I Love Little League Baseball

[RedsBaron]

As I remember it, on the day of a game everything else is a distraction you're just trying to get through so the game can start. Am I close, RB? Even though my son is almost 29 now, I can still bring back the excitement of his Little League All Star days. I remember one Friday picking him up at Kyle Macy Basketball Camp, where he had won the week's Best Shooting Score trophy