Game #7

Cubs win!! Cubs win!!

… I kept saying it was going to happen sooner than later. I’ve been telling people all season long how much talent we have on our team. Tonight, we finally put it all together …

We went into the game 0-6, and we were going up against a team that was 4-2 on the season. In fact, that they’d started 4-0 before losing their last two. But there was a huge sense in the dugout before the game that this was going to be our night, we’ve come so close are last three or four games and we’re feeling like we could go on a run here …

Tonight, we were the visiting team; Coach had me leading off the lineup and starting at second base, before moving to left field in the fifth. I never touched the ball on defense tonight, but I certainly did my job at the plate …

Leading off the game in my first at-bat, I took the first two pitches for balls and then blooped a single in the outfield between the center fielder and the shortstop. But I was still frustrated when I got to first base, knowing I didn’t get all of the pitch … I moved over to second when the pitcher walked the next batter and then tagged from second to third on a fly ball caught by the center field … But I got into trouble during the next at-bat when a ball got past the catcher. I started toward home and then realized the ball didn’t get as far past the catcher as I’d thought. I turned back toward third, but the catcher threw to the base and in the next instant I was caught in a pickle. I turned and headed back toward home once more and might have made it in, but I hesitated for a moment, thinking the third baseman was going to throw back home again and that’s when he put the tag on me. It was third out of the inning.

Our opponent got the first run of the game across in the third inning and then put up another one in the fourth. Meanwhile, we continued to bat through the order without scoring any runs, and I grounded out to short in my second at-bat of the night …

But in the fifth, our bats were starting to come alive. We got one on the board in that inning and I came up in the sixth with two outs and nobody on. I slapped a grounder right up the middle to get on, and then aggressively took second on a passed ball that was almost identical to the one I was taken out on earlier -- only this time I didn’t hesitate. The next batter dropped one in an outfield gap and I scored the tying run, standing up from second.

The next batter went down for the last out of the inning, but we were feeling it now …Our pitcher was on his game. Our defense was holding things together …

We came back to the plate again in the seventh and put up three more runs. I singled up the middle once more and knocked in a run on the play. Then I took second (with a hard slide that was enough to scare my teammates into yelling at me to be careful from the dugout …) and third on passed balls, and went home after tagging on a fly ball caught by the center fielder …

Finally, in the eighth we added two more runs to take a 7-2 lead … Heading back to the field for the final innings, the biggest test was holding on to the lead and keeping our composure. There were a couple calls earlier in the game, including a close play at the plate, that we thought should’ve gone our way. And in the final innings, our pitcher was throwing some great pitches but not getting the calls -- and that translated into some cheap walks and a couple timely hits that allowed the opponent to get the score to 7-5 …

That was all they’d get though. Our pitcher struck out a batter for the final out of the game, and there were high fives all-around as we came off the field and met each other outside our third base dugout. Oh, what a feeling …

Kates and I were all smiles as we met each other outside the stands after the game. To celebrate, we headed to Dairy Queen for a couple of burgers and Mocha Moo-Lates …

Mmm mmm good …