David vs. Goliath
One of my proudest moments as a coach occurred last week. I know I have blogged about it earlier, but over the past month I have had the opportunity to get a chance to coach high school baseball at the feeder school for my middle school. Not only has it been a great opportunity to being around the game and kids, but it has also been so refreshing to be around kids that I can talk to as adults. They are great guys. I was telling my dad the other day that I think I would write letters of recommendation for just about everyone of them. Not to mention we’re a pretty fundamentally sound team.
But anyway, onto what happened last week. Until last week, I’d say we were a 9-6 ball club overall with the potential to still crack a spot in the playoff picture. We did take a break from district ball to schedule a game with the No. 2 team in the state in 5A, Northwest Rankin.
Our bus pulls up and you get the feeling that we’re already walking in to something special. It’s that feeling like you know that you’re going to have to play the best ball of your life to even feel worthy of being on the same field as the opposing team. The whole time as our bus is approaching the field, the other assistant coach is letting out his frustrations to me telling about how he has never beaten NW Rankin in his tenure as a coach or a player. They were the Yankees of Mississippi according to him.
We step off the bus and look out onto a massive stadium with three banners covering the entrance: 2003 State champions, 2004 state champions, and 2005 state champions. Underneath the last banner was the No. 6 ranking in the USA according to Parade Magazine. It was awesome to say the least. We stepped onto their fresh cut field with the opposing time looking so orderly just in how they played pitch with one another on the opposite sideline. The entire outfield was bulleted with banners showing consecutive district championships.
We then began our usual routine and one of the craziest things happened as we emptied our equipment into the dugout. Our senior guys sprinted onto the field to hold what looked like a team meeting without the coaches. I didn’t hear what was said, but immediately they sprinted onto the field to do the warm-up drills that I had showed them. Only it was the first time that I didn’t have to say a word to them about it or watch over them like a hawk to make sure they knew exactly what they were doing. Something was different in the air to say the least.
Now in the time that I’ve had to coach the team, the player that I most enjoy getting to work with is our senior shortstop. There’s just something about him that our players naturally follow. He’s also one of the most mentally tough kids that I have ever been around. This definitely helps with his own limitations as a ballplayer although he is quite proficient in nearly all aspects of the game. Today was a little different though, because he wasn’t going to play shortstop for us today. Instead he would be taking the mound and I would be putting my short-armed second basemen at the short spot. I watched as he warmed up with the catcher getting ready to pitch against a team that we haven’t had enough preparation for in my opinion.
Before I knew the national anthem finished its verse, and it was time to get it started. The first three innings of play were probably three of the best innings I had seen us play defensively all year. I looked to the scoreboard and at the end of 3, the score read 0-0. Now it was time for the top of the 4th and our leadoff hitter gets an opening base hit to start the day. We bunt the next pitch to advance the runner and for the first time in all day we have a runner in scoring position with one out. A pass ball then occurs and we end up stealing third. We then took a blow as our next hitter struck out. We had two outs and a runner on third. The hitter knocks a sharp ground ball in between third and short and as the shortstop goes to backhand the ball and throw to first, something in his arm overextended and the ball sailed over the first baseman’s mit; we’re up 1-0.
They would eventually even it up and we would go all the way to the bottom of the sixth inning with the No. 2 team in the state of Mississippi, and the score was 1-1. It was awesome. The glisten in our kids eyes electrified and inspired me as a coach, and for a moment I knew our team thought that we could beat them. Some unfortunate events then took place the second half of the inning and we would finish the game the losing by 6 runs. It didn’t matter; that was the proudest I have ever been with a group of guys. We were mediocre by everyone’s opinion up until that point. But for 6 innings, we looked unflawed. We pitched, we fielded, we threw, we ran; we did it all. We just ran out of gas. But at the end of the game, our team was much more confident as men. I can't wait to see how our season finishes out.
But anyway, onto what happened last week. Until last week, I’d say we were a 9-6 ball club overall with the potential to still crack a spot in the playoff picture. We did take a break from district ball to schedule a game with the No. 2 team in the state in 5A, Northwest Rankin.
Our bus pulls up and you get the feeling that we’re already walking in to something special. It’s that feeling like you know that you’re going to have to play the best ball of your life to even feel worthy of being on the same field as the opposing team. The whole time as our bus is approaching the field, the other assistant coach is letting out his frustrations to me telling about how he has never beaten NW Rankin in his tenure as a coach or a player. They were the Yankees of Mississippi according to him.
We step off the bus and look out onto a massive stadium with three banners covering the entrance: 2003 State champions, 2004 state champions, and 2005 state champions. Underneath the last banner was the No. 6 ranking in the USA according to Parade Magazine. It was awesome to say the least. We stepped onto their fresh cut field with the opposing time looking so orderly just in how they played pitch with one another on the opposite sideline. The entire outfield was bulleted with banners showing consecutive district championships.
We then began our usual routine and one of the craziest things happened as we emptied our equipment into the dugout. Our senior guys sprinted onto the field to hold what looked like a team meeting without the coaches. I didn’t hear what was said, but immediately they sprinted onto the field to do the warm-up drills that I had showed them. Only it was the first time that I didn’t have to say a word to them about it or watch over them like a hawk to make sure they knew exactly what they were doing. Something was different in the air to say the least.
Now in the time that I’ve had to coach the team, the player that I most enjoy getting to work with is our senior shortstop. There’s just something about him that our players naturally follow. He’s also one of the most mentally tough kids that I have ever been around. This definitely helps with his own limitations as a ballplayer although he is quite proficient in nearly all aspects of the game. Today was a little different though, because he wasn’t going to play shortstop for us today. Instead he would be taking the mound and I would be putting my short-armed second basemen at the short spot. I watched as he warmed up with the catcher getting ready to pitch against a team that we haven’t had enough preparation for in my opinion.
Before I knew the national anthem finished its verse, and it was time to get it started. The first three innings of play were probably three of the best innings I had seen us play defensively all year. I looked to the scoreboard and at the end of 3, the score read 0-0. Now it was time for the top of the 4th and our leadoff hitter gets an opening base hit to start the day. We bunt the next pitch to advance the runner and for the first time in all day we have a runner in scoring position with one out. A pass ball then occurs and we end up stealing third. We then took a blow as our next hitter struck out. We had two outs and a runner on third. The hitter knocks a sharp ground ball in between third and short and as the shortstop goes to backhand the ball and throw to first, something in his arm overextended and the ball sailed over the first baseman’s mit; we’re up 1-0.
They would eventually even it up and we would go all the way to the bottom of the sixth inning with the No. 2 team in the state of Mississippi, and the score was 1-1. It was awesome. The glisten in our kids eyes electrified and inspired me as a coach, and for a moment I knew our team thought that we could beat them. Some unfortunate events then took place the second half of the inning and we would finish the game the losing by 6 runs. It didn’t matter; that was the proudest I have ever been with a group of guys. We were mediocre by everyone’s opinion up until that point. But for 6 innings, we looked unflawed. We pitched, we fielded, we threw, we ran; we did it all. We just ran out of gas. But at the end of the game, our team was much more confident as men. I can't wait to see how our season finishes out.
posted by UTOM at 2:33 PM
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