OK, let’s take a break from the comebacks for a minute, although another memorable one, the most memorable one I’ve been to in person, just popped in my head; we’ll get there. For now, let’s talk about some playoff baseball. We’re talking playoffs in the middle of the summer? Yes, my son’s baseball team would play their first playoff game on Saturday June 22.
One of our favorite terms is “clutch up”. Hitting a big shot in a big situation… you’re clutching up. Coming through when your team needs it… you clutched up. Speaking about clutch, when it comes to the playoffs, this is when it really comes into play. Well, my son would be front and center in this first playoff game of 2024; he would be the starting pitcher. Also, since he’d really been coming on with the bat, I moved him up to 2nd in the order. Game on!
We were the home team, so my son took the mound to start the game. We had the first game of the weekend, starting at 830 am. Our opponent had a good lineup; they came up putting up some good ABs against my son. They pushed across one run in the top of the 1st before we came up to the plate. I talked to the boys before the game about hitting; we’re going to come out hitting! This is why we play baseball, to hit the ball; the kids listened. As the bottom of the first began, our leadoff hitter singled cleanly into the outfield; good start! Next up was my boy; he was having a good AB before he connected on quite possibly the best hit of the year for him. It was a shot over the left fielder’s head, a true oppo taco. 2nd and 3rd, nobody out, with our best player at the plate. Guess what? He struck out. It didn’t matter. Before the dust cleared, we scored 4 runs to grab an early lead. After giving up one in the 2nd, we scored 4 more in the bottom of the inning. It was 8-2 in the 3rd inning when I had to pull my son from the game… Yes, that was not the plan, but per the league rules, if a pitcher hits three batters, he must be taken out. He didn’t typically hit a lot of kids, but today was that day; my brother would be proud. He was the king of hit batsman back in the day… haha. Anyways, my son was pretty upset, but we had an 8-2 lead… it was all good.
The top of the order, including my son, would proceed to go 10-13 with 2 walks on the day. It was a 15-4 thrashing to start the playoffs. It was one of our best games of the year. Up next, was our 2nd round game on Sunday, against the best team in the league; they finished 11-1 on the season. They had beat us earlier in the year; that was the team we were down 10-0 to, and almost came back and won. Rematch time. The only bad thing: we would not be there. Our first vacation of the summer began Sunday morning. Would the team be able to win without us? I told them win the next 2 games and we’ll meet in the championship; that was the plan.
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