Tuesday was the next round of the playoffs for my son and his team; they won 10-0. It was another impressive pitching performance by his team. My son did make an error in right field, but obviously, it did not come back to hurt us. A win on Tuesday meant we were heading to the next round on Thursday night. How’d it go?
I was happy when my son wanted to play baseball again this year; I had told him his contract was up, and it was up to him. The same will be true going forward. He’s played well this year; he’s been slumping at the plate lately for sure, and since I’m not the coach this year, he hasn’t got as many opportunities on the mound, but I think he’s had fun, which is important. As we got ready for the game on Thursday, we found out that 6 of our kids would NOT be attending; 2 call ups would be needed. That’s not a good start. More good news… we could only throw our best 2 pitchers 35 pitches each, due to a tournament this weekend for their travel team. PLUS, 3 other kids couldn’t pitch at all because they already pitched this year; great planning I say. That left 2 other kids to pitch after the other 2 hit the 35 pitch count; one of them was my son. Cool!
The game started off well. We jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Now it was decision time. Were they going to bring in my son, or the other kid that was available? I knew what I would do, and not only because he’s my son. He’s a good pitcher, and because they used him so little this year (and my son really didn’t open his mouth as much as he should have), they didn’t really know; they chose the other kid. In our first loss this playoff season, I had disagreed with another move they made. We had just tied the game up in the last inning, and now it was the other team’s last bat. First kid got on, bringing their best kid to the plate; we decided to intentionally walk him… putting 1st and 2nd with nobody out. I’m sorry, but we have to take our chances there. If it was 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, sure, put him on, but NOT in this scenario. Kids ended up going to 2nd and 3rd on a wild pitch, and scoring on a sac fly; game over. It’s easy to make decisions hindsight, but… I’m always coaching; I would have never done that. Would this decision backfire as well?
Kid came in and got the first couple kids out, including making a great play on the mound; OK cool. Next inning came along, and he got the first two kids out; OK, good call, but… then it happened. He couldn’t throw strikes. He walked 4 straight kids to get into the meat of their order, and it only took one good swing to bring them all in; we’re down 4-3. Well… maybe it wasn’t the best decision. Next inning comes, and the kid is still on the mound; he walked the next 2 kids. Finally, they brought in my son. He promptly struck out the next 2 kids, and got the 3rd out via pop fly to center. Well, well, well…
Our offense dried up; my son struck out on a nasty curve ball, then got on base with 2 walks. The 2 call ups were not great. This brings us to the last inning, down 1 run; my son was back on the mound, ready to face their 3 best hitters. First kid crushed it, the only hard hit ball my son gave up; it was a triple. He struck their next best hitter out; huge! The next kid grounded out to 2nd, which brought the run home; why weren’t we playing up? The next kid grounded out as well. 2 innings, 1 run… not too shabby. Yet, the offense stood quiet, while the other team’s defense played really well. A 5-3 loss was how our season ended on this day.
One cool thing… as my son was pitching, kid hits a foul pop behind home plate, and my nephew caught it… a really nice play btw; pretty cool moment for the cousins. But yeah, season’s done; will my son play again? Maybe next year… we’ll see. If he plays, will I coach? We’ll see…
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