Kids

The Summerfest tourney is double-elimination, meaning that if we lose twice we’re done. Since we lost our first game, we came into game 2 needing a win to stay alive.

Our opponents were the Oakdale Cardinals, possessors of a 3-2 record and 10th overall in the leage (we’re in 5th place). We should have played them already, but got rained out – we’ll make up the game at the end of the season. They came to the field with 8 guys tonight, due to some untimely vacations. They played hard, though, and kept us honest.

We lost the coin toss, so we were the visitors. We started off with two quick runs, they responded with one in the bottom of the first, then added another in the bottom of the second. We made it 5-2 in the top of the third, then 7-runned them in the fourth to make it 12-2. They got one back in the fifth, and then somewhere in there I lost count.

We had some great plays in the field, excellent pitching, timely hitting and heads-up baserunning. The guys played a great game tonight, and they won. I’m very proud of them, and we’re headed into tomorrow morning’s game ready to play.

Final score: I’m not sure, something like 15-7

Tournament record: 1-1

Our adventures with rain continue. It rained from Monday night (after our game, fortunately) through Wednesday morning pretty much non-stop. The Oakdale fields were closed for Wednesday’s games because the rain had rendered them unplayable. Fortunately, we were scheduled for Afton, our home park, which has pretty good drainage and a fair amount of sand mixed with its native clay soil.

We faced the North St Paul River Cats tonight. Like the Raptors, they’re having a tough season – they won their first game, but haven’t been able to put together both hitting and defense in a game since then. They can hit, though – two of their guys hit fly balls that nearly hit the fence, and they hit a few solid singles through our infield.

When the game started, it was about 65 degrees, with a wet breeze. Over the course of the game, though, the skies lowered and the temperature dropped. We have to get in 4-1/2 innings for a game to be official, and as we took the field to start the 4th inning, a light but steady rain was falling. We needed to get six outs, and we also had to bat in the bottom of the 4th. We got three outs fairly quickly, giving up a run in the process, and came to bat with puddles forming near the bases and in the dugouts. In some ways, what we should have done, since we were already leading by something like 10-3, is simply swung through nine pitches and taken the field, hoping to get the game in before the rain stopped play.

The guys, however, are incapable of playing to lose. We can hold them back on the basepaths to prevent running up the score, but they won’t just make outs at the plate on purpose. So we scored seven runs, hitting the limit for an inning, as the rain fell and the temperature dropped even further.

The guys took the field for the top of 5, and the rain let up a bit. We gave up a couple of runs but got three outs, with Marco pitching strong to finish out the game.

Final score: 17-5

Season record: 6-1

We played the North St Paul Rockhounds tonight. When they took the field, we saw giants. They had 5 or 6 players who were as tall as I am. These are 7th graders, mind you. Big kids.

We were the visitors tonight, so we started at the plate. It was a one-two-three inning, with a grounder to 3rd by Alex, a strikeout by Patrick and a liner to the shortstop by Lukas. Not a good start, but then we got to take the field. Alex started tonight, and pitched three innings. He gave up one run, and his first walk of the season. Marco pitched the 4th and 5th.

The highlight play of the game was a run-down in the bottom of the 4th, with Marco pitching, Lucas catching and Nate at 3rd base. Lucas blocked a pitch in the dirt, but the runner on 3rd took off. He realized his mistake when Lucas came up with the ball and ran at him, with Nate ready for the throw at 3rd. We haven’t practiced the run-down at all, but you wouldn’t have known it if you were watching. Nate and Lucas had the runner in the hot box, and with the runner watching those two, Marco picked a throw from Nate to Lucas out of the air and applied the tag. It was a beautiful thing.

We had started hitting in the bottom of the second, finishing the inning with 6 runs. We piled on more, and went to the bottom of the 5th with an 18-run lead. We had a hard time finding outs, with a couple of defensive misplays and the ump calling a tight strike zone (which he should, with us having that big of a lead), but eventually managed to close it out.

Final score: 19-8, and it wasn’t that close. We gave them 5 outs in the 5th.

Season record: 4-1.

We played the Oakdale Phillies tonight. One of the odd things about the A League is that some of the boys are 13-going-on-14 (as Alex will be next year) and have hit a growth spurt. In tonight’s game, two of the Phillies were as tall as their coaches – who were about my height (5-10 if I have good posture).

Alex pitched three solid innings. I think he gave up a run in the second inning, but I’m not sure. He did not have a good night at the plate – he hit a triple, but struck out twice. He was thrown out trying to steal home on a passed ball (the catcher got a good bounce off the fence behind home plate), so finished the night with no runs scored.

Final score: Ironpigs 10, Phillies 3.

Season record: 2-1.

Alex is playing baseball again this year, still in the Maplewood Athletic Association (www.maplewoodbaseball.org). He’s in 6th grade, so we’ve moved up to the A league, which is 6th and 7th grade boys (girls are allowed, but rare – I believe we had one girl playing in the B league last year). He’s been playing with (and I’ve been coaching) the same set of guys for four years now. When he was in 3rd grade, we were the Bats, and did well – C league was 2nd and 3rd graders, so we were older.

B league was hard the first year – we had a losing record as the Mudcats, despite playing well enough to stay in games. The B league is the first level where kids are pitching, and learning how to throw strikes, and how to hit real pitches, was tough. Our second year, we were the Ironbirds, and played very well – our season record was 12-2, 3rd best in the league (and the best record for a Maplewood team – one from Little Canada and one from Roseville had better records). We went into the tournament as the 3rd seed and won.

A new year brings a new league. The A league has longer basepaths – 70-75 feet instead of the 60 feet of the C and B leagues – and runners are allowed to lead off. Which means pitchers have to hold baserunners on, so the balk comes into play.

It’s a whole new game, and it’s going to take some getting used to. We were counting on some practice over the weekend in the annual Jamboree – a pre-season set of exhibition games that don’t count in the standings but do give our guys the chance to find out what it’s like to play. As it happened, the weather didn’t cooperate – both of our Saturday games were canceled, and we got in about 3/4 of an inning of a game on Sunday before the thunderstorms rolled in.

So we went into tonight’s game not as prepared as we would like to have been. We only had one really bad inning in the field, but couldn’t string together hits.

In the end, we got beat by the Roseville Giants 12-3 (I think, I’ll update the score when it’s posted). Alex pitched well, giving up a couple of hits and a couple of runs, but he also struck out two and fielded his position well. He didn’t do too well at the plate, though – two strikeouts and a walk. He did steal second, steal third and go home on an overthrow, though.

We’ll get ‘em next time.

[Updated to reflect actual score. Ouch.]