Our friends Erik & Emily’s two oldest kids play in Fremont’s American Little League (Minor-B). Today was the league’s Spirit Day, where all three teams played each other for two innings each. The fields were decorated for the occasion, with different themes for each team, and the fans (aka parents) were very enthusiastic. I came because I wanted to take pictures and because it sounded like a lot of fun. Caroline, Mai, and Caroline’s parents (who are visiting us for a week) came for the third game, and then we all (along with Emily’s parents, who are also visiting this week) went to lunch at the nearby Olive Garden for lunch.

I’d never photographed a Little League game before, but I think I picked it up pretty quickly. I did end up borrowing Emily’s 75-300 lens because my longest lens (18-200) was not long enough. The downside of the 75-300 lens is that it’s very slow to focus and doesn’t have the best optics, so some of my photos are a bit softer than I would prefer. (Memo to self: save up for the 28-300L). The day started out cloudy (yay, perfect for photography!) but it cleared up quickly and was sunny for the rest of the morning, making the photography much more challenging. (Rule 1 of outdoor photography: don’t take pictures in direct bright sunlight if you can avoid it.)

Overall I think the photos came out pretty well, though I’m hoping next year’s photos be even better, and will be taken with a 5D Mark II and the 28-300L lens.

Here are some of my favorites:

You can see the rest at http://photo.oscarc.net/gallery/8010840_CSG5E.