Little League Wrap

One game short of the championship, my middle son’s team lost 4-3. All three outs in our last at-bat were called third strikes, all well over the batter’s head; the last came with the bases loaded.

The first two strikeout victims came back to the bench crying. I could hardly blame them; when you take a pitch because it’s over your head, which is generally the right thing to do, even in Little League with 12 year old umps, and then you get called out, in your last at bat in a playoff game when losing by one run … that’s a tough one to accept for anybody, much less an 8 year old boy. I remember thinking “I hope that doesn’t happen to Jake, because I won’t have the right words to help him”.

Fortunately, Jacob didn’t make one of those outs. He drew a walk, and if I remember right, was on second base as the game ended, and would have been the winning run with a base hit.

All in all, Jacob had a great season this year. He learned a lot about hitting, and fielding, and became pretty good at both. He even did a little pitching. And he made some new friends. He even made the All-Star Team.

He had some great coaches, who taught him a lot. His first two years were a struggle. Baseball is a really tough game to learn, and unless you do most everything right, especially with hitting, you aren’t likely to have much success.

So this year was filled with all good things, and as any former little boy knows, few things instill self-confidence like hitting a pitched baseball squarely and solidly, into the outfield.

Congratulations on a fine season, Jake!  Work even harder to get better next year!