Little League Playoff Update
Game 2 of the Playoffs against the Twins (on Sunday):
Emmett *almost* made two great defensive plays, both while playing first base. He stretched to maximum capacity to try to get a wide throw from short by Reed but just got pulled off (Reed had made an excellent play on a ball up the middle). And Emmett came charging hard on a short pop foul with bases loaded and one out in the last inning, but just missed the ball as he slid into the fence. A for effort anyway.
Otherwise he hit pretty well, and scored two runs - the last one being a difference maker. It was a total nailbiter where Eian (the manager's son) went out to pitch the last inning with a 7-4 lead. Got one out among several walks and dinker doink hits and while we still had the lead, started to lose his shit and cry on the mound. (This is about when Emmett went into the fence to try and get the foul pop.) Then the Twins hit a fly ball into left and one of our shakier fielders, Morgan, came in and made a knee-high save for the out. It was 7-6 with the bases loaded when Eian finally struck out the last batter. So much pressure! I thought Elliott, Eian's dad, was going to have a stroke when Eian (usually our best control picture) started throwing pitches in the dirt.
Low point in the game for Emmett was when he got picked off second. Sooooo embarassing. He was in denial about it ("I was on the bag!") but I was third base coach and he wasn't. He was just standing there thinking he was on the bag and it looked terrible because we had the bases loaded and were threatening. After a little cry he got over it and got his head back in the game and played pretty well. It was really the only detrimental play he's made in about ten games and he did a good job of getting back into the game and playing well for the rest. You've gotta bounce back in baseball, because there's plenty of failure.
Game 3 of the Playoffs against the Rockies (on Monday):
It was a wild, fraught, see-saw, all hitting, all weird plays, shabby pitching, clutch hitting, slug fest. Emmett went 2-2 with two walks, scoring three times. He crushed a massive double into the left field corner in his first at bat. Which we totally needed because they got 4 runs in the first.
In our first ups, our speedy leadoff player, Nathan, twisted his wrist on the first swing, and had to come out. We substituted Albert, who is a big, strong, not particularly fast kid. He hasn't had a hit in several games, but drilled a single, advanced on a ground out, stole third on a passed ball and came home on the overthrow. Pretty much what Nathan would've done.
So the score was 4-0, with them up. Reed pitched the first three innings, but they still scored 4 in the first on two walks a hit, a hit batsman and lots of passed balls while Eian was catching. Then it was 4-1 thanks to Albert. 4-2 because of Emmett's double.
Then we had the bases loaded with no outs. Our batter hit a soft liner, and their pitcher (a rather portly kid, named Bob) made a great running nab on it and doubled off our runner at third. So it looked like they were going to turn a bases loaded, no-out situation into a crushing reversal. Then Dario came up and hit a gorgeous double into the gap scoring two to tie it. It was such a huge hit.
So it was 4-4. Then we went up big, scoring 7 runs to go up 11-4. Their pitcher, Julien (on Emmett's tournament team) walked us and threw wild pitches in the dirt and we scampered around stealing bases and coming in from third. 11-5, they scratch out a run against Jallah pitching. They scored six in the top of the fifth inning to tie it up at 11 all. Half of that was on Jallah, and then Eian was on the mound and gave up the massive double (by Bob, the portly pitcher) that pulled them within one. Then, while that play was still live, Eian didn't get on the rubber and the tying run came in on a not-paying-attention steal. Eian started to meltdown, but held it together to get a strikeout and stop the bleeding. Tie game.
Bottom of the fifth, we get two men on (Jallah and Reed) and Eian blasts a shot into the gap for two RBIs. We squeeze out an extra run. We're up three.
Top of the sixth, Eian walks a batter. Then he gets a comebacker, a litle dribble hit directly to him and fails to field the ball. One of those nightmare situations where you're groping in the grass and it should be an easy out and it's NOT. Two men on with no outs. It's got all the makings of a horrible meltdown. (The Rockies are the team who beat us early in the season by scoring 17 runs in their last at bats against us to take the lead and beat us. Half the team is composed of players from Emmett's Double-A team, so I know them all well.) Eian's fighting back the tears, but he's mostly throwing strikes. Another dribbler ground ball to Nathan at first base. He gets the out. Passed ball and both runners move up. They've got men on second and third with one out. Eian gets a strikeout. Two outs. Huge! They're still threatening. Wild pitch, Jallah is catching and scrambles after the ball. Runner breaks for home, Jallah diving back and gets the game ending out. Phewwwwwww! Pandemonium!
So we're sitting in the catbird seat right now. The team we beat tonight (Rockies) is still in the tournament. Tomorrow they play the team we beat in the last regular season game (White Sox, managed incidentally by Marcelo - Emmett's Tournament team manager). The winner of that faces us on Thursday. If we win on Thursday, we're the champs. If we lose, we play again on Friday. Which is Emmett's last day of school, and we've got A's tickets. Since there are limits on how many innings a pitcher can pitch in a week, whichever team we face on Thursday will be more depleted than we are.
It was such a wild, sloppy game with coaches tearing their hair out, and scoring corrections and complaints and tension and barking and oy. It was kind of stressful. Less for me than my fellow coaches, though. Chris and Elliott were both suffering serious high blood pressure in that last inning.
