Boys of Summer

Apparently, I forgot to actually post the below entry.

I was fortunate to spend this past week with some of my favorite people - My bride and our three children. We were joined part way through the week by my parents - something that just seemed to make the magical week that much more special.

My youngest son joined a new baseball team this past year and had a relatively good season. Yes, he improved. Yes, the competition was another notch up. And most important - he enjoyed the team, the coaches and himself. The team finished the season in a truly remarkable fashion.

The coaches met with the parents, pre-season, to talk about the plans for the season. Most of the time was spent talking about expectations of the players and families. The kicker on the budget side of the discussion was the planned trip to Myrtle Beach for an end-of year tournament. That tournament is the real subject of this post.

I will not bore you with all the other family details but did want to share the magic 'the Boys of Summer' provided to close out the week. The baseline for the tournament is that each team would play 5 games to 'seed' the championship and consolation rounds for the end of the week. The Cardinals started strong winning their first two games. Then, they hit the buzz-saw and dropped 3 in a row - and a couple were really tough to swallow.

The competition at the Ripken tournament was impressive. Teams from around the country and a few of them were very disciplined, talented and a joy to watch. There is a difference in play when you realize that the team in the other dugout has not only played together for a few years, but that they play year round. It shows!

The finals started on Thursday and were set up as a single elimination tournament. The Cardinals found themselves the #6 seed in the 6 team Championship bracket. This meant they had to start by playing the #3 seed, a team that only had one loss and we had grown accustomed to hearing their name throughout the week with one outstanding game after the other. The boys from Eldersburg jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. On to the second round.

The second round found the young Cardinals up against the #2 seed, a team that had just beaten them a few days ago by .... several runs. The game was one of those games for the books. The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead and were looking like they were well on their way to the Championship. However, in the 4th inning things started to change and the opposition battled back. Late in the game we surrendered the tying run and needed to hold them for a push to extra innings. The Gods of Baseball shined on our Cardinals that day and they did indeed hold for extra innings. In the top of the 7th, our boys put two on the board and shut them down 1-2-3! Cardinals win and we are headed to the finals.

A day later, the Cardinals took the field against the undefeated squad from Houston, Texas. The opposition had given up a total of 11 runs in the previous 7 games. This was going to be tough. The Cardinals started off strong, but were unable to capitalize on several different occasions when they had runners at the corners. The opposing coach was pacing and obviously getting a little nervous as his group had not seen anyone hold them this tight. In the fourth inning, the first run was scored but it wasn't for us. We managed to hold the game close but in the end - lost the final game. Hats off to all the teams, but this last group was something special.

I was/am very proud of our 11 year olds. The battled the best and held them in check. Thank you boys for bringing me back to my youth this season. Thank you coaches (Curt, Mike, Bob & Dave) for making this truly a Season to Remember.