Danny’s rec league team, the Braves, had their ups and downs this season, but somehow they managed to go into the playoffs ranked first. (Danny couldn’t figure that out.) There were four teams, so they would have one play off game and one final game. The Braves would play against the Cardinals who had several of Danny’s friends on it, including the good hitting / pitching / first-base combo of John M. and Scott S.
Gramalie and Grandad came out for what turned out to be a perfect evening for baseball. It was clear and cool. Kathy and I were also there while the girls were at Sunday school.
Danny put on a great show for his four biggest fans. He started off as catcher with Hutto pitching. Hutto pitched well, and Danny aggressively defended the plate. There was a threat at third, but they held the Cardinals to 0 runs in the first inning.
Danny bats clean up, and with one man on second, he came up to the plate. Two outs and the count went full with Danny fouling a couple of hard hits outside the third base line. One foul almost took out his coach.
We were all yelling “base hit” hoping to drive in the man on second. Danny’s last hit was a solid connection, and the ball sailed over center field and cleared the fence by six feet. Home run! Braves were up 2 – 0.
With the Hutto-Cashel pitching combination, the Cardinals reached third base all three first innings, but could not score. Danny came into pitch the fourth inning, throwing mainly fast balls.
John M. is a great hitter. He’s hit Danny twice and Danny has struck him out twice during the season. Danny was throwing great, but John got the bat on one, and hit it almost to the fence in right field. He got on second, and that would lead to the Cardinal’s first score. Danny was determined to make that the last score. It looked like he added another 5 m.p.h. to the rest of his throws, including a very quick throw over to first to catch a Cardinal trying to jump back. The first basemen was equally surprised that he caught the ball. It even knocked him off balance and he fell on his rear end (while applying the tag!)
The third man in the line, Dean A., up is very smart base runner and had managed to steal third. I told Dad how I like Danny batting behind him so he can drive him in. Danny likes to draw the throw over to first or second to generate a run. As I was telling this to Dad, Danny was walked. He ran down to first, watching the pitcher, who was not paying attention, so sure enough, Danny rounded first to draw the throw. Danny saw that even the second baseman was not positioned correctly, too far in front of second base, so he decided to go for the steal. The pitcher threw the ball to second, but Danny ran in behind him, and meanwhile the man on third scored. Score 3-1.
Danny would be knocked in making the score 4-1, the final score.
Kathy and I cannot recall a game where Danny got to do so many things in one game, so Gramalie and Grandad picked a good one to drive out for.
The next day at school, Danny and John M. were debriefing. Danny had to reschedule work to make that game, and he told John, “I’m glad I was able to show up for that one. Not sure we would have beat you guys if I hadn’t.” John said, “No kidding… you made all four runs happen!” (As if Danny didn’t know.)