Six Throws for Six Outs

[sleepyjeff]

He just finished pitching the third inning(his last today, as this league limits pitchers to three per game)..............

Two more strike outs...including one against his best friend/rival.

Allowed one walk and one hit.

Father extremely proud of son and upset that he missed the game.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

What an exciting day for your son! Sorry that you were unable to attend. Life just isn't fair sometimes. Hopefully, after today's performance, your son will get more pitching opportunities in the future and you can make some of those.

[sleepyjeff]

Thanks, I do see most games as it is rare that they play this early. He will play again tonite, but because he already pitched his maximum(the league doesn't let anyone pitch more than 3 innings out of 12) I'll have to be satisfied with a great play at first(or outfield) which he does do from time to time. He's in a bit of a batting slump, maybe he'll come out of that for me tonite....doesn't matter, I suppose, as long as he's having fun(which he will now that he's not pitching; my wife said he was all business like up there and not his normal carefree clown around self)

[sleepyjeff]

Ok; got to see the nighttime game and boy was it fun to watch. We lost 18 - 14, both teams ran out of pitchers and had to pull in their short stops to pitch the last inning. I don't think a single player on either team didn't get at least one hit(my son got a single and a double)....hitting slump over

He played all but one inning in right field and did catch a foul ball for an out. Best of all, even though they lost it was a very fun game for everyone(except for a few of the poor pitchers).

Second best of all I got to see it....still a little bummed I didn't see the early game though(life, whaddya going to do?)

[katiesue]

Congratulations! I hate missing milestone moments too (I'm missing one tomorrow).

Hurrah for Sleepyjeff jr!

[sleepyjeff]

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.

[katiesue]

Yay for Sleepyalex and of course to proud parent Sleepyjeff.

[sleepyjeff]

Alex played his last game tonite.....and yep, he got to pitch again.

I won't go into the details as he did pretty good but the game was lost and partially due to one of his errors.

He played 3rd base for the beginning of the game and then finished the last 3 innings pitching. Early in the game he also hit a double that drove in 2 runs...very nice as his hitting was not so hot early in the season.

The great thing was that this was the last game of the year and we were down by 3 runs when durring the beginning of the last inning the best pitcher(player for that matter) finally makes it to the game--car trouble-- Alex was already on the mound warming up and the coach left him in even though he could have brought in his ace. Alex rewarded his decision by striking out two batters and fielding a grounder for the third out.

Alas, they still lost due to cold bats in the final inning.

Season over; 3 week break before swim meets...whew.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by sleepyjeff

I won't go into the details as he did pretty good but the game was lost and partially due to one of his errors.

I say flog him.

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I say flog him.

Nah.....he beat himself up over it more than anyone else.

The error occured when he was playing 3rd(he never plays 3rd; not sure why the coach had him there instead of 1st). Ball went right between his legs allowing 2 runs to score...