It’s over!!! We won the championship game Thursday night. It was not as intense as had been expected because we controlled most of the game. The final score was 8-2. I closed the last inning of the game pitching. In my at-bats, I went into two strike counts every time, three of them with no balls, but I never struck out. Actually, I ended up 2-4, with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBI’s. Both of my doubles came with two outs and runners in scoring position. One bad thing did happen though. A player on the team we were playing hit a foul ball directly into his face off of the bat. He was bleeding around his eye, so bad the ambulance had to come pick him up to get stitches. We all hope he’ll be alright. Sometimes I wish it had been a little more competitive, but after my two previous game, it was alright not to be totally stressed out. We are the champs!!!

Read this even though it is long.  Wow.  Are you kidding me?  Last night we played the #1 seeded Dirt Dawgs (we are #2).  Coming into the game, they were undefeated, and we had one loss, which was to that team.  I did not pitch well last game, so we started another pitcher who always throws strikes to start the game.  Well, he did throw strikes most of the time, but they hit the ball hard the first 3+ innings.  They scored 6 runs through those innings when Scott pitched.  During those three innings, their pitcher was dominating us and we only had one hit and two baserunners.  So after 3 innings, the score was 6-0.  Didn’t look good at all.  Scott started the fourth inning with a walk, so I came in to pitch.  Unlike last game, I was light’s out.  I had my curveball working, I was hitting the corners, and I was frustrating them.  I gave up only one, maybe two hits in 4  innings.  Our first score of the game was in the fifth inning.  We had runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs, and I came up to bat.  With two strikes, the pitcher threw a knuckleball and I golfed it out for a double over the left fielder’s head, scoring both runs.  They struck back with one run on my second pickoff of the day (first one was successful), this one to third base, and the guy had nowhere to go, so he ran towards home.  Our third baseman chased him down, but threw the ball over the catcher’s head for their only run they would score against me.  In the sixth we scored only one run when we had the opportunity to score more, but our batter got thrown out at first on a line drive to right field.  So in the bottom of the last inning (7th), we were down 7-3.  Our first three batters, including me, all walked to load the bases.  Everyone was getting hyped up.  Our clean-up batter came up and hit a line-drive to center field and two runs scored to make it a two-run game.  So now Scott came up.  Remember last game he hit a bases loaded triple to tie the game?  On the very first pitch, he hit a line drive triple that shot all the way to right-field corner to tie up the game!  Most clutch two games I have ever seen by one player!  But it was not over yet.  That is until Connor came up and with two strikes, he hit a soft grounder up the first base line, and Scott scored from third.  Game over!!!  5 runs in the last inning to win the game.  Those were the craziest two comebacks in a row that I have ever played in.  I guess we are just a team of destiny.  Now we play in the championship in whicheither the Dirt Dawgs or the winner of the loser’s bracket will have to beat us twice, while we only have to beat them once.  Those games will be Tuesday and possibly Wednesday if we lose on Tuesday. Wow.

Another exciting game.  As I said in my previous post, we played against the #3 seeded Senators.  The game was more incredible than the first time we played them when I got hit in the head to win the game.  In the first inning, I gave up four runs which was by far my worst start of the season.  So after the first two innings, we were down 5-0.  But that’s what your team is for.  TJ (a player on my team) came into the game in the second inning to pitch and threw six innings giving up only one run to keep us in the game.  The turning point in the game was in the sixth inning (score was 5-1) when I came up with runners on second and third base and I struck out, but the ball was in the dirt so you can run to first.  I ran to first and beat out the throw, but there was a lot of controversy.  Apparently, the umpire had made the signal for strike three, so the coach ran out to argue while there was still a live ball.  So our baserunner on third made a heads-up play to run home during the commotion.  The umpires decided to leave us at second and third base with our clean-up batter stepping up to the plate.  Their team just absolutely lost their minds!  They were all screaming at the umpires.  Finally, we started to play again.  Naturally, the pitcher wanted to walk our batter to load the bases with one out, but the coach would not let him.  The first pitch was outside, then the coach came out to talk to the pitcher.  Coincidentally, the very next pitch  was a hard fastball into our player’s back! (I know the pitcher and he wouldn’t do that on purpose, but if you didn’t know him, it seems a little fishy) Everyone lost their minds again!  The second baseman who is half my size was standing 2 feet away from me yelling and mocking our batter who is laying on the ground hurt.  It’s a good thing I’m a Christian or that kid would have been knocked out.  After our player was able to get up and walk to first, Scott, our #5 batter in the lineup, came up.  On the very first pitch, he obliterated the baseball way back to left field all the way to the wall!  All three of our baserunners scored and we were tied up, 5-5.  That may have saved us on a day when we could not hit the ball worth anything.  Then one of their fans was screaming and cussing and trying to fight the umpire and got ejected from the game!  So they had lost their minds and we had all the momentum going into the last inning.  We scored four in the seventh and shut them down.  So after all that intensity, all that matters is the final score of 9-5, and we’re on to the next round against the only team that beat us, but that we are definitely capable of beating.  If we win, we will be in the championship in which a team would have to beat us twice in a row.  If you’re still reading, I am surprised and I thank you for reading this whole thing.  I just didn’t know what I could leave out.

