Kings of the Dirt

On Friday the hubby and I began our Labor Day weekend journey up to Reno.  Our son had already gone up with his grandpa and auntie to hit up the Rib Cook-Off at JA Nugget.  Our daughter had to stay home with her grandparents because she too had a tournament this weekend.  We made our way up the mountain around 3:30pm and to my surprise the traffic wasn't half bad.

Grand Sierra Resort and Casino

Once in Reno we checked into our hotel, the Grand Sierra Resort, and decided to go get something to eat for dinner.  We had been in Reno back in May for Mother's Day weekend for our daughter's softball tournament.  While staying in Reno we had gone to this amazing pizza place called, Grimaldi's.  It is located right next door to Scheel's sporting store (if you haven't been to Scheel's give yourself a minimum of 2hrs to walk around and see everything, its amazing!)  Having had such a great experience the first time we decided that Grimaldi's was a must.  We ordered the small caesar salad and a large pepperoni pizza with fresh garlic and mushrooms.  AMAZING!!!  Highly recommmend this restaurant.

Grimaldi's Pizzeria - Sparks, NV

After eating we went back to the hotel to wait for our little guy to meet up with us after having been at the rib cook-off all day.  Finally they brought him to our hotel and we were off to bed, busy day on Saturday.

On Saturday, we woke up and got ready for the first day of our "King of the Dirt" tournament.  To our dismay the tournament was in Carson City which was a last minute change from Sparks.  We had already booked our rooms at the Grand Sierra and didn't have time to reschedule, so this entailed a 40 mile drive one-way to get to and from the tournament all weekend, Ugh!!!

Day 1 of the tournament, we played our first game against the Reno Muckdogs at 12:00pm.  My son got hit in the ribs the first at bat, but he was a trooper and took one for the team. 

Our second game on Day 1 was against the Hard 90 Legacy.

During the baseball games I made sure to check in with my dad to see how my daughter was playing.  I was also given play by plays via text messages by moms on the softball team.  During the first game my daughter was sent home by the third base coach and unfortunately when sliding into home the rather larger than life catcher landed on my daughter while getting the out and tweaked her back.  She tried to go back up to bat the second game and was unable to swing.  She laid down a great bunt but was not able to make it to first.  Needless to say she was sent home to rest and ice her back and didn't make it to the third game.

Day 2 of the tournament, we played our first game against the Carson City Capitals.  Second game of the day was against Team Velocity.  This put us into 1st seed for Championship play on Monday.

My daughter attended her game Sunday morning to show her support for her team but was unable to play.  My bff picked her up after her first game was over and they made their way up to Reno to be with us.  

My girlfriend is amazing.  She went out of her way to bring my daughter up to Reno for me.  I was under the impression that she would stay with us because under no circumstances would I ever expect her to drive that distance and just drop my daughter off.  She ended up staying with us until around 11pm that evening and much to my chagrin she went home that evening.  

Day 3 and the final day of the tournament we ended up playing the Reno Muckdogs again and run ruled them with a score of 10-0.  The boys played amazing, we were all so proud of them.  I was especially proud of my son that hit the entire weekend.  He gets so emotional and stresses out on most occassions when it comes to game time, but this weekend he put that stress aside and really had a blast and played the game really well.  

2012 King of the Dirt Champions - Carson City, NV