Oh what an eventful weekend! Bradley's team played in their state baseball tournament this weekend - 11 teams in their division. We got a late draw for Saturday and didn't play our first game until 4 pm. Well, needless to say, we did not get off to a very good start. Bradley started off pitching and was doing a good job - his fielders however were having a few issues. Needless to say, instead of getting out of the inning only facing 4 batters, it took 41 pitches to 10 batters from Bradley, 30 pitches to 7 other batters from two different relievers and we were upside down 13-0. The boys made a valiant effort to get back in the game, but fell short losing 15-7. The next game started much better but then the third inning came and our pitcher was struggling and our fielders were making errors. After they scored 7 runs with only one out, Bradley was brought in and closed out the inning allowing only one more run to score. Again, the boys tried to comeback but ran out of time losing 12-7. After losing back-to-back pool play games, the boys now to have play their first elimination bracket game at 8:00 pm Saturday - their third game of the day, all back-to-back. Knowing the stakes were high and it is now lose or go home, they pulled it together and won by the mercy rule in the fourth inning 8-0 behind Carson's complete game. Back at the field Sunday for a 10 am game, we faced the Stingrays who went 2-0 on Saturday, did not have to play a third game on Saturday and who we had never played before. Feeling that if we could get past this first game we could make it to the Championship, Bradley took the mound. He pitched an amazing 3 innings allowing no runs, 1 hit, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts, leading his team to a 6-2 win. We then faced one of the teams that beat us in pool play. Carson took the mound and did an amazing job. With a 13-3 lead going into the bottom of the 5th, it took us 4 pitchers to close out the game, winning 13-12 - what a squeaker! Finally, the Championship game against the other team that beat us during pool play. The Florida Storm seemed a bit arrogant when we played them the day before. They too had only had to play two games on Saturday, versus our three. This was only exacerbated when they (deliberately, in my opinion) gave me wrong uniform numbers on their roster sheet (we were home team). Then substituted a player without notifying either the umpires or me which escalated into a shouting match, their manager being ejected and finally TR being ejected. After much mayhem, we did lose 7-5. All in all, our boys played amazing baseball - having to play three games back-to-back both days. If you had asked me Saturday evening if we'd be in the Championship game on Sunday, I would have said "No". Glad they proved me wrong!
>
No comments:
Post a Comment