Last night we played the #8 seeded Diamondbacks (we’re the#2 seed) and we beat them pretty easily. The final score was 14-4 after 5 innings (instead of seven-10-run slaughter rule). We hit ok, but not to our full potential. I got an inning in pitching in which I had 2 strikeouts and one pop-up to the 3rd Baseman. Just needed to get some practice pitching for our game tomorrow that I will be starting. Saturday’s game is against the #3 seeded Senators, who we beat in extra innings by me getting hit in the side of the head by a pitch to walk in the winning run. Should be a competitive game and I’m ready for it.

On Saturday, we played our last game of the regular season against the Red Sox.  We ended up winning 15-8.  We played pretty terrible at the beginning of the game, and the score was 4-3 we were winning after three innings.  We had the bases loaded in each of those three innings, but only got 4 runs out of that.  We pulled away at the end of the game, though, so it was not a stressful ending.  The tournament starts Thursday this week, but the entire schedule has not been finished yet.

Finally, another game. I feel like I haven’t played in forever, which was exactly 10 days with no baseball (except for the MLB playoffs). So, how will our team do after a 10-day break? Pretty good would be the answer. We didn’t have any errors in the game and we hit the ball pretty well after the first two innings. And it helped to have played a bad team. We pitched our seventh or eighth best pitcher, and he did pretty well. I was 2-3 batting with a single, a triple, 2 stolen bases, 3 runs, and 3RBIs. Oh, and we won (if you didn’t already pick up on that) 12-2 in 5 innings instead of 7 because of the 10-run slaughter rule. I have another game Saturday, our last game of the season before the tournament starting next Wednesday.

Ugly. Last night we played the Dirt Dawgs(stupid name for a baseball team) who were 9-0. Technically, we were 8-0 because our one loss was to a team that is no longer in our league. It was a close game all the way through until the last inning where they started to pull away. The final score was 9-5, a loss. One play in the first inning made me so mad I can’t even describe how I feel about it. I swung at a pitch in the dirt for strike 3(which doesn’t happen very often), and since the catcher did not catch the ball I began to run to first. The catcher picked up the ball and made sure the runner at third base did not run home, then threw it to first. Here’s the problem-the first baseman stretched toward the catcher to catch the ball with his front foot in foul territory right where I was running. I tripped over his foot and we both fell to the ground. The umpire called interference on me because I didn’t get out of the way and I hindered him from throwing home to try to get the out at home!!! So instead, we were both out and the inning was over! So, is that really my fault that he stuck his foot out in front of me while trying to catch the ball? I’m so mad right now from just talking about it. It was also a very painful game for me. I hit a soft line drive over the pitcher’s head and the second baseman picked up the ball and threw it even though he didn’t have a chance at getting me out at first. I ran through first and turned to see what happened and I was on the ground very quickly. The ball had somehow hit me directly in the nose. I did not know what had happened just then, but I felt a crazy pain in the center of my face, and there was blood pouring out of my nose onto the ground. I had to come out of the game for an inning(against my own will) because my nose kept bleeding . Also, Chad Johnson failed me by having his worst game of the season by far, so I lost. All I needed was for him to have his worst game of the season by a little bit.  Oh yeah but there is good news. I saved a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico.

Here’s a surprise.   We won the game on Saturday, though missing many of our better players.  The final score was 10-4.  I landed awkwardly on a pitch in warm-ups before the 6th inning, and I’m still feeling a little sore in my knees. But we won without my in the game for one inning. Our team is now 7-1.  Tonight we play a team that is 0-8, and has lost by a lot to every team they have played, so expect a huge blowout out of this game.

More baseball.  I know it’s been a lot but I can’t just skip an episode.   Last night we played the Rangers.   We kinda knew what to expect of this team because we had beaten a team 7 that had beaten this team.  So we expected to run away with the game in the first couple innings.  Well, for the first time this season, our first 3 batters each got out to start off the game.  But after 4 innings the score was 9-0, we were ahead and in total control.  But we failed to score 1 more run to get the slaughter rule, so instead of leaving at 8:30, we left at 9:30.  The final score of the game was 9-2, another victory.  We are now 6-1, so we have 5 more games until the tournament.

Sorry I’ve been off the past few days, but now I’m back on track.  Saturday I had a game against a travel team called the Senators.  They are a Dale City team, which means most players on their team are very unsportsmanlike toward other teams.  I pitched against this team last year and the end result was the same as our game today-a win.  But the road to get to that win was a little tougher this time.  The final score was 6-5.  I pitched very good in this game-4 2/3 innings(pitch count) and 4 unearned runs.  The reason this game was close was our team’s fielding.  We had at least 10 errors in that game, including three on one play, and four in the game by one player who normally doesn’t make errors too often.  We had what we thought to be our last chance to win the game or tie it in the bottom of the last inning with the score 5-5.  We didn’t score, but the game was not yet over.  We had enough time for one last inning.  So in the top of that inning, we escaped a bases loaded jam without any runs being scored.  So it was our turn.  The situation ended up being bases loaded with one out and our number 2 batter in the lineup up to bat, me.  I had no doubt in my mind that I would do it, but I had never expected this particular ending.  On the first pitch of my at-bat, I got hit right in the side of my head to get a walk-off win for my team!  That was great.