Make it a Double!

Curly played in another baseball game on Monday. I say played, because we have had so many cancelled for rain this season! This is his 5th game and 5th loss for the team. I say for the team because even though they lost by 10 runs according to the Mercy Rule, Curly played a very successful game.

We were playing the Crushers from Copper Hills, a team with very few losses. Their pitcher was extremely fast and almost no one was able to hit off him. We were 3 up, 3 down for the first 3 innings, but by the 4th inning, he was getting a little tired. Quite frankly, these are 10-year-olds, none of them should be allowed to pitch more than 3 innings.

We were still scoreless and our first batter grounded out to 1st. The 2nd batter hit a hard ground that got him to 1st base and we were all thrilled. When the next batter walked, it put Curly up to the plate. It was his 2nd at-bat for the game and like most of the other boys, he struck out the 1st time. But this time he was determined to hit.

Make Mine a Double!

He swung at the 1st pitch and missed, adjusted his feet and waited impatiently for the 2nd. It was a beautiful pitch and right where he likes them. He pounded it into the outfield and it nearly hit the fence before one of the boys snatched it up. Both runs scored as Curly rounded 1st and safely made it to 2nd. Two RBIs and a double!! In subsequent pitches, he managed to make it home to score the 3rd run for the inning.

After the game was over, Curly convinced me he was starving and needed something from the snack shack. I don't generally buy ballpark food because of the expense, but this time I relented. As we made our way over to the ordering booth, the coach from Copper Hills stopped us and congratulated Curly on his amazing hit. "You know," he commented, "Almost nobody hits off that pitcher, and certainly not a pounding double like that." He gave Curly a fist bump. "Good job!"

Curly's grin was a mile wide. I figured his double was worth a double, but even that huge grin could barely stretch far enough to get over all that food. Great job, Curly! Love watching you play.