07/27/2021
The boys definitely had an experience this week at the World Series. We started out 1-2 in pool play, but could have, and should have easily been 3-0. Losing to a good team from the Denver area, beating a team from Laguna Beach, Ca and then losing our last pool game to a team from Burleson, TX that might have been the worst sports I've ever seen, parents and players. We had 16 errors in our pool play games, leading to 12 unearned runs. The boys ended up the 11 seed after pool play.
We lost a heartbreaker in the first game of the double elimination bracket, where Steven pitched great exiting with a lead after 4 innings with 8Ks and 3ER. Will came in and pitched well, but two errors gave the RoadRunners from Utah the lead. Then a storm came in putting us in a 40 minute delay knocking out Will, so Stone came in and got us out of it. But the delay knocked us off of our rhythm, and we couldn't get it going in time, dropping us to the loser's bracket.
In the first elimination game we played the Utah Boom. Henry pitched an absolute gem throwing a complete game 8Ks 0BB 1ER.
We played our best game of the year in this game, and it showed with a 9-1 victory. Great pitching, no errors, and hitting throughout the lineup. And all 9 batters making things happen with Victor going 3-4 with a big triple, and Gabe going 4-4.
In our next game we played Majestic Baseball out of Colorado Springs. They were my favorite opponent all week. They were great sports, we matched up well, and all the parents were cheering for both teams. Dalton started things out on the mound going strong the first 3 innings. He ran into a little trouble the second time through the lineup when he started feeling sore. Jaromy came in and finished the game for us after smashing his thumb fouling a ball off earlier. We played great defense again, going error-free in both games Saturday. But Majestic found open space and ended up winning the game 10-6 ending our world series run.
The boys hit great all weekend, putting up 47 runs in 6 games. All 13 players that came hit the ball well. We had 2 home runs this week, Jaromy got his 1st home run since he joined our team, I think his 1st ever. Henry hit a home run against the (poor sport) Texas team, then their pitcher tried to fight him.
We faced some adversity as well. We brought 13 players and ended the weekend with 9, after some health issues caused 4 families to head home. There were some scary situations, and tough decisions that our families had to make. I hope and pray everything turns out ok for our Grays families.
I'm proud of these boys how they competed against some very good competition all week. Especially when they were short handed, with their backs against the wall. We were quickly running out of pitching with pitch counts, innings limits, and sore arms, but the boys found a way to dig deep and battle.
I'm proud to be their coach and thankful the parents trust us help mold them. These boys give us 100% and never quit, no matter what the situation. That mentality will help them as the get older, not just in baseball, but in life. And ultimately, that's our goal, to help mold these young men into good men who won't ever give up.