We geared up for the first competitive league tourney of our young family history, and oh what a weekend it was! The tournament was up in Cy Fair, an area in the West/NW suburbs of Houston. It's about a 45 minute drive from Humble, so not too bad. Just long enough after all was said and done. We tried to think of all that we would need for a full (possible) two days at a baseball park, but how can you accurately pack for such an exercise in futility. We ended up not needing much more than we had...okay, "need" is too strong of a word...more like "almost needed". Again though, we know what to bring next time!
The tournament is one that you had to pay to get into, so there would be no teams that would be in this "just for the fun of it". No, if you're in these tournaments, you honestly think you have a shot at winning it. These were all the best of the best from the leagues they came from, and from what I heard, they were all from "Select" leagues, meaning these kids were hand-picked for teams...so basically they're all-stars from their area. From the beginning of the season, A's coach has firmly believed that we have a strong enough team to possibly make it to state. I laughed in my head when he first said that, thinking "Of course he's going to say that...that's what a coach SHOULD be saying at the beginning of the season." Boy was he right though. We're still just at halfway through our regular baseball season, but these kids have been amazing. So much so, that I think we were all super excited to see how they would do against teams that were quality, and that we haven't seen play before...like we would at the end of the season tourney which could then qualify us for state.
The tournament setup would be as follows...the first day of the tournament on Saturday, was a randomly picked, two-game day, to figure out seeding for the single-elimination tournament the following day on Sunday. The first game they played was at 9am. OUCH! If that wasn't bad enough, coach wanted them there at 8:15am to get warmed up for the game. DOUBLE OUCH! And if THAT wasn't bad enough, with the 45 min drive, that meant we had to wake up around 6am on a Saturday morning! TRIPLE OUCH! (Okay, enough, sorry about that) Then our next game would be at 2pm. So we'd have just enough time to relax, get some lunch in the kids, hang out for a second, then get back into the swing of things for another game.
The first game proved that either we are not a morning team, the kids need some caffeine in their systems first next time, or that we just weren't ready for this first game, as the kiddos played like junk, made lots of errors, and things just generally didn't fall our way. Avery got to pitch, but the poor guy struggled horrible. He however made up for it by having an AMAZING tourney at the plate, going 7 for 8, with about four walks as well. That makes his tourney batting average a whopping .875!!! I know a few pros (in fact the whole stinking MLB) that would like that average for a tourney! Back to the game though, we just couldn't get out of whatever funk we had going on, and ended up getting our behinds handed to us on a silver platter.
The second game came, and we decided to be on the delivering end of the whoopin', and with amazing defense by the entire team, super pitching, and hard-hitting bats, we won the game. The score was a lot closer than it should have been, because I think the kids figured the game was too out of reach...but that's why you play the entire game, not just until you think you've won. I think that was exactly what the kids needed to experience though, because I never saw them let their guard down after that the rest of the weekend. The 1-1 record, combined with our runs-scored-to-runs-allowed-ratio put us at 5th place starting the tournament on Sunday.
Being in the 5th vs 4th game, allowed us to sleep one more hour the next morning (HORRAY!), but even though I didn't play a single out the day before, I was super tired and that hour didn't feel like enough! I can't imagine what all those boys felt like after being in the sun in full baseball gear for 6+ hrs, and knowing you'll have to be back out there for another 4+ today. But if we wanted to get to the 1st place game, we needed to win two games again, so we got up and got Team Sheldon ready for the Team Yankees first tournament game
The Cy Fair Fire was our first opponent, and we were lights out from the first pitch. We were visitors, and we got an early 4 runs to start off the game. A questionable call at home plate took away our fifth run and ended the inning. The Fire were one of the better teams from what we heard from other coaches, but with us coming to accept nothing but making it to the championship game, we came out and never let up, beating them 13-6. It was 13-3 until the final inning, and a few mistakes cost a few runs, but to end the game A snagged a sharp line drive, then doubled up the runner who was at 3rd base and didn't tag up. He then proceeded to get crushed by his teammates in celebration. (Insert a memory of me smiling really big and multiply it by 100000000000000...yeah, proud papa here!)
The next game was against the #1 seed, the Cy Fair Lobos. They played in a game right before ours, and some how pulled out a miracle, as they should have lost to the 8th place team, but error after error helped them score FIVE runs in the bottom of the last inning, to propel them to the second round. Shock and awe filled the field, let me tell you. Their coach gave an amazing speech before that last inning...he said to them when they were in the dugout, with their chins to their chests and a tear in their eyes..."I believed in you at the beginning of the season, and I believe in you now...it's your turn to believe in yourselves." Wow...someone get that on tape so we can play it before each game will ya?! The game was such an awesomely balanced game, that whoever would lose would be a crushing blow. Our best pitcher (see photo above, he's the one on the left) was saved for this moment, and he shined like a star. They hit him a few times, but only scored four runs off him in 6 1/3 innings. He hit his maximum allowed outs he could play as a pitcher and had to sit down. His replacement, our #2 pitcher came in and did just as well, but a couple costly errors in the bottom of the last inning allowed the Lobos their second miracle of the day...allowing them to advance to the championship game, and the Yankees to end their tournament run early.
Everyone congratulated us on the way out, saying that we were an AMAZING team (ugh, we know this, thanks), and that this was definitely the hardest game they'd ever played this season. We want another inning is all I know the kids wanted to say. The parents too. This has been such a special team that we've gotten to play with this year, that I personally don't want it to end. The chemistry on this team, the coaching we have (although I wish I could be in there to help coach, as I think I'd bring a little more positivity), the level of athleticism and overall baseball knowledge these kids have has made for an impressive display so far. I can only hope the rest of the season goes as slow as it can, allowing us to see them play for just that much longer, and for the next tourney (the end of the season one, which winner goes on to regional) to be just as amazing.
It was super stressful watching the kids play their hearts out this weekend. We cheered with them, and our hearts ached when they made a mistake and knew it cost the team greatly. But the memories made this weekend...for those kids...and for Team Sheldon, I pray, will last a lifetime.
Go Humble Yankees.
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