...is what the balls where doing Tuesday Night, not our kids little hands after a long run across the field.
Hey
Cornhuskers fans!! This is Coach Brian bringing you the recap of what has turned out to be a remarkable 1st half of this baseball season.
To start out with, I am truly blessed to have such wonderful parents to go along with these awesome kids. If it were not for your support I could never get the same results by myself coaching so Thank You All.
We started out the season with 0 wins and 2 losses and came around in game 3 and won against the Yellow Jackets. From there we played a lot of tough teams back to back and one in the cold. and ended up at 1 - 4. Well, the kids where still having fun, but we as Coach's wanted a little more , so... we started practicing more aggressively and throwing the ball around and before you knew it we looked like a real ball team. As that was happening, coaches worked
with the kids catching fly balls and hitting balls more effectively. I believe at this point I needed to "get it out on the field". I agree sometimes I push too hard but I mean well always. Pretty soon everyone is working together as a team and nailing the ball.
So as the story goes, the American League was dominant all around and the National League's best was 2 - 3. We had a long hard road ahead if we wanted to even get 3rd out of 5 National Teams.
The last three games ended up being 3 in a row and one make up game on Tuesday. We had to win at least 3 of the 4 to win out right or 2 of 4 to tie for first place. Ah! Not easy when it's the Tar Heels, Huskies, and the the Wolverines on Saturday, but.... the best ball all season , with all the pressure(mainly from me) on their shoulders. The coaches didn't find it necessary to tell the kids, but eventually they knew we had a chance to at least have a 3 way tie for 1st since the Seminoles lost and the Tar Heels won Saturday making them 3 - 6.
We won our Thursday and Saturday games but lost the Friday game. With our standing being 3 - 5 and in 1st place in the National League. With a make up game against the Terrapins on Tuesday.
We had a chance to win the National League 1st half out right and that is what we decided to do as a team. It was by far the BEST GAME I have ever been involved in.
The
Terps had home field advantage. and they already usually run up the score with their great hitters. We had to go out there swinging bats 1st and we did that with 6 hits and 4 runs with a 2 RBI home run to start out the 1st inning. Wow!!! We where fired up!!!
The guys went all the way through the line up hitting. 4 times during the game, the umps called "Last batter". You guys were on it.
The
Terps came out of their dugout hitting as expected but we held them to just 3 runs. Our defense was showing up for the game. The 2
nd inning was the same for the Huskers scoring 4 more runs on 7 hits
The
Terps tied it back up 8 - 8 in the 3rd inning, but our Huskers kept
knockin the cover off the ball scoring 5 runs on another 7 hits making it 13 - 8 and holding them through the 4
th until they tied us at 13 and we had to give it our all because the
Terps were not about to give up.
Believe it or not the Huskers scored another 5 in the 5
th to end with 18 points, our highest score all season.
Sure enough the
Terps held strong and went to bat. It was 1 out with a man on 2
nd for the
Terps and had the winning run within striking Distance. The score was tied at 18 - 18. "Time blue". I called time and told the kids to huddle up. I said "Guys, look at that scoreboard, look at the points.You have scored 18 points. I am so proud of you as a team for hanging in there." On what seemed longer than the actual 2 hours we played. "No matter what, you guys should be proud of yourselves. Excellent defense guys. This is it. If they score 1 more run they win and we will still be tied for 1st and have playoffs, no matter what I am proud to be on your team, and you should be proud of each other as well."
They where looking up at me with those gleaming eyes and I knew then they could win.
"
Ok defense, I need a "brick wall" out here right now. You can do it. We need 2 outs. We have a force at 3rd Isaiah, so be ready, outfield throw it home if you get it,
Jett go home."
"Let's do it guys, on 3. 1 - 2 - 3 "WIN". Sure enough, the
Terps batter busts one out into center field in front of
Orean. Bang goes the ball and zoom goes the man on 2
nd. Now being told to "Go Home",
Orean fields the ball behind 2
nd base and runs towards the infield, with me screaming "THROW IT, THROW IT HOME!!"
Orean threw it with all his might to the already posted up at home plate,
Jett. I could tell this was going to be good!!! The bounce, the catch, slide, the umpire looks for the ball , and he's out. "YES, YES, YES" I screamed with all of the Husker nation.
Orean timed his throw just right and
Jett tagged the runner before he slid in. It was true baseball at its best on field 4. I was
ok losing baseball games, just not this way, not this game. The next batter drove a line drive to
Jett at 1st base, he fields it and tags the bag. "He's Out" says the ump. "Yes, yes, yes", with a Tiger Woods pump. My "brick wall" is built.
Batters up and extra innings. Whew!!! This was a good baseball game.
Jett came up to lead off and came through for the team with a home run in the 6
th to put us on top at 19 - 18.
Our defense came back out on the field and stopped the
Terps and won the game. 19 - 18. WOW. Who would of thunk it? The Huskers from 1 - 4 in the first 5 games to 3 - 1 in the last 4 games to clinch the National title.
Some of you guys hit the ball all year, but over the last 4 games some players have stepped it up a lot and really helped the team when we needed it most. Tanner was 5 - 5, Tank was 5 - 5 with 6
RBI's, Jack was 4 for 5 with 3
RBI's, that along with
Oreon going 5 - 3 with 1 RBI when we needed him on the bag. Isaiah 5 - 5 had a grand slam but was taken away because of an error in the field. Way to go guys,
Jett and
C'Jay was killing the ball too, going deep with a home run each.
Our circle man, Tank, got the game ball with an awesome performance.
You did it guys!!! You are the National League 1st Half Champs. I hope you always remember it , so you will know not to ever give up.
Written by Coach Brian posted by
Apryl (all 5 single spaced hand written pages=-)
