Dodgers game one

This fall there are two Pony age teams at Mt. Paran. Playful Henry, Willie’s dad, is coaching the Yellow Jackets. Chris, who coached W several years ago, drafted him on the Dodgers. Chris asked me to be the assistant…much to W’s excitement. After the draft I ran into Henry, who good-naturedly said he’d worked it out with Chris for W to also play on Henry’s team, whenever the schedule allowed. I laughed, but thought nothing of it.

This past Saturday the Dodgers opened the season at 10 am against a Powder Springs team. W was the starting pitcher, and induced the leadoff hitter to hit a soft grounder. The first-baseman dropped the throw, however, and the baserunner eventually scored an unearned run before the side was retired. W didn’t allow any hard hit balls, getting outs on a foul pop to third, a grounder back to the mound, and a strikeout.

W struck out all three batters in the second inning. The Dodgers came up and two of the first three batters walked, and W knocked them both in. With a 10 – 1 lead, Chris decided to try out another pitcher. W caught the third, and threw out a batter at first after a wild pitch was swung at.

Four of the first five Dodger batters walked in the bottom of the 3rd, then W poked a single into center to drive in another run. He was forced out at second. The game ended after the 3rd inning, as the Dodgers were winning 18 – 1.

After the game Chris gave a short postgame speech, then everyone began to part ways. As the Yellow Jackets warmed up, Henry approached W…handing him a green Yellow Jackets jersey with MURPHY on the back!

W batted second for the Jackets, as he had for the Dodgers. He almost beat out a nice bunt his first time up. He also walked and scored on a wild pitch, and hit a ball that the second-baseman made a running catch on. He caught two innings and played short and third, throwing out two batters at first. The Yellow Jackets lost a close game.

Two of W’s Dodger teammates played for the first time ever in the spring, on W’s Lightning team. I hadn’t mentioned them, except to say they’d never played before, which sometimes caused defensive liabilities. Nathan and Joe live next to each other and practiced together all summer. You could see the improvement at tryouts. Saturday Nathan walked and scored both times he batted. Joe hit the ball sharply all three times he came up, for two hits and two RBIs. He was playing second in the 3rd inning. With two out and a run in and another runner in scoring position, the batter hit a hard, high grounder up the middle. The shortstop was only able to deflect the ball with his glove. Joe was running toward centerfield, and reached out, barehanded the ball, and turned and threw the batter out at first. You won’t see a nicer play, and you couldn’t tell that Joe hadn’t been playing ball for a year.