A cheesy minor ball story......
(Note: I am using nicknames instead of real names in this story - but all the nicknames are legit! And the story is true.)
This weekend, the West Carleton minor softball league held its "Championship Weekend". Fitzroy Junior plays Squirts (U12) and I am his coach.
After losing the first game of the season, we ran the table with 11 straight wins to go to the A Final versus our rivals from Kinburn.
Saturday morning was the final game, and it was a very well played match, especially by Squirt house league standards.
With the final set for six innings, I had to divvy up the innings for my pitchers - in our league, no chucker can go more that three innings. Of the nine players I had available, Fitzroy Junior and The Snake are my two best arms. They split the first four and did well. We were up 9-5. So, I decided to give Cheese a chance to pitch. He is decent - he took the CanPitch clinic and generally does a good job.
However, with about 80 to 100 in attendance, including parents, grandparents and siblings, Cheese was on a big stage. And unfortunately, it didn't go so well. He walked eight consecutive, throwing a total of three strikes in those at bats.
What to do? With a grown up, it's easy. That pitcher wants out. But with an 11 year old, it's tough. I don't want to "pull him" - I haven't done that even once this year. But I also hate to watch him struggle.
It was my toughest coaching decision of the year. After the fourth run was walked in, I brought it the Snake from first base to finish the inning. It wasn't easy. Cheese was in tears on the bench between the fifth and sixth.
Man, did I feel bad. Should I have pulled him earlier? Not pulled him at all? It is only Squirt house league after all.
I felt terrible. Our team was down 10-9 and I had a kid bawling and as you can imagine spirits were not high on the Fitzroy bench.
In our half of the fifth, we faced the Kinburn ace - The Bird - in his third and final inning. We went three up three down. Things were not looking good for Fitzroy to defend our Squirt title that we had won in 2013 with pretty much all the same boys.
I knew we had to keep them off the board to have a chance in the sixth. Fitzroy Junior got the ball. He began the season not wanting to pitch at all - memories of a line drive drilling him in the forearm last year still lingered - but he eventually came around about game four of the season and was convinced to go back on the slab. He can throw strikes consistently which is obviously important in Squirt house league. And he has also developed the "Mick Changeup" and uses it well. Junior did me proud in the top of the sixth, setting down the Kinburn batters in order.
This set up the bottom of the sixth, with us down by a single run. A quick pep talk before we went to bat and fingers crossed in the coach's box. Thanks to KO, Fitzroy Junior and the Hop, we manufactured a run to tie it. If we went to extra innings any pitcher could throw. That meant seeing The Bird again - and when he is on, which was for the final, our boys have trouble scoring against him. We pretty much needed to win it now against their second pitcher while we had the chance. But now, with a runner on third and two out, who was at the plate?
Cheese.
The first pitch was right up the pipe. He froze. Strike one.
The second pitch was about a foot over his head. He swung. Strike two.
The crowd was even bigger now as the Peewee players and their relatives waiting for the next game were in the stands watching the drama.
Oh no, I thought. If this poor kid strikes out he might quit for good, and Fitzroy isn't a big place, I need all the athletes I can get.
Next pitch was right up the middle. And Cheese swung - hard. He hit it a nice flare, right over the shortstop's head, and it fell onto the grass, scoring the Hop from third to win the game, a walk off RBI single. Cheese ran to first, started going to second, then realized what had happened, turned around, looked at the bench with a mile-wide grin, and was promptly mobbed by his teammates celebrating the victory. If there were tears, they were tears of relief.
A great way to end a fun season, and hopefully he'll be back to play softball next season. I think he will be.
This weekend, the West Carleton minor softball league held its "Championship Weekend". Fitzroy Junior plays Squirts (U12) and I am his coach.
After losing the first game of the season, we ran the table with 11 straight wins to go to the A Final versus our rivals from Kinburn.
Saturday morning was the final game, and it was a very well played match, especially by Squirt house league standards.
With the final set for six innings, I had to divvy up the innings for my pitchers - in our league, no chucker can go more that three innings. Of the nine players I had available, Fitzroy Junior and The Snake are my two best arms. They split the first four and did well. We were up 9-5. So, I decided to give Cheese a chance to pitch. He is decent - he took the CanPitch clinic and generally does a good job.
However, with about 80 to 100 in attendance, including parents, grandparents and siblings, Cheese was on a big stage. And unfortunately, it didn't go so well. He walked eight consecutive, throwing a total of three strikes in those at bats.
What to do? With a grown up, it's easy. That pitcher wants out. But with an 11 year old, it's tough. I don't want to "pull him" - I haven't done that even once this year. But I also hate to watch him struggle.
It was my toughest coaching decision of the year. After the fourth run was walked in, I brought it the Snake from first base to finish the inning. It wasn't easy. Cheese was in tears on the bench between the fifth and sixth.
Man, did I feel bad. Should I have pulled him earlier? Not pulled him at all? It is only Squirt house league after all.
I felt terrible. Our team was down 10-9 and I had a kid bawling and as you can imagine spirits were not high on the Fitzroy bench.
In our half of the fifth, we faced the Kinburn ace - The Bird - in his third and final inning. We went three up three down. Things were not looking good for Fitzroy to defend our Squirt title that we had won in 2013 with pretty much all the same boys.
I knew we had to keep them off the board to have a chance in the sixth. Fitzroy Junior got the ball. He began the season not wanting to pitch at all - memories of a line drive drilling him in the forearm last year still lingered - but he eventually came around about game four of the season and was convinced to go back on the slab. He can throw strikes consistently which is obviously important in Squirt house league. And he has also developed the "Mick Changeup" and uses it well. Junior did me proud in the top of the sixth, setting down the Kinburn batters in order.
This set up the bottom of the sixth, with us down by a single run. A quick pep talk before we went to bat and fingers crossed in the coach's box. Thanks to KO, Fitzroy Junior and the Hop, we manufactured a run to tie it. If we went to extra innings any pitcher could throw. That meant seeing The Bird again - and when he is on, which was for the final, our boys have trouble scoring against him. We pretty much needed to win it now against their second pitcher while we had the chance. But now, with a runner on third and two out, who was at the plate?
Cheese.
The first pitch was right up the pipe. He froze. Strike one.
The second pitch was about a foot over his head. He swung. Strike two.
The crowd was even bigger now as the Peewee players and their relatives waiting for the next game were in the stands watching the drama.
Oh no, I thought. If this poor kid strikes out he might quit for good, and Fitzroy isn't a big place, I need all the athletes I can get.
Next pitch was right up the middle. And Cheese swung - hard. He hit it a nice flare, right over the shortstop's head, and it fell onto the grass, scoring the Hop from third to win the game, a walk off RBI single. Cheese ran to first, started going to second, then realized what had happened, turned around, looked at the bench with a mile-wide grin, and was promptly mobbed by his teammates celebrating the victory. If there were tears, they were tears of relief.
A great way to end a fun season, and hopefully he'll be back to play softball next season. I think he will be.
Labels: Fitzroy Junior, minor
posted by fitzroyfastball | 6/23/2014 10:15:00 pm
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