E celebrated her second birthday amidst COVID restrictions, but at least this time around we were able to gather in person... outdoors.
E & her 10 closest geocached their way around Lake Rebecca Park Reserve, pounded some Just Sweet cupcakes and played a heated game of kickball.
Not a bad way to celebrate Linds' 42 lap around the sun!
While the year-long global battle with COVID-19 has felt forever long, it's downright amazing how quickly vaccines were created, tested and rolled out at scale.
The end is near.
E's 6-2 squad wrapped up as impressive a season as you can imagine in East View. 22-11 playing up in 6A all season. In every game but two until the very end. Seven come-from-behind victories, 3 buzzer beaters, avenged years of losses to bitter rivals in Lakeville North (rallying from down 15 with 4min to play), Park Center and Minnetonka, and ending the season as the Metro's 12th best (of 128 teams playing "A-level" ball). Speaking of ending the season, the girls let their hair down on the last night of the year and had a COVID-mindful pizza and pool party at the Double Tree near our tourney site. The memories and bonds made there, are what it's all about.
Evie was the team's unofficial captain, leader in 3pt FGs, #2 scorer and an absolute joy to coach. These girls and this season was special, and I'm so grateful to have been a part of it.
Sawyer's 4-1 squad also had a remarkable season. The crew went 31-3, despite losing last year's leading scorer, winning every tournament they played but the one they circled on the calendar... State. :-/ This said, lessons learned from those losses, and you can see the fire growing in the girls' eyes, and rivalries forming (Lakeville North, Hopkins, Maple Grove, Shakopee, Farview).
S was incredibly fun to watch, and the kind of player that makes those around her better. She'll do what the team needs, guard who needs to be contained, make the extra pass, and direct traffic and motivate vocally from the court and bench. No formal stat sheet was kept for 4-1, but Sawyer had to be #1 or 2 in nearly every statistical category. This kid goes to work, man.
While we'd love to loop S into the club, she's just too darn picky. As for L, well, they don't make a "dinner for three", so she's kind of SOL... ;-)
Sawyer and team were hoping for a State 4A Tier I three-peat, having one back-to-back 3A championships... but Shakopee, a team they'd beaten 3X prior, had other plans in mind. S hit Wayzata's shot-of-the-year in this tournament, a half-court first half buzzer beater of a stolen inbounds pass... but the Sabers had the last laugh with a buzzer beater of their own in the final second of regulation, putting Shakopee up by one and securing the upset.
