball to make the catch before it hit the ground. 3 up, 3 down.
As they began to get ready for the 5th inning it was decided to halt the game because it was getting too difficult to see now that it was dusk. Since the umpire was so late, it was decided to play the last two innings this Friday night.
So our playoff saga is to be continued… proud of how they battled back though. Easy to just say, “Well, game’s over…” and not try when you get shelled like that so early.
By the way, Sennet struck out and had two walks and scored two runs. Good patience at the plate, but still waiting for that big hit.
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So Friday night we all show back up at the field to finish the game. Score remains 22-19 but the Braves are up so if the Cubs don’t score at least 3 to tie in their first two times at bat (and keep the Braves from scoring) then the game is over.
Cubs are up first and it’s the top of our order. First two batters strike out. Next couple get on base and then it’s an easy fly out to the pitcher and we’re retired.
This is the playoffs and it’s win or go home. Cubs are behind, they can’t let any more runs score. They have the choice to put anyone on the whole team in at pitcher…
Sennet gets the call.
I think Stacie and I were more nervous than him, but very proud.
First batter gets a couple strikes and a ball and then tries a bunt but it goes foul. In this league a foul bunt with 2 strikes is an out (a fact none of us knew previously).
One out.
Next batter up fouls, gets two balls, swinging strike to go to 2 and 2. Strikes out swinging the next pitch but it’s a dropped third strike – meaning if the runner reaches first he’s safe. But Brooks, who was catching, calmly grabbed the ball and threw it to first base for the second out.
Third batter up bunts the first pitch and it drops between the pitcher and the catcher. Sennet runs and scoops it up and fires it to first.
3rd out, inning over. 3 up 3 down.
Sennet was up to bat first next inning. He watched the first pitch for a strike, then was pitched 3 balls (a couple that he had to take evasive action to not get hit), another strike, and then a fourth ball for a walk. Pitcher tried to pick him off at first to no avail, and then he promptly stole second. The throw was wild and he went to third.
Next batter flied out. Then another walk, another fly out, runner on first stole second. So it’s still Cubs down 3, runners at second and third, two outs, tying run at the plate.
Another fly out.
Game over.
Season over.
But the kids really battled back, just didn’t make it. Great season, really fun.
