You may recall that Friday I posted the question, can there ever be too much baseball? Apparently the answer is both yes and no. Yes, because by the time Saturday afternoon rolled around and we were nearly halfway through our four-day seven-game marathon, I audibled out of our plans to go see the Orioles, and instead, we recuperated and recharged at the pool. On the other hand, no, because the six games the boys played provided many, many highlights. Here are just a few:
1. An opposing second baseman, barely taller than his bat, cleanly fields a ground ball and makes a delighted throw to first. Never mind that the runner beats the throw, the fielder's smile at his proficency is unforgettable.
2. A boy finally gets his first base hit of the season with two outs in the bottom of the last inning of his second to last game and skips, nay, floats down to first base.
3. A courageous lad gets hit by pitches three times in two days, and then rocks a solid single through the infield.
4. A team gets its first league win of the season Friday night and finds the experience so pleasurable, it wins its next three in tournament play.
5. A last place team suddenly catches fire (after a noted blogger retires as third base coach) and goes undefeated over its last six games to capture the championship. Gatorade is dumped on coaches, pizza consumed in joy at a local establishment, and likely more than one first place trophy is pried from sleeping hands.
6. In the last inning of a championship game, after an eight run lead is cut to three and the pitcher knocked out by a hard grounder to the shin, a steely-eyed first baseman climbs atop the mound, calmly strikes out two, and induces a groundout for the gamewinner.
7. A batter's face is a portrait of furious determination as he outraces the opposing first baseman to the bag for an infield hit.
8. A modern day Enos "Country" Slaughter ignores the stop sign from the third base and barrels home, scoring from first on a single.
9. An umpire calls three straight games wearirng a red t-shirt from a bar on a Caribbean island that features the following quote from noted batsman Oscar Wilde, "Work is the ruination of the drinking class."
10. A baserunner on second nods enthusiastically when his coach yells, "Two outs, no hesitation." After he scores, he shakes his head just as emphatically when his mom asks him if he knows what hesitation means.
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