At the beginning of March, Mercer was recognized again at the school. There was a senior assembly for Senior Superlatives (like "most likely to succeed"... "best dressed"... etc). The Superlatives were voted on by other Senior classmates. After that presentation, was a presentation called "Who's Who of MHS." Mercer and 29 other students (30 total) were named as a "Who's Who." (This is voted on by teachers.)
The kids have a certain GPA to be on a list is emailed out to the teachers.... and then they have to get enough votes from the teachers - which generally speaks of your character. (I'm sure it helps that he's a teacher's kid although another teacher has a daughter graduating who didn't get named...??). The nickname when they announced after his name was "Batter Up." (so a baseball nod)
Our neighbor Orie - a MHS alum from 40 years ago +/- was super impressed that M was a Who's Who. He said back in his day that was a huge honor @ MHS.
I don't think I posted previously that Mercer made the MHS baseball team in his Senior year. (He should have made it!! ... he had the highest college offer of any of the players on the team and the coach would look bad if he didn't put him on the team!!)
This was his 5th year playing for MHS since he made the JV team in 8th grade. At the end of 11th grade, he wanted nothing to do with the high school team.
When winter workouts started up this school year, we encouraged him NOT to try out -- instead to do academy ball (like a travel team). But he changed his mind from 11th grade and went for it.
Here is his "official senior baseball photo" (we didn't buy it because of the reflection off of his glasses....) so we used the one that they put in the baseball program instead (the one above where he is in the "suit on top" / baseball pants on bottom - which are out of the frame!) haha.
These are the other seniors on the team. (there are lots of poses with the seniors each year - they make a big deal about senior players.) 7 guys.
The photographer likes to get the boys to line up and take turns - one with each boy featured in front. Here is this year's lineup for Mercer's feature. We have one from last year too.
And this photo is of the 5 guys who were on the team for 5 years - all starting in 8th grade.
The baseball situation was a little bit better this year than it was last.... but not much. Mercer did get a little more playing time, but very little compared to the "chosen" clique of kids. He did well when he went in. We don't understand. Other parents on the team said the same thing -- they didn't understand why he barely played either.
He pitched in one game the whole season. And - surprisingly - we have a some great photos of it! A friend of his happed to be taking pictures at the field that night & sent them to Mercer.
There was a full moon - so they are cool, cool shots!
(And the photos got some mileage... Mercer used one as an announcement photo for an Instagram page for MHS Seniors and another shows up in the yearbook!)
But, the MOST memorable thing that happened was that he got the RARE chance to START in a game. During his 1st at-bat... on the first pitch he saw, he realized it was a good pitch and knocked the ball out of the park... a HOME RUN! He did well at his other at-bats too.
You can see it unfold in this series of photos that a photographer we know who happened to be at this game.
Luck was on our side - as she was only contracted to work at 7 or 8 of the Wheeler games in the season. YAY! that she was at the MHS game that was playing!
She didn't capture where the ball went (Todd got that in a video - which obviously doesn't post here)...
... but she did get the celebration after he crossed the plate and how happy he was.
Here are more batting shots (a base hit here)
.... and here's a bunt that was actually executed well (the kids are told to bunt all the time, but they rarely get on base. This is another thing we never understood either!)
He did well fielding. (Todd said he made a "sliding catch" in the outfield which is always exciting.) But then he didn't really get anymore play time in the games after that. Maybe a token "pinch-hit" or something.
We just don't understand! :(
And on base....Here are more photos from that game - we'll take whatever we can get!!
The best thing about this "rare opportunity" -- this was in front of a bunch of his former Little League teammates who are districted to play at Wheeler. (This is the school that he had wanted - at the end of his Junior year - to come play for if we could figure out a way to transfer him to another school... which we couldn't.)
So - in front of several sets of parents and kids that he "grew up with" -- he got to shine. They got to share it with us / with him. (Even though it was against their team, they were happy for him.) There were a couple of others there as well... the mother who lost her son during covid (#12 that the Little League guys always wore on their uniform) - that mom (Dawn) was there - she goes to some of the games every now and then. This is where her son would have gone. And, the mom of another former Little League player who takes photos for the school. -- her handiwork above.
Unfortunately, I did not order photos in time before he took them off of his page.
Luckily, I had gone through them and taken pictures with my camera of the computer (so they're fuzzy), but you can still see what they look like.
They have this thing called "Diamond Dolls" - high school girls who help out in the concession stand. They recognized Seniors who volunteered as a part of that organization / school club. The players had to all escort a Diamond Doll.
The mayor came out to recognize the boys
(and brought his own sign!)
Then, the boys were recognized.
The moms got (beautiful) flowers.
There was a dinner for the boys and families too.
And decorations at each table including photos of the boys, a bucket with college logos filled with their favorite snacks + a gift that was for college: a backpack laundry bag. (The mom who planned Senior night had a daughter who was in college, so she had experience / knew something useful instead of a "trinket" kind of gift.)
After the dinner and after the game, one of the parents - who started taking sports photos a couple years ago - shot photos of the boys in their gowns over their baseball uniforms. (I stole this idea for an event later!)
For some reason, they did not send out the link for these photos in the Senior mom group chat. I messaged the photographer's wife and she sent me these two "professional" ones.... which is probably enough - although the guy probably took dozens! :)
M wanted to do a shot on his own in his custom bating gloves (EM stands for East Marietta)
This is a fun way to end the baseball post... with a couple more photos from the professional photographer that came out to the event.
As I was scrolling through the images, I had to take a double-take on this one!!
I missed the cutoff for ordering photos but I did sort of "beg" for this last photo.
It is a KEEPER -- I wanted something I could (maybe / possibly) print!
And one more big thing for M.... at the end of April, he went to prom! (Thankfully!)
We got together with his friend (KJ) over spring break. We + KJ's mom convinced M to go with him and his friends. yay!
Before the event, there was a senior photo (which is tradition).
Mercer is standing waaaay in the back!
After that, he (and we) went to KJ's friend's house.
KJ's mom is a chef and she made a huge spread for the kids + a charcuterie board for the adults. It was a "deal" as our whole family ate for $30 plus sodas for the crowd!
There were other friends and siblings in attendance, but only 4 kids went to prom from this group. One of the kids is a student (awkward! haha) - but he seemed OK. I got to know his parents a little bit.
Mercer said he had a good time hanging out before and after prom - but wasn't that into the actual dance. (I heard that from a number of students, honestly) I don't know that he's glad that he went, but now he won't ever look back and wonder!
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When winter workouts started up this school year, we encouraged him NOT to try out -- instead to do academy ball (like a travel team). But he changed his mind from 11th grade and went for it. 
Luck was on our side - as she was only contracted to work at 7 or 8 of the Wheeler games in the season. YAY! that she was at the MHS game that was playing! 
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