But Then What Happened?

Bryce would never play recreation ball again. It was travel ball from here on out. Over the next few years, the Northwest travel ball coaches would hold tryouts. The days leading up to the tryouts were always torture for me because I knew that Bryce probably wouldn’t make the cut if they had a decent number of kids trying out. Thankfully, the 9U tryouts only attracted about 11 players… about the amount they wanted on their roster. Same thing the following year for the 10U tryouts. Each year, I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked God for the general lack of interest. Both his 9U and 10U summer seasons, Bryce batted near the bottom of the order and seemed to strike-out more times than not. I can remember after a couple of the games, I’d sheepishly walk up to Coach Joe and apologize for Bryce’s poor performance at the plate. “He’s a better hitter than he’s showing. He will break out of it eventually.” I’d lie. But those seasons came and went but Bryce never really impr...

Bryce was born in the middle of the Iowa high school softball season, June 25th, 2000. Maelynne was a senior and Tara was a junior. Both were starters on the highly successful Grinnell High School softball team. A team that would end up that season with a coveted spot in the state tournament. Aubree and Alaina were also playing softball at the time. It was summer and the Munson girls played softball in the summer… and in the fall… and spring… and whenever they could. Oh… they played other sports too… but softball… softball was special. Softball was the primary sport… the preeminent sport. We paid good money for camps, clinics, pitching and hitting lessons. We made sure the girls were taking advantage of every opportunity they could to improve their softball skills in the off-season. And it paid off. The Munson girls racked up numerous all-conference and all-state honors in the sport of softball. Each of the four had the rare opportunity to compete in the Iowa Girl...