It took all season but I think the game Thursday night was worth the wait. It was the last championship game at the Civic Center and I was shocked when I saw the level of play, not so much by the winning team, but the runner-up.
In the story I said you could not have written a better script for a game and without really being there it would just be hard for me to describe. I work with one of the coaches from the winning team and his team has pretty much blown right past every team it’s faced.
Week after week, I have told everyone what they like to do. Before the start of every game the plan is the same. They are going to run. It took a whole season for someone to dial into exactly what they do.
It was a phenomenal game right from the start. I personally think it was the best game I have seen in the 9-10-year-old league. Both pitchers came out throwing heat and for the very first time this year the unbeaten team was trailing, something they’re just not used to. I was stunned by the level of play I saw in the championship game.
It was exactly opposite of what I thought was going to happen until the fourth inning. The team that had trailed 7-0 was now back within two runs. For those in attendance, you could see the momentum shift. If not for the time-limit being lifted due to it being a championship game, it most likely would have been an upset of epic proportion.
I commented to several people around the field and said if an upset takes place people all over town would know just by the sheer amount of cheering that would be done. It is not as easy to pull off the upset as you think. It is very hard to do and you could see everyone laid everything on the line in the championship game.
There has to be a winner and a loser in every game but for the runner’s up to get that close was something they should all be proud of and remember for a long time. No one should have been disappointed in their efforts on their way home.
Going undefeated in a season is also hard to do at any level. The pressure goes a little higher as the weeks go by and even the kids start to feel it. The confidence grows and you start thinking maybe you cannot be beat. Always take it one game at a time and never underestimate anyone. Right on.