amandarpaynecpa's JumboTweets
- From Tim after Luke's game last night:
This is long, but I think you'll find that it's worth the time.
What an incredible night! Luke had his last baseball game tonight. His team, the Astros, lost. It was their second loss of the tournament, so they were eliminated. He didn't make a play in the field and he struck out three times. It was one of the best nights of my life!
It was a season of struggles. Normally, there are 12 players on a team in this age group. Ten can play in the field every inning while the two who sit out rotate in. All 12 get to bat even when they don't play in the field. Two players on the Astros dropped out before the season started. A team must field nine players or they forfeit. For a variety of reasons, the Astros failed to field nine players for several games and forfeited them, although they still played the games. The Astros won half the games they ended up forfeiting!
This is the first year that score is kept. We were warned that it is the most competitive division because of this. Not from the players or coaches but from to the parents. That seemed to hold true throughout the season, although I've heard and saw worse behavior. For instance, no one made a teen age game official cry like in the last soccer season.
The Astros lost the first game of the tournament by forfeit, even though they won the game by six runs while fielding only 8 players.
There was a bad call at the plate in the early part of the game tonight that went against the Astros. Two coaches, one from the other team, and I, (I ran the scoreboard right behind the plate), were closer to the plate than the umpire. We all saw the runner tagged out. There's only one umpire in this division who is positioned between the pitcher and second base. It was a difficult call. The coach on the other team is a friend of mine. He said that he felt like saying something to the umpire, but he didn't want to show him up. This coach's integrity has always been impeccable. I agreed with him. It's better not to say anything. That's the breaks of the game. Something else the kids need to learn. Adults, too! All the adults reacted with humility and good sportsmanship. The Astros went into the last inning down 15-12.
Luke has struggled this year. He's the youngest player on the team and probably the youngest player in his age division. He's only had two hits coming into this season in the 12 games they played. He's made note of it verbally to me. Those two hits were the only times he made contact.
He's had a great attitude. One night, a grandparent said to everyone, "Who's number 7?! Who's kid is that?! I couldn't make that game. Everyone looked at Mandy. She said, "That's my son, Luke!" The man says, "I tell you what, that kid is always smiling no matter what! He's one happy kid! That's awesome!" Mandy beamed with pride!
Part of Luke's struggle this year is because I have had little chance to work with him outside of practice because of my ACL reconstruction surgery. Although, he has improved. His batting stance has gotten much better, he started swing harder, and his fielding and throwing got better, too. The only thing that hasn't changed is his attitude. It was always good!
Now here's where it gets EXCITING!!!! In the last inning, down by 3 runs with a man on second. Luke came to bat. Colby, the runner on 2nd, and like he has done every time cheered Luke on and encouraged him. After two swings, the third pitch came in and he HIT it! Directly to the second baseman. He ran hard and beat out a close play!!!
The next batter got a single. Bases loaded. No outs. The next two batters struck out. Bases still loaded. Two outs. Need three runs to tie. Four runs to take the lead. The next batter hits a double. Two runs scores! Luke scores!!!! He runs... <<<<<< N.B from Jumbotweet: auto-truncated at 4K characters on index page - Click here or on the "view" link to see entire jumbotweet! http://www.jumbotweet.com/ltweets/view/179841