Ok....just to catch everyone up Alex, my son, has been playing most of the year on either 1st base or right field(pretty much trading back and forth between another player who likes 1st too). Since the game he pitched described above he has only pitched a couple of innings durring garbage time(when the game's outcome is pretty much decided) and with only limited success.
So last night, with his team up by 2(9-7) the coach yelled out all of the positions for the final inning; Alex was a little disapointed to not hear his name for either right field or 1st base(the coach always calls out the positions starting with rf,cf,lf,3rd,ss,2nd,and then 1st before he calls catcher and pitcher) and sat down on the bench a little dejected looking
"Tyler!" bellowed the coach. "You're catching for
Alex". Alex jumps up and both the pitching coach and the head coach huddle around him for a minute saying words of encouragement I guess.
Alex goes up to the mound and throws his alloted 8 warmup pitches to Tyler before the other teams best hitter comes up to bat. 1st throw and "BAM" the ball flys clear out to the fence in right field where the r. fielder just misses catching it. The center fielder scoops up the ball and throws to second---SAFE!
With a runner on 2nd and no outs Alex gathers his composure and faces his next batter.
1st throw: A low pitch but the batter still swung...Strike one.
2nd throw: Another low pitch and the batter gets a piece of it...foul ball..strike two.
3rd throw: Another low pitch...Ball one.
4th throw: High pitch....Ball Two.
5th throw: Change up...batter swings STRIKE Three!
Tyler(catcher) throws to third and gets the boy trying to steal it out!
Two outs.
Next Batter.
Alex throws a meat ball right over the plate and the batter swings and hits a home run
9-8...two outs.
Next Batter.
1st throw.....a no swing STRIKE!
2nd throw....high ball but batter fails to check his swing and misses...STRIKE!
Opposing coach tells batter to swing at anything close(Alex knows that when a coach tells a kid this he can usually pitch a little outside and still get the batter to swing) Which is exactly what happens..Alex wins his first close
Season almost over folks and Alex has elected not to try out for the more competative Summer League(even though I think he would be great) and instead join a swimming team this summer. Thanks for reading the ramblings of a proud papa and if there is anymore this year I will be sure to post it here...but I can't imagine anything topping that game last night.