First game of the year

We had our first youth baseball game of the year last night, as our Hot Rods took on the River Bandits. All day, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to get the game in, as a huge storm kept threatening to swoop in at exactly game time (6pm). On top of it all, there was a Tornado Watch in effect for the whole region, from Aberdeen to Arlington.

At the last minute, the storms looked to change to a northerly direction, so we grabbed all of our stuff and announced that the game was ON!

We discovered this week that Theo likes the ball up and in - whenever we pitch it there, he crushes it! He almost broke the glass table we have on our back porch with one of his "smokers", as he calls it.



We were up first, and Theo, batting 4th (size order) lashed a nice single on an up and in pitch. We only scored 1 run in the first - the Bandits had kids who could really play defense! I was worried that we might get embarrassed, because defense has NOT been our strong suit.

My worry was for nothing, as we got 3 defensive outs in the bottom of the inning. They scored 3 runs, but the important things was that the inning ended with outs, not the max 6 runs.

Our big hitters were up in the 2nd and we scored 3 more runs before their brilliant defense got us out.

In the bottom of the 2nd, the Hit Rods defense displayed effort like we had never seen in practice. Our defense got 3 very qick outs as we only allowed 1 run! They even had a kid CRUSH a double. But our inning was highlighted by a hard smash that Billy scooped up like a pro, along with a perfect throw to Jack who made a nice catch. The poor kid who hit the ball was barely out of the batter's box when called out.

In the top of the 3rd, or hitters came alive. EIGHT consecutive hits, nine altogether as we scored the maximum allowed 6 runs. Theo had another great hit and scored a run.

We only just got started in the bottom of the inning when a vicious thunderstorm rolled in. After pausing the game to evaluate (and have snack), we were forced to call off the game.

As you can tell, I am extremely proud of the kids. Everyone got a hit in the game. Many kids contributed on defense and most touched the ball. It's going to be a great year!