July 16: Named The North Iowa Cedar League's West Division Most Outstanding Player
August 1: Named the Marshalltown Times-Republican's All-Area Baseball Player of the Year
August 4: Named second team all-state by the Iowa Newspaper Writer's Association
Did I mention he visited the world renowned studio, Stewart Photography on July 28th?
No?
Sorry to leave the best news for last then.
Let me tell ya about it.
Nick and his folks were in early that morning, and not surprisingly, there was sports, sports and more sports planned for the day. We had a little "regular" stuff to knock off before getting what he really came for... so we headed out to Grandma Bev's to take care of the formalities.
Once that was done in the first hour or so, there was just one thing keeping us from getting to his home away from home in Gilman (also known as the East Marshall baseball field)...
Rain. And LOTS of it.
We could see it rolling in from the west the entire time. The clouds were as menacing as a Nick Long fastball with two strikes, and once they got to us... they did not disappoint... it poured in buckets for a couple hours.
So it was back to the studio and we fast forwarded to our sports collage work to fill the time while we waited for a break in the storms.
Eventually it did stop, which allowed Nick and his mom, Darla and I to head to LeGrand to the football field... and then finally to Greater Gilmanopolis. Wet grass and a muddy track greeted us at the ball diamond, but it would not stop us from getting what we wanted.
Note to self... if you're wanting to do sports action shots that includes throwing of a ball... having an extra set of hands to catch said ball and throw it back will save a ton of time... and keep the subject from having to incorporate about 30 mini sprints in a suddenly necessary game of fetch. Nick thought Coach Frost was a taskmaster... he doesn't have ANYTHING on Coach Stewart.
"AGAIN, I say!.... AGAIN!"
:)
In the end, I think Nick wanted the perfect image just as much as I did, and was willing to put in the extra "reps" until we got it... and while I'll have to let Team Long and the general public be the judge... I felt like we hit it on the screws.
For as long (pun intended) as I can remember, Nicholas has always thrown it harder than about anyone else around. All the way back to peewees. He doesn't have to trick you... he can just overpower you. There's something basic to competition. Here's my best heat... see if you can hit it. And more often than not for this kids' entire life... his best is better than yours on most nights. And for that, I think he's deserving of all the awards he's collected over the past couple of weeks.
Congratulations Mr. Long.
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