Emmett *almost* made two great defensive plays, both while playing first base. He stretched to maximum capacity to try to get a wide throw from short by Reed but just got pulled off (Reed had made an excellent play on a ball up the middle). And Emmett came charging hard on a short pop foul with bases loaded and one out in the last inning, but just missed the ball as he slid into the fence. A for effort anyway.
Otherwise he hit pretty well, and scored two runs - the last one being a difference maker. It was a total nailbiter where Eian (the manager's son) went out to pitch the last inning with a 7-4 lead. Got one out among several walks and dinker doink hits and while we still had the lead, started to lose his shit and cry on the mound. (This is about when Emmett went into the fence to try and get the foul pop.) Then the Twins hit a fly ball into left and one of our shakier fielders, Morgan, came in and made a knee-high save for the out. It was 7-6 with the bases loaded when Eian finally struck out the last batter. So much pressure! I thought Elliott, Eian's dad, was going to have a stroke when Eian (usually our best control picture) started throwing pitches in the dirt.
Low point in the game for Emmett was when he got picked off second. Sooooo embarassing. He was in denial about it ("I was on the bag!") but I was third base coach and he wasn't. He was just standing there thinking he was on the bag and it looked terrible because we had the bases loaded and were threatening. After a little cry he got over it and got his head back in the game and played pretty well. It was really the only detrimental play he's made in about ten games and he did a good job of getting back into the game and playing well for the rest. You've gotta bounce back in baseball, because there's plenty of failure.
Game 3 of the Playoffs against the Rockies (on Monday):
It was a wild, fraught, see-saw, all hitting, all weird plays, shabby pitching, clutch hitting, slug fest. Emmett went 2-2 with two walks, scoring three times. He crushed a massive double into the left field corner in his first at bat. Which we totally needed because they got 4 runs in the first.
In our first ups, our speedy leadoff player, Nathan, twisted his wrist on the first swing, and had to come out. We substituted Albert, who is a big, strong, not particularly fast kid. He hasn't had a hit in several games, but drilled a single, advanced on a ground out, stole third on a passed ball and came home on the overthrow. Pretty much what Nathan would've done.
So the score was 4-0, with them up. Reed pitched the first three innings, but they still scored 4 in the first on two walks a hit, a hit batsman and lots of passed balls while Eian was catching. Then it was 4-1 thanks to Albert. 4-2 because of Emmett's double.
Then we had the bases loaded with no outs. Our batter hit a soft liner, and their pitcher (a rather portly kid, named Bob) made a great running nab on it and doubled off our runner at third. So it looked like they were going to turn a bases loaded, no-out situation into a crushing reversal. Then Dario came up and hit a gorgeous double into the gap scoring two to tie it. It was such a huge hit.
So it was 4-4. Then we went up big, scoring 7 runs to go up 11-4. Their pitcher, Julien (on Emmett's tournament team) walked us and threw wild pitches in the dirt and we scampered around stealing bases and coming in from third. 11-5, they scratch out a run against Jallah pitching. They scored six in the top of the fifth inning to tie it up at 11 all. Half of that was on Jallah, and then Eian was on the mound and gave up the massive double (by Bob, the portly pitcher) that pulled them within one. Then, while that play was still live, Eian didn't get on the rubber and the tying run came in on a not-paying-attention steal. Eian started to meltdown, but held it together to get a strikeout and stop the bleeding. Tie game.
Bottom of the fifth, we get two men on (Jallah and Reed) and Eian blasts a shot into the gap for two RBIs. We squeeze out an extra run. We're up three.
Top of the sixth, Eian walks a batter. Then he gets a comebacker, a litle dribble hit directly to him and fails to field the ball. One of those nightmare situations where you're groping in the grass and it should be an easy out and it's NOT. Two men on with no outs. It's got all the makings of a horrible meltdown. (The Rockies are the team who beat us early in the season by scoring 17 runs in their last at bats against us to take the lead and beat us. Half the team is composed of players from Emmett's Double-A team, so I know them all well.) Eian's fighting back the tears, but he's mostly throwing strikes. Another dribbler ground ball to Nathan at first base. He gets the out. Passed ball and both runners move up. They've got men on second and third with one out. Eian gets a strikeout. Two outs. Huge! They're still threatening. Wild pitch, Jallah is catching and scrambles after the ball. Runner breaks for home, Jallah diving back and gets the game ending out. Phewwwwwww! Pandemonium!
So we're sitting in the catbird seat right now. The team we beat tonight (Rockies) is still in the tournament. Tomorrow they play the team we beat in the last regular season game (White Sox, managed incidentally by Marcelo - Emmett's Tournament team manager). The winner of that faces us on Thursday. If we win on Thursday, we're the champs. If we lose, we play again on Friday. Which is Emmett's last day of school, and we've got A's tickets. Since there are limits on how many innings a pitcher can pitch in a week, whichever team we face on Thursday will be more depleted than we are.
It was such a wild, sloppy game with coaches tearing their hair out, and scoring corrections and complaints and tension and barking and oy. It was kind of stressful. Less for me than my fellow coaches, though. Chris and Elliott were both suffering serious high blood pressure in that last inning.