In the first inning the Hammerheads took to bat first. Our kids managed to get some really good hits in and scored three points. The top of the inning was over quickly however with a claimant of three outs. If you watch the video the ref calls our last runner in (#5 Harley) as an out but quickly reverses it to safe when the catcher drops the ball. At that point it would have been one out with three runs in. The next kid bats (#7 Christian), the ball is caught in mid air giving us 2 outs but it is quickly claimed as three and the field positions change.
At the bottom of the first inning the Hammerheads take to the field and you can already feel the tension in the parents as we all prepare ourselves for what was going to be inevitably a long and tough inning for the kids. Remember last time we played the Angels, those kids could hit like you wouldn't believe and our kids were left chasing balls in the outfield. Well with their first batter ready at the tee the ball is placed and the pitch is thrown. The ball is hit hard and.....holy crap Alex E. caught it!!!! Yes, the ball was caught and the batter is out! The parents on our side of the field erupted into screams of excitement. I bet the Angels never saw that coming. Then with morale up, the Angels were able to get a runner in and two on bases before our kids were able to get the second out at third base. The next batter for the Angels then hits a home run and the Angels are able to score another three runs in. After that they manage another two runners on base before our kids tagged the third and final out between second and third base. The score at the end of the first inning is Hammerheads 3 Angels 5.
Now something I feel that I must note at this point is that at the end of the first inning it became very apparent that the coaches of the Angels absolutely do not like their kids making mistakes nor do they like the prospect of the idea that they may not only loose but that if they do win it may not be by a great margin. Those coaches were out there yelling at those kids and pushing them hard to live up to certain potentials and standards. This will become very apparent to everyone in the coming innings between the sudden increase in playing skills on their team and the never ending shouts that erupt from their coaches. Seriously guys, calm down, it's just t-ball and they are only six years old.
With that said let's get to the start of the top of the second inning. Hammerheads are back at bat and up first is #16 Alyssa. Now in the past we've worked with Alyssa on her tendency to hit the ball and throw the bat all in one motion which by rules would automatically result in her being called out and could have the potential to hurt someone. So as she's walking up to the tee we quickly remind her to hit hard, run fast and do not toss the bat. With the ball on the tee and the pitch thrown Alyssa hits the ball and thanks to the hesitation of the Angels' pitcher she makes it to first base. I swear if you've ever seen Alyssa play she is a risk taker when it comes to running the bases and almost always it is by sheer luck that she makes it safely. Now with Alyssa on first it's #8 Omar's turn at bat. With the ball hit Alyssa takes off for second base and again she arrives safely by the skin of her teeth. Now the Hammerheads have runners on first and second and #11 Nicholas is up to bat. The ball is hit and it is a ground ball that rolls straight to the pitcher. This time there is no hesitation on his part as he scoops up the ball and throws it to their third baseman getting Alyssa out. Now with one out and two runners on base it is #2 Alejandro's turn at bat. The ball is hit and heads out between first and second base, the first baseman scoops up the ball and Alejandro is out. With two outs and runners on second and third #9 Alex E. is up to bat. The ball is placed, the pitch is thrown and Alex swings. The ball pops up and lands just inside the foul line between home and first. The first baseman is able to scoop it up and tag his base before Alex gets there just as #8 Omar makes it in to home plate. With three outs the top of the inning is over and it's time to switch positions.
At the bottom of the second inning the Hammerheads resume their positions in the field and the Angels get ready to bat. The first ball is put into play and Alex E. is hit and down at the short stop position. When the ball was hit in his direction and he went to catch it, the ball slammed into his left knee before rebounding off towards second base and left poor Alex lying in the dirt. After about a minute with the coaches checking him and rubbing his leg they were finally able to get Alex back on his feet and back into the game. Now at this point in the game I do have to admit that the coaches of the Angels and their team were very respectful towards our injured player. They immediately told their runner on first to take a knee and wait while one of their coaches stood on the field awaiting patiently the outcome of Alex's injury. I think that everyone would be in agreement in saying that there is nothing worse in a game than watching as one of the players is hurt and the suspense that follows as everyone waits and watches to see if he will rise. Now with Alex back on his feet the crowed clapped and cheered him and the game resumed. The next batter for the Angels stepped up to the tee and hit the ball hard out into left field scoring a home run for himself while bringing in the runner off of first base. Now for the remainder of the inning the Angels continued to hit the balls hard and high and were able to secure five more runs in (although it looked as if our catcher actually had one of those runners out) with six other batters. With seven runners in the inning was complete. The score at the end of the second inning was now Hammerheads 4 Angels 12.
