Two Innings of Redemption

The Beaver played his last game of the season on Thursday evening. The Falcons had not had much of a season this year with more than half of their games having been rained out, along with a lot of practices. This team had never really gotten the chance to mesh or bond. They had about four returning players and everyone else was new and some had never played baseball.

In fact it had been a Bad News Bears kind of season and spirits were low, especially after the loss two nights before. Attitudes were dismal and a pep talk was in order. I know that Beaver got one from me and certainly the coach gave them one before this last game. The boys didn't drag out onto the field, they hustled on and off. That in itself was a tremendous improvement from the previous game.

Maybe that's what made the difference in their play that night. Fielding was spot on and the bats were moving. The other team noticed it too and you could see that they knew that this was not going to be the cake walk that they had assumed it would be. At the third inning Falcons were down just 1-0 and were at the top of their line-up. The first hitter got on with a single. The second player doubled, but was later put out on a steal. The Beaver got a double. The fourth bunted to bring a runner home. The fifth batter got a double and brought in two! The boys were ecstatic, the dugout was exuberant! I'm not sure exactly how the rest of the inning went but we ended with three runs.

The Beaver pitched and somehow managed to get out of the bottom of third with no hits.

Then came the top of the fourth. Three up, three down for Falcons. Beaver pitches bottom of the fourth, three up, three down.

Now it is the top of the fifth inning; Falcons are up. First batter strikes out. Second batter, strikes out. Beaver is up, gets a single. Fourth batter, who has been a power hitter in the past, but hasn't really been hitting well this year, hits it out of the park!! Falcons are up 5-1 at this point in the game!!

In the bottom of the fifth the other team manages three runs so it is then 5-4. Though they go on to lose this in the bottom of the 7th when the other team gets a single and then a home run, which sounds familiar!

Just for memories sake I am going to mention the sweet pick-off the Beaver had in the third inning, when he got a third base runner out on a bullet fired to third, he never knew what hit him! Then when he was back as short stop in the sixth inning there was a sweet double-play 5-6-3!! Ouch! Runners at second and home, you're outta there!

But somehow the way they played in the third and fifth inning has redeemed the entire lackluster season for these boys!! Not that they were happy to lose, but they gave a good fight and left that field with their heads up having given 100 percent effort. I always thought the statement, "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game!" was trite, but now I know that it can ring true!