Snatching Victory From the Jaws of Defeat

Underdressed, I froze at Will’s 11:15 game last Saturday. Long-time classmates Lucy and Alyssa came to watch. Since Abby no longer goes to Living Science, Alyssa is the most fun girl in his class. As usual, I thought they’d lose. Will walked twice and struck out, and was caught stealing twice. I impressed Alyssa when a batter worked the count full. Sensing his hesitancy to swing, I hollered “walked last time!” The batter meekly swung at the payoff pitch, whiffing to end the inning.

Sandy Plains scored four in the top of the last inning, making the score 7-2. Crown scored two, and loaded the bases with two out, tying run at the plate, Will on deck. I joked to Alyssa that if Chris reached, Will would win the game with a walk off grand slam. Chris hit a two-strike high fly to right, where the chubby RF (with glasses and a huge mop of curly red hair) lost the ball in the wind. Bases still loaded.

Will took two strikes. I hollered to Will, saying he’d better be ready to hit the curveball. He never hears me, but perhaps the other coach, pitcher, or catcher did. Will was thinking curveball, and said he swung late at the average fastball that was thrown. He hit a line drive that sailed over the centerfielder’s head, that hit the fence on the bounce. Double, 2 RBIs. He didn’t kill the ball, but since he hit it on the meat of the bat, it flew. Crown was still down a run, with runners at second and third.

Tanner fouled off two pitches, then pulled a high fly deep to left. Didn’t appear to be home run distance, but deep enough to win the game if the left-fielder didn’t catch it. Ball dropped 10-15 feet short of the fence. Will scored easily and Crown won again, despite being down to their last strike on three different batters.