Baseball Playoffs ~ Game Two

Before I start this post I just wanna say that it's kinda hard to see how we made playoffs this year. There were so many teams that had much better records than we did. But in the league we play in, the top teams from each division (there are two), in each half make playoffs. We won our division in the first half so automatically made the playoffs. Now on this particular night we played the number one team all season long. And without further adieu...

June 8th, 2011

The A's vs. The Cubs

Notice the date to this night's game is a week from the last. We had to wait for the fields to dry out after the big rain storms we had the week before.

Elisha got a hit tonight, one that surprised him and he didn't run at first. Then he took off faster than I've ever seen him run to first base. He made it there safely with time to spare thankfully.

Leading off...

The A's played so well against this team. It's funny they hit a funk mid-season and kinda of came out of it towards the end, but when they played the Cubs they came out of no where.

Leading off of second, after stealing it...

I forgot to mention that we were minus one player during this game too. One of our better hitters and our 2nd baseman. Because all the rains pushed back our games, he had a scheduled vacation with his dad that took him out of the country for the summer. Oh well, I guess.

Elisha stole third too...

The score went back and forth this game, us leading, them leading, us leading. But at the bottom of the fifth the score was 6-8 them. In this league if a game is called (usually due to the sun going down, there are no lights on the fields) then the score will automatically go back to the last complete inning. So if this game was called before the sixth inning was completed the Cubs would automatically win.

Bases were loaded and the pitcher walked the kid at bat. Elisha got to jog home for a point...

Which put us in a predicament indeed. You see we also play in a league where there is a five point rule, meaning at this age a team can't score more than five points per inning (to hopefully keep a team from being absolutely slaughtered). Except that rule doesn't apply during the sixth inning. The sixth inning is open so a team is allowed to score as many points as they can.

Playing third base...

(Due to the attitude and unfortunate disrespect our third baseman had this night, Elisha played most of the game at third. He didn't get anyone out, but he played his heart out and it was awesome to see.)

During the sixth inning our boys were on fire! We scored four runs with one out and two boys on base. The problem was the sun was already at the top of the mountain and fading fast. We all knew if we didn't move fast the game would be called and the Cubs would still win. And this particular coach we were playing would waste time if needed to guarantee a win.

He cracks me up when he really is concentrating. His tongue is always out or he is blowing bubbles with his gum...

Our coach felt he really had no choice but to send our two boys on base home, get them tagged out and hope we could hold them off. We were up by two.

Ready for steal...

We looked so good until the bottom of the sixth, then it all fell apart. Our pitcher walked two boys. The parents on the other side yelled and yelled some more. Things like...

He can't do it.

Just stand there and let him walk you.

He's too upset to throw strikes.

And our pitcher couldn't handle the pressure. In the midst of their constant screaming, yelling, cheering (if you could call it that), he fell apart. Crying on the mound. And still they wouldn't let up. Play fair people. This is a nine year old boy. What if it were your kid?

I love this picture of Elisha pointing to the pitcher/catcher/firstbaseman to watch the boy attempting to steal...

And that's how it ended. Our pitcher walked seven boys and they won by one point in the fading sun, yelling like a bunch of wild monkeys, excited to have the beat the only team that really bested them during the season (they only lost two games, both during spring break when four of their best players were out of town - the last time we played the Cubs we tied them, the closest any team really came to beating them with all their players all season long).

But did they really win? Not in my book. I mean, sure, even if we had the sun in our favor, and we didn't have to take two outs, our boys could have struck out or gotten two outs and they could have come back and won. Or maybe our pitcher still would have faltered, and walked all those boys and they would have emerged victorious, but it would have been a fair win. Not one where adults stood on the fence bullying a nine year old.

Some days, playing sports is so hard. The boys took this loss hard. Elisha and I had to talk it through, he cried a lot. But you know what? Win, lose or tie, they played great. He played great and I told him just how proud I was of him and his team. Sometimes in life we lose hard, we fall hard. Sometimes we win big. The important thing that no matter what, you keep trying, prayin', doing your best, exactly how God called you to live. That's all that matters.

We play in a double elimination league so Game 3 coming up soon....