"Do you believe in miracles? Yesssss!!"
Al Michaels
The little league playoffs began tonight. For some crazy reason, all eight teams make the playoffs. On Sunday, if your a loyal reader (both of you), you'll recall the spanking they received. As luck would have it, us being the eighth seed we get to play the number one seed, one of the teams that killed us Sunday. This would be a fitting end to a dismal season.
But a funny thing happened. Being the visiting team, we batted first and scored two runs. Those two runs had an amazing effect on the team. They realized that they aren't as bad as they have been playing. They realized they could play with these guys. That confidence actually transferred defensively as we cut down on our errors and and played a back and forth game. In little league, you never make it to nine innings so the two hour time limit usually comes into play. When we hit the two hour mark, the other team was batting and the score was tied at 12. This meant, if they score a run, they win. Don't score, we go to extra "time".
They had the bases loaded and two outs, the batter hit a little flare over second base and the second baseman made a nice catch to keep it tied.
Extra time has special rules. You start the inning with a runner already on second base and each batter enters the box with a 2-1 count. Their pitcher picked a bad time to get wild as we scored 6 runs 4 on errors or wild pitches. Now hold them to 5 or less an we knock out the number one seed in the playoffs. The first batter popped out to the first basemen. Second batter struck out, and the third jacked one DEEP to center field but right at the center fielder to bring the game to a close. The kids went nuts. They had forgotten how much fun it was to win. The other team looked like a boxer that had just gotten up from a flash knockdown, awake and aware, but not believing what just happened. Will they win the next game? Probably not. But this was one of those special moments where they came together and played as a team and did something they hadn't done in a LOOOONG time. Actually have some fun.
@ went 5 for 5, one single, three doubles and a triple with 6 RBI. He is 14 for his last 14 and on fire. I told him to enjoy, because streaks this hot don't come around too often.
Al Michaels
The little league playoffs began tonight. For some crazy reason, all eight teams make the playoffs. On Sunday, if your a loyal reader (both of you), you'll recall the spanking they received. As luck would have it, us being the eighth seed we get to play the number one seed, one of the teams that killed us Sunday. This would be a fitting end to a dismal season.
But a funny thing happened. Being the visiting team, we batted first and scored two runs. Those two runs had an amazing effect on the team. They realized that they aren't as bad as they have been playing. They realized they could play with these guys. That confidence actually transferred defensively as we cut down on our errors and and played a back and forth game. In little league, you never make it to nine innings so the two hour time limit usually comes into play. When we hit the two hour mark, the other team was batting and the score was tied at 12. This meant, if they score a run, they win. Don't score, we go to extra "time".
They had the bases loaded and two outs, the batter hit a little flare over second base and the second baseman made a nice catch to keep it tied.
Extra time has special rules. You start the inning with a runner already on second base and each batter enters the box with a 2-1 count. Their pitcher picked a bad time to get wild as we scored 6 runs 4 on errors or wild pitches. Now hold them to 5 or less an we knock out the number one seed in the playoffs. The first batter popped out to the first basemen. Second batter struck out, and the third jacked one DEEP to center field but right at the center fielder to bring the game to a close. The kids went nuts. They had forgotten how much fun it was to win. The other team looked like a boxer that had just gotten up from a flash knockdown, awake and aware, but not believing what just happened. Will they win the next game? Probably not. But this was one of those special moments where they came together and played as a team and did something they hadn't done in a LOOOONG time. Actually have some fun.
@ went 5 for 5, one single, three doubles and a triple with 6 RBI. He is 14 for his last 14 and on fire. I told him to enjoy, because streaks this hot don't come around too often.
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