Weekend of Baseball

Well, I have to say that the OP Nationals had a rocky start in this tournament, but they pulled through and made 3rd place overall. I know they could have done better, if they had been ready for our first two games. We ended up only playing four games b/c they didn't make it to the championship game.
Friday night, the kids were not ready to go. They were tired and not working cohesively at all. We had batters striking out left and right. Brendon was hitting consistantly, and he didn't strike out even once during the whole tournament. In the Friday night game, the team beat us 10-0, and Brendon had to sit out 2 innings. He was pretty upset.
Saturday morning was really no better. The kids had to play the other challenge ball team from our league, and they have been winning all of the tournaments. Brendon's team went into the game thinking that they would lose, and they did. It was pretty much a repeat from the game Friday night. The kids weren't hitting the ball, and the final score was 10-0. Brendon did catch a popfly in the outfield.
On Saturday, Brendon's spirits were pretty low about these games. See, he plays first base in his regular team, but is in the outfield on his Challenge team. He said that he HATED the outfield and wanted to be infield. I told him that if he wanted to get infield he was going to have to really prove himself to his coach. I also told him that in Challenge ball they put the kids with the best arms into the outfield b/c that is where most of the kids hit the ball. This seemed to make him feel better, and he was ready for game #3 on Saturday evening.
In this 3rd game, Brendon's team looked like a different team. They were fielding and hitting the ball really well. We won that game with a score of 18-1. It seemed that everyone was finally starting to work together.
With a restored sense of confidence, they were ready to play their first game on Sunday afternoon. This was the game I was most proud of Brendon for. He did awesome!!! Remember, I told him he was going to have to prove himself to his coach, and boy did he ever. He batted three times; he had a homerun, a triple, and a double. He got a run every time that he batted. He hit the ball to the outfield each time. Then, when he was in the outfield he was getting the ball in so fast, that the other team couldn't advance their runners. His coach pointed out his success in the outfield several times. He was so proud. He didn't sit out even one inning. Then, the moment he was waiting for; in the last inning the coach called time out, and placed Brendon at second base. He had made it infield, and he proceeded to make the last out by stopping the ball and getting it to first base. The final score was 24-5!!!
After this weekend, I must admit that I am pretty tired. I love these games, but it is really exhausting to spend an entire weekend at the ballfield. I was so proud of Brendon and his team. Unfortunately, I didn' get in enough time to study alot for my finals this week. Hopefully, I have retained enough over the course of the semester to do ok. I cannot wait for graduation...