We had a big sports Saturday with Mary Claire and Kelly both playing soccer, and Danny playing baseball.
Kelly saw a lot of action playing at the YMCA field. She was on defense and the other team was HUGE. (So most of the game was spent on Kelly’s side of the field.) She played fierce and unafraid of the MONSTER girls. Kelly’s team didn’t have subs, so she battled the entire game.
Our favorite moment was when Kelly took the ball from back, middle field and curved out to the right around three different ENORMOUS players. She moved it up the side until the opposing team kicked it out. One of the GIANT girls said “We can’t let her dribble down the line like that!” Kelly is always very aggressive about retrieving an out ball and throwing it back into play. She uses her head and usually gets the ball to an open teammate. The “Magic” held the score to 0 – 0 until the very end when the AMAZON women’s team scored.
Mary Claire played forward and goalie. In between tieing her shoes, she played her usual speedy game. It was a close, but the Blazer’s took the lead early and held it. Kathy and I huddled under an umbrella in the drizzle, and I was able to grab a couple of good photos.
Danny’s game was was exciting. He pitched the first three innings. He had a good first inning and really enjoyed striking out one of his old teammates, John M. The second inning was terrible with a lot of walks and errors, and the Braves went down 4 to 1. In this league a pitcher isn’t allowed to go more than 3 innimgs. We were a little surprised when the catcher came out to pitch the 4th inning. We were even more surprised when Danny came out to catch! The switch worked, because the team came back and tied the game 4 to 4. Danny had some great throws down to second base and first.
The end of the game included a controversial call at home plate when the other team’s winning run was ruled an out. The runner failed to slide into home, mowing over a surprised (but unhurt) Danny who was trying to make a play with a throw in from the outfield. A wild pitch to the next batter allowed a man on third to try at home. Danny was able to scramble back to the ball and toss it low into the pitcher’s glove for a just-in-time tag at home. It was perfectly executed and the third and last out of the game.
The coach thought Danny did a great job catching. He was surprised to find out he hadn’t caught a game since he was eight.
I told Danny that high school baseball may be played at a higher level, but rec league sure delivers a lot of excitement and fun.