When I first saw this title I thought someone else was at my son's little league game last night.
Sorry, story time.
As background, my 10-year old son is on a rec team in a league in which all the other teams have at least a few "travel" players. Needless to say, the season hasn't gone great. They didn't win one game. At least once a game, they would leave the field due to the mercy rule.
Last night was actually a pretty close game. The league rules indicate an inning could not start after 7:45, after all, these are 10 and 11 year old kids.
Despite suffering another mercy run inning, at 7:35 going into the bottom half, our kids were somehow up by two and taking the field. One strikeout, and soon after, the bases were loaded. A runner is walked home. Bases still loaded. A sharp grounder to third was fielded cleanly and goes to home for a play at the plate. Now this is little league so what would you expect to happen? Of course, the runner is hit by the throw. He scores the tying run with the ball rolling up the first base line. My son, the catcher, grabs the ball while another runner comes down the third base line. The runner slides, my son fearlessly dives headfirst to block the plate. They collide. The ball still in his glove. The runner out having never reached the plate. The inning ends tied after another unremarkable strikeout.
All the parents, as you could imagine, are excited. At a minimum, our kids put on a good show, a great effort, and a moral victory for even making the game close. But this is the playoff, and there has to be a winner. So the game goes into extra innings, it is a bit late, but at least it is not a school night. Our team scores three through a combinations of walks, beat out grounders, and stolen bases. Once again, they are three outs away from their first win.
The bottom half of the inning started off as anything you would expect from a 10 and 11 year old little league game. Lots of balls. A couple wild pitches. A few foul tips. A single strikeout and the bases once again loaded. However, this is October baseball. The tying run on first. The winning run to bat. A hard grounder up the middle. Two runs score easliy. The runner on first stops at second as the ball makes its way back to the pitcher.
At this point I must interject for a moment. In my opinion, the game at this level is where kids should be taught how to play the game fairly. Not to try to take advantage of every little loophole. Wins, loses, should take a distant second to fairness. It is also where parents need to demonstrate how to act in the heat of the moment.
As the pitcher walks back onto the mound with the ball, the tying runner bolts from second and before anyone understands what is happening he's standing on third. Parents scream from the bleachers in protest. The ump threatening to toss one parent for protesting too much allows the runner to stay on third.
First and third, one out. The runner on first steals second on the first pitch. Still one out, the tying run on third, leading a quarter way down the line. The winning run on second. The pitch rings off aluminum bat as the line drive heads straight back at the pitcher. As he turns, the ball welds to the palm of his glove. In shock he looks to third. The runner slides back safely. No chance for a play. He turns to second and throws. The runner slides. The ball arrives and is held. The second basemen's foot on the bag. A momentary breath as everyone looks to the ump. His animated arm swings down, "You're OUt!", he roars. And celebration ensues for the hard earned first win.
And the WS game was pretty exciting too.