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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

A Long Thursday in Panama City Beach

Must-Win Morning Game

Facing elimination, it was someone disconcerting to make the early morning trek for the second straight day, only to discover the opponent was the second-seeded North Alabama Giants. Again I sat with devoted dads Ernie, Rick, Anjo, and Ron, discussing strategy. Experts Ernie and Rick agreed with me that Will, struggling at the plate, need to keep his weight back to produce more extra-base hits. I had told Will that at this point, he should do whatever felt most comfortable. Hitting off his front foot he was hitting grounders, but at least he was hitting them hard.

Andrew was the starting pitcher, and he pitched the game of his life, according to his dad. He went six innings, spreading out five hits and only one unearned run. Andrew was also perfect at the plate, going 2 – 2 with a walk.

In the second inning Will got things going offensively for the Cats with a walk. He reached second on a fielder’s choice, then scored on an error. In the fifth he stroked a low inside pitch down the leftfield line for an RBI single. He scored from first on a two-out double, so he accounted for 3 of the Wildcats’ 5 runs.

Again Will had an excellent game in the infield, turning double-plays in three of the six innings. He finished with six assists and five putouts.

After six Andrew was spent, having thrown 65 pitches. Will was brought on to pitch the seventh, and though the Giants managed a couple of seeing-eye singles, he fielded a come-backer to the mound and struck out two.

Thursday Afternoon

After the game Will wanted to spend the afternoon with a teammate, so he went with Jeremy and his dad Rick…who had taped their morning at bats. Rick showed them what they were doing wrong, and worked with them in a nearby batting cage.

C, A, M, and I again hit the new Pier Park shopping center, browsing stores and eating at Five Guys burgers. Ceil developed pictures at Target, I had keys made at Lowes, and we escaped the heat at Borders…where I quickly devoured The Baseball Economist.

Then we met all the team families for dinner at the Pineapple Cove restaurant, site of the original Panama City Boardwalk. As the sun set the temperature cooled, making for a nice night back at the baseball field. All the families were there, so Matthew again had the young boys to chase foul balls with, and Anna played games with a group of six girls.

Thursday Night Re-Match

We arrived at the park to discover our opponent were the GAC Spartans, who had demolished the Wildcats 13 – 2 the day before. This time the Cats played much better, but GAC leapt out of the gate with three home runs in the top of the first.

But in the second Will answered back, launching a deep home run of his own off an 0 – 2 pitch. Then in the fourth Will drove an outside pitch to the right-centerfield fence for an RBI double. He then scored from second to tie the game.

GAC then continued their homer-fest, scoring five more runs off two more homers. The Wildcats couldn’t answer, and lost 10 – 5. We made it back to Destin after midnight.

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