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Friday, March 24, 2006

Will's 3/23 game

Will got home from Matthew’s practice last night at 6:35, and the rain was starting to come down harder. Coach Frank lives next to the far away Hobgood Park, and when we called him he assured us the game was still on. The rain continued as we drove the 45 minutes to the park, thought it slacked off just as we arrived.

Always fussy about my shoes, I knew I was safe even in the rain at Hobgood, as the entire spectator areas between the fields are paved and clean. I wore my winter Merell slip-ons, a favorite pair that I had misplaced. Only this past Sunday had I found them.

The game was on, but both teams sat around waiting for the umpires to show. The moms huddled under a canopy behind the plate, us dads near the on-deck circle. The umps never arrived, and after the coaches huddled nearby, they turned and stepped to me, asking me to be the umpire!

We immediately started the game, and I took my position on top of the mound, directly behind the pitcher. The mound was a hill of squishy mud, and soon the bottoms of my shoes were caked. I made it my goal not to fall down. Will lead off the game. The big pitcher was throwing very fast pitches, and Will was swinging late. The count went to 2 – 2 before Will popped one high in the air, for the first out.

Calling balls and strikes wasn’t too bad, even with a dirty plate. My new glasses actually helped me see clearer. The Hobgood pitcher didn’t let the slippery mound bother him, but he tended to pitch high, and he walked a few batters. The catcher’s strong throw to second beat the stealing Barrett by several steps. Barrett almost slid around the tag, but my out call was correct. Parker made it to second, but the pitcher executed a perfect pickoff, after ignoring the runner for several pitches. The tag was high, but Parker didn’t slide low, so he too was out.

Will’s teammate Garrett pitched well, getting the first two out in the first. He just missed with a 3-2 pitch to the next batter, then Hobgood hit several just out of reach of the Cougar fielders, and quickly scored six runs. Only one ball was hit hard, but plays made last Saturday weren’t made last night. Barrett pitched two admirable innings, allowing three in the second and two in the third.

The Hobgood pitcher completely overpowered the Cougar batters, only allowing one hit in three innings. I was enjoying umpiring, and only a couple of pitches could have gone either way. I only rang up one batter, on a pitch right down the middle. But as the bottom of the second was beginning the regular umps showed up, so my muddy shoes were relieved of their duty. I spent the rest of the game looking for pools of water to step in to wash off the mud. They made the trip home in the trunk, and I think they can be saved.

Will caught the first two innings, and in the second was involved in an interesting play. With a runner on second, the batter grounded the ball to third. By the time Mark fielded the ball, he didn’t have a play at first, but he made a late throw anyway. The runner on second had advanced to third on the play, and continued toward home. First baseman Garrett threw to Will covering the plate. Will caught the ball, turned, and applied the tag. The runner slid in, his feet hitting Will’s shin guards. Will fell over the runner, but held on to the ball. Noticing the “2” that had been on the scoreboard, Will rolled the ball toward the pitcher’s mound. But the “2” was the inning, as there had been only one out. Barrett chased down the ball and threw to third. Mark chased the runner back toward second, and threw to shortstop Malcolm, who completed the double play.

Will was also responsible for the next six outs on defense. Playing shortstop in the third inning, he caught a high popout for the first out. With a runner on first the ball was grounded back to the pitcher, who turned threw to Will to get the lead runner at second. Another batter hit a grounder to Will, who fielded it cleanly and threw out the batter at first.

In the fourth Will pitched, facing the meat of the huge Hobgood order. Considering the conditions Will pitched as well as he ever has, striking out two batters swinging, both of whom had hit the ball well their first time up. Will only allowed a popup that the first baseman couldn’t catch. The last batter grounded one weakly back to Will, who went to one knee and caught the ball with both hands, before throwing the batter out at first.

Will led off the fourth and worked the count full before drawing a walk. He dared not steal with the strong-armed catcher, but was able to advance to third on two wild pitches…the only Cougar runner to make it that far. He was unable to score, as Malcolm grounded out to end the inning.

Even though they lost 12 – 0, Will played a very good game.

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