08/18/2026
Humble pie was most definitely served the other night!
I’ve never seen anything like it. We had a 91 pitch third inning when entering the top of that frame up 3-2.
What followed will become Cooperstown Legend as we surrendered two grand slams to the same player in that one inning and proceeded to fall apart at the literal baseball seams. Baseballs found holes, and we uncharacteristically walked 11 batters on the day.
Seven pitchers and a 21-6 loss later, all we could do was laugh it off.
On his 10th pitch my son, Chase, took a comebacker off the inside of his knee and sadly, was done for the day.
This was after taking a pitch off the back of his helmet in his first plate appearance. He got up and sprinted faster than I’ve seen him to take first. HILARIOUS!
Nothing was working. Even a player’s little brother could not escape the bloodbath, taking a baseball off the mouth just outside the field!
Despite our impressive implosion, we finished pool play 4-1 (outscoring opponents 72-35) and were seeded #26 out of 104 with a two round bye going into the elimination rounds.
This trouncing was exactly what we needed - one game did not define how we finished.
Despite dropping our elimination game 7-6 (finishing 4-2 on the week), the boys played arguably the best game of the 5-6 seasons we have had the pleasure of coaching them. Coaches from both teams said as much, as a true back-and-forth baseball battle ensured that took every single out to settle the contest.
The message: don’t let one game, one event, or one bad outcome define your next move. It’s not about getting punched, it’s about whether or not you can get back up!
While the final result was not what we had hoped, bouncing back after a difficult night and our tiny little town finishing in the top third of a 104 team tournament was the real victory!
