Soldier surprises stepson at baseball game

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (NBC) -- It came out of left field for 12-year-old Keaghan Rodrigues. You can probably guess by the hug how excited he was on Saturday, to see his step dad again after 11 months of being deployed to Kuwait.

"He wasn't supposed to come home till next month," said Keaghan.

"I've been here since Thursday, playing hide and go seek. I wanted to surprise him at his last baseball game," said Sgt. Donald Scott.

Scott was part of the homecoming of the 1st battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, which returned to Rhode Island Thursday. His family wanted to wait until Saturday for Keaghan to see him. Keaghan was disappointed because he thought Scott was going to miss all of his games this year.

Luckily for Keaghan, his stepdad made it just in time for his last game.

"Perfect! Last baseball game of the season. You can catch one, you won't miss it. He came home Thursday, which made it difficult but it all worked out," said Jennifer Scott, Keaghan's mother.

In those two days of hiding, there was one close call that almost ruined the surprise.

"I was in the bedroom with the door closed. I heard him in the kitchen. I just wanted to run out and let him know I was home. But, it took everything I had not to run out there. I wanted to surprise him at his baseball game," explained Scott.

It took sleepovers at his grandparents' house across the street to make it all work. They pulled off a mission the military itself might envy.

"My mother was excellent. She was on standby with the phone. 'Keaghan's coming across the street, Keaghan's doing that.' So I knew exactly what he was doing at all times."

It was a reunion nearly a year in the making and worth the extra wait.

"I'm really excited he could catch a game," said Keaghan.