It's now the top of the third inning and first up at bat is #34 Shon M. After a first attempt at the ball that resulted in a foul his second hit sends the ball straight towards third base. The third baseman quickly scoops up the ball and throws to first securing the first out. Next up to bat is #18 Eric and I have to say that for those whom do not know Eric they shouldn't be too quick to judge him by his size. He is in fact a small guy with a lot of energy and attitude to go with it. When focused on the game he can hit hard, run fast and catch. With his first three attempts at bat resulting in foul balls, Eric finally connects his bat with the ball for a nice pop up that is unfortunately caught by the pitcher now giving us two outs. Next up to bat is #30 Sean B. who hits a grounder straight at the pitcher. The pitcher quickly scoops up the ball and throws it to first resulting in our third out and a quick ending to the top of the third inning.
At the bottom of the third inning the Hammerheads have now taken the field and Alyssa is in as pitcher. Before the game she and I talked about her playing to the best of her abilities, being ready, and looking to see where the runners were before pitching the ball. She is by far not the fastest runner, best catcher nor greatest thrower but she does have three things: heart, determination and style. With the first batter up for the Angels she showed us that determination to perform her best when the batter hit the ball up towards the left foul line of the field and she hustled to get to the ball. Afterwards as she waited for the batter to get ready again Alyssa took the opportunity to check her bases before resuming her pitcher's stance. On his next hit the kid sent the ball far out into left field gaining a home run for himself and his team. The next batter is up for the Angels, the ball is hit, and again Alyssa hustles to stop the ball as it heads for third base. She reaches it but just isn't quick enough to get it to first base to secure an out. Now with a runner on first the third batter is up for the Angels. The ball is set, Alyssa pitches and the batter hits the ball hard and high out between first and second bases. Our kids scramble for the ball but just aren't quick enough to get it before their runners are safe at first and second bases. The next kid is up to bat, the ball is hit and it slips past our first baseman. Our second baseman is quick to recover it as our shortstop runs to cover second and the ball makes it to second base just moments after the runner touches the bag. In the meantime the Angels bring another runner in. This last play showed really great teamwork on the part of our kids. With two runners in and runners on first and second the next batter for the Angels swings and sends the ball far out into the right field earning another home run for his team. The next kid a bat for the Angels sends his ball right passed our short stop and far into left field gaining yet another home run for their team. As for their next two batters the first one hits the ball off towards left field and makes it to second base only to score the seventh point for his team when the last batter of the inning too hits his ball into left field. With seven runners in the 3rd inning is finished with a score of Hammerheads 4 Angels 19.
It's the top of the 4th, the score is Hammerheads 4 Angels 19 and our kids are not giving up just yet. First up at bat is #3 Sara. She hits the ball out between the pitcher and third base; the pitcher scoops up the ball and is quick to get it over to the first baseman for an out. Next up at bat is #23 Alex R. Alex is our left handed batter and Alyssa's bff on the team. After two foul balls Alex hits the ball past the pitcher and out towards the short stop and is safe on first base. Next up to bat we have #5 Harley. Harley is a hard hitter and is great at catching the ball. He is also the son of the head coach and because of that I think he feels just a little more pressure on the team than the other kids do. Here Harley manages a ground hit past the pitcher and he and Alex are safe on base. Next up to bat is #20 Andrew. Andrew also manages a grounder between the pitcher and short stop and all three of our runners manage to make it to their bases safe. With the bases loaded it is #4 Jocelyn up to bat. Jocelyn hits a grounder straight to the pitcher who quickly scoops it up and is quick to meet Alex at home plate tagging him for our second out. With the bases still loaded next up to bat is #7 Christian who hits a nice pop up that is unfortunately caught by the pitcher giving us three outs.
At the bottom of the 4th the Hammerheads are back in the field and Alyssa is back as pitcher. The first batter for the Angels is ready, the ball is set, the pitch thrown and the ball is sent off straight towards third base. Hesitation in the third baseman allows the runner to safely make it to first base. The second batter for the Angels hits the ball straight at our third baseman who this time manages to get under the ball but unfortunately drops it allowing the other team to secure runners on both first and second bases. The third batter for the Angels sends the ball out between first and second bases, the runner on second makes it home while the batter makes it to first safely and our kids get the runner headed for second out. With a runner on first the fourth batter for the Angels steps up to the tee and hits the ball past three of our guys out into the left field. As the runner who was on first safely makes it home the batter rounds third base as the ball comes back in. Alex E. throws the ball to Andrew (the catcher) who is ready at the plate and secures the second out as the runner tries to slide into home plate! Way to go Andrew! The fifth batter for the Angels hits the ball to third and is safe at first. With their sixth batter up it's a hard hit to center field and both runners are safe on first and second. Their next batter hits the ball out to center field, the runner on second runs home while the other two are safe on first and second. The next ball is again hit out towards left center field, two runners are brought home and the batter makes it safely to second. With their ninth batter up to the tee the Angels again bring home another runner as their batter stands safe at first base. With two outs and a runner on first the Angels bring out their tenth batter. The ball is hit between the pitcher and third base; the third baseman grabs the ball and throws to first; runner on first is safe; ball is thrown to third as the other runner heads to third; the third baseman gets the ball and attempts to tag the runner who quickly stops and returns safely to second. As the eleventh and final batter for the Angels hits the ball our short stop quickly scoops it up missing the opportunity to tag the runner heading for third. As the short stop tries to head off the runner headed for second the missed runner is headed for home, there is confusion on the field and the Angels are able to score their 7th runner in for the inning. At the end of the 4th inning the score now stands at Hammerheads 4 Angels 26.
Now with the fourth inning finished and the Angels winning by 22 points it was obvious that the game was lost. However the rule book states that games for this age group shall be five innings or 1hour 15 minutes unless lengthened by a tie score or shortened because the umpire calls the game. In the same section it also states that a game shall be considered complete if at least three innings have been played. If the home team is ahead, the game shall be considered complete if at least 2 1/2 innings have been played. There is also a mercy rule that states "the game will be considered completed when a team is leading their opponent by (5U, 6U, 7U, 8U) eight runs after five or more innings." So with that said, it was the end of the 4th and there was still time left on the clock for the game to continue. Our coach decided that even though we would have no chance to catch up or win the game he would like to allow our team to begin the fifth inning at bat in order to give them a little more experience time on the field and possibly allow us to score a few more points. At this point the coach from the Angels protested the decision and argued with the umpires that the decision to allow our kids to bat was not fair and he wanted the game called. Seriously, you would have thought that someone had just stolen candy from a toddler with the way this guy was acting. In my opinion this was truly poor sportsmanship on his part. Seriously dude, you've won, we can't catch up or win so what is the big deal if we decide to run out the clock by allowing our kids to bat some more? It's not like football where we can do some sort of hail mary play and miraculously win the game. This is 6U Tball. Now please take a deep breath, relax yourself and maybe review your rule book. Yeah the umps can call the game but honestly time hasn't run out and we haven't played five innings therefore according to the rules we have to continue the game.
So after the man fit that was displayed by the other team's coach the fifth inning was beginning and #16 Alyssa was first up at bat. Unfortunately she hit it straight to the pitcher who then threw it to first and Alyssa was out. Following Alyssa was #8 Omar. Just as Alyssa had done before him, Omar hit the ball straight to the pitcher who then scooped it up and threw it to first making Omar our 2nd out for the inning. Up next was #11 Nicholas. Nicholas hit the ball this time towards third base, the third baseman scooped it up and quickly threw it to first securing the third out for the inning and the end of the game.
Final score for the game: Hammerheads 4 Angels 26 (according to my records) Final reported score:
Now here I will apologize that I do not have any photos of this game. Prior to the game I had Mommy brain, which means that there was a lot going on at home as we were preparing to leave (dinner, getting Alyssa ready for the game, getting Dalton ready for an R.O.T.C. event etc) and I left my memory card for my digital camera at home. We did however get video of the game and I will include the full video of the game as well as the link to the edited version. In the full version you will get to see all of the plays, the time outs, the hit taken by Alex E. and the man fit thrown by the other coach prior to the start of the fifth inning. I hope that you enjoy the videos.
Full game video:
Link to edited video on facebook:
No comments:
Post a Comment