Baseball… It’s a Funny Game.

The game’s prospects were bleak at best.  Marc’s Rays had come into the Winner’s Bracket Finals hoping for a berth in Saturday’s TABB Bronco Championship game, but one team stood in its way: the resurgent Angels who upset the #1-seeded Pirates in the quarterfinals.  The gray skies  opened up with a slight sprinkle during pre-games warm-ups and began dumping raindrops the size of dimes by the first-pitch.  Wanting to get the game played due to scheduling restraints for the ensuing days, the game started beneath a steady shower.

The Angels were able to get two runners on base with one out before Mother Nature intervened with a 15-minute rain delay.  The boys scrambled to get their gear underneath the protection of the cramped dugout while coaches tried their best to keep the team focused.

When play was resumed, a costly  error turned an inning-ending double play into a bases-loaded situation that would cost the Rays when the next Angels batter launched a bases-clearing double off the left-field fence.   Down 3-0 in the first inning, the Rays seemed to press as they attempted to surmount the modest deficit.  A series of bad at-bats by the top half of the Rays line-up made the Angels’ pitcher appear untouchable.  Through 4 full innings the Rays only managed to get 2 hits while allowing one more run on defense.

The Rays rallied  in the bottom of the 6th inning putting two runners on base with two outs and the Rays’ best player, Blake, on-deck.  The games only go 7 innings in the Bronco division, so this seemed like the last gasp for the Rays to pull off a comeback.  The last time the Rays and Angels played a couple weeks ago, the Rays made a furious comeback down 6 in the last inning that was ignited by a 3-run home run by Blake only to come up 1-run short.  This similar situation weighed on the minds of the Angels coaches as well as the pitcher who also happened to give up that 3-run bomb to Blake two weeks prior.  Should Ryan find a way on base, Blake would represent the tying run, but Ryan could only muster a weak grounder to second base to kill the threat.

The Angels tacked on another insurance run in the top-half of the final inning putting the Rays in a deeper hole.  Down 5-0 with nothing but a meager offense, the Rays coaches looked distraught.  The Rays were preseason favorites to win it all based on the incredible work the manager did in the draft.  The Rays featured the league’s best talent, Blake; 3 travel-ball players who were all-stars last year, Marc, Ryan, and Connor; and another travel-ball player, Nacio; not to mention three coaches with travel-ball/all-stars experience.  Games aren’t won on paper, though, and the Rays weren’t just losing this game, they were getting spanked.

Blake led off the inning with a sharp double to the left-field gap, and scored on a single by Connor.

5-1 Angels

Then it started getting away from the Angels as their pitcher lost command of his pitches and walked the bases loaded.  A fielder’s choice by the third baseman allowed another run to score.

5-2 Angels

The Angels brought in another pitcher for relief, but he walked in another run.

5-3 Angels

Kyle, who had been injured more than half the season after breaking his ankle the first practice, came up to bat with the bases-loaded and the season on the brink.  He swung badly and missed the first pitch, then fouled the next one off before taking two balls to even the count.  Then the unthinkable, the unfathomable… he hit a sharp grounder down the line past the third baseman who was inexplicably playing shallow allowing the tying run to score from 2nd base.

5-5 tie

With one out and the winning run only 70 feet away at third base, the Rays now found themselves in the driver’s seat.  The next batter struck out, which brought Marc up to the plate with a chance to be the hero except the Angels’ manager had other ideas and walked him intentionally to load the bases and set up the force outs.  Ryan came up to bat again with the weight of the team on his shoulders and could only muster a groundball to the shortstop to retire the side.

The Rays pulled off a 5-run inning in their last at-bat to push the game into extra innings.  Neither team was able to score in the 8th inning, and the game was suspended due to darkness…

… and that’s where we are today.  Today at 4:30 the game will continue in the top of the 9th inning with the score tied 5-5.  The winner of the game advances to the Finals tomorrow, and the loser stays and plays for their playoff lives against the Pirates in an elimination game.

It’s really hard not to get caught up in the emotion of youth sports.  I’ve been coaching baseball now for almost 7 years, and times like these where the unadulterated emotions of the game overwhelm remind me about how special this time is for the kids.  Some of these kids maybe  never play the game again within a couple years.  They’ll discover girls, music, or just get sick of their parents making them play baseball.  Some of these kids have never played on a team as good as the one they’re on right now, while others are patiently waiting for all-stars and travel-ball season to start.  They don’t know it yet because they’re living in the moment, but these are moments they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.  In their haste to grow up, they’ll come to cherish these memories.  Hopefully, they can pull out a victory today because happy memories are a lot more fun to recollect.