Whew! That was a lot of fun to watch our team give up about 8 runs in the last inning to be down by 1 and come back to win the game. We hit, hit, hit, while the Royals once again walked, walked, walked. Looking at our team verses theirs, I loved the fact that we wanted to smack the ball. One of the most memorable moments for me was watching my son Aaron come to the plate the second time and power a line drive over the head of the left fielder that stopped up against the fence allowing runs to score and Aaron was left standing on third base. The ball was hit so hard and fast, while in the perfect line with the setting sun that the left fielder was left standing with his eyes blinded by the light and the ball flew passed way overhead. The general consensus was that this hit broke the current distance record previously set by Garrett. So why was it so exciting? Because that was a great inning.

Before the game we discussed some strategies and areas that our team really excelled. One of our greatest strengths is the two out rally. We have scored the most runs in a single inning once we had two outs already against us. That shows heart and desire and players who never give up.

SECOND INNING – Brady and Alex came to bat and had a pop-up out and a grounder to the pitcher to immediately create two outs. The positive is that they both hit the ball. Next came Zack. Zack patiently drew yet another walk and quickly stole second base. Brad came to bat and smacked a killer line drive through the middle and it hit second base and shot up 50 feet and headed way over the center fielder’s head to the fence. When the dust cleared, Zack scored and Brad was standing proudly at third base. Emma then hit a single and Brad scored easily. Emma stole second and Aaron hit the deep line drive to score her while following Brad’s example and he slid hard into third base for the triple. Next up was Garrett who also drilled one to left field for a double. Tommy then hit one line drive to left for a single scoring Garrett. Tommy then stole second and Tim hit a single scoring Tommy. Brady came up for the second time in the inning and hit a fielder’s choice that resulted in nobody getting out, followed by Alex going out on strikes.

For those of you keeping score at home….

1 Inning
11 Batters
6 Runs Score
1 Left Stranded
4 Walk
4 singles
1 Double
2 Triples
The outs came from a Pop-up, a ground-out to the pitcher, and one strike out.

Overall, in 4 innings we had 6 batters strike out, a sliding tag out on Alex at third, 2 ground outs to the pitcher, 2 pop-up outs, and a tag out at second base. So out of 12 outs, 6 of them involved hitting the ball. Add to that 3 walks and 12 other batters that hit safely and you have 21 of our 27 at bats resulted in our getting the bat on the ball and running like crazy. That is what we were dreaming of happening in the playoffs way back when we started the season back in April as most of our batters were drawing walks.

What a great game! Sure it did not end up going our way, but we hit the ball and dominated in the batting box. 90 seconds was the difference between a win at 9-5 instead of a loss at 11-10. We were so certain of the 9-5 win that we allowed our bottom of the inning to end just 90 seconds shy of the umpires calling the game at the hour and a half time limit.... Aargggg!!!

But even with that blunder on our part as coaches, our team played such a great game. Our second inning found Daniel hitting a double, followed by Emma hitting a double. That is a great way to start off any inning. Zach was then hit by a pitch and Alex hit a grounder to the pitcher and that scored Emma while he sacrificed himself at first. With one out, two runs across, and Zach on third, Brady also cranked a double to left field. Brady was put out trying to get to third and Brad wen to out on strikes to end an inning that let the scoreboard show a tie score or 4-4.

Let me just say that this inning shows why we are such a competitive team. I know that our players get frustrated when the strike out, but on average our team is hitting, walking, stealing, and scoring very well. If our players ever get down on themselves over striking out, then we really need to take them to a Bees game and let them see just how few people get hits in those games. We are doing very well and the strike outs are going to happen. It was the hitting that so impressed me tonight. Let’s look at the batting box results...

BATTING RESULTS

KEY - K=Strike out looking, KS=Strike out swinging

• Garrett - K, Walk, K, 3 steals
• Tommy - Walk, Walk, KS, 6 steals
• Tim - KS, K, Ground out to short
• Aaron - Single, Double, Single, 7 steals
• Hyatt - Single, KS, KS, 1 steal
• Daniel - Double, Single, Single, 4 steals
• Emma - Double, Pop-Out, KS, 1 steal
• Zach - Hit By Pitch, KS, 1 steal
• Alex - Ground Out, Walk, 1 steal
• Brady - Double, Triple, 1 steal
• Brad - KO, Sick

• K = 3
• KS = 7
• STEALS = 2 - 1 at home and 1 at third
• POP OUT - 1
• GROUND OUT - 2

Compare that with out hits and walks (NOTE: A few of our hits came off of errors by the other team, but we are still counting them as hits to show that our bats are really working)

• WALKS - 4
• HIT BY PITCH - 1
• SINGLE - 5
• DOUBLE - 4
• TRIPLE - 1

15 of our 28 at bats made it on base safely. That is a 54% on base percentage for the entire team.  That is phenomenal after only 4 games and about as many practices. We have great things to look forward to this season.

A kudo is an At-A-Boy.... Or a pat on the back

• BRADY - Batting 10th, he only got two opportunities to face the pitcher tonight and he came away with a double and a triple. Obviously Brady has earned the right to move up in the order so that he can get more chances to swing his bat... At-A-Boy!
• AARON - Two singles and a double earn him a well deserved At-A-Boy son!
• DANIEL - Also had a double and two singles... At-A-Boy!

• EMMA - Double to left field... At-A-Girl!
• HYATT - Single to left field... At-A-Boy!

ALL PLAYERS DRAWING WALKS - Garrett, Tommy, Alex... At-A-Boys!

TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM - Zach was hit by a pitch...... At-A-Boy!

AWESOME CATCH - Brad snagging the pop-up fly against the first base fence...... At-A-Boy! (See Photo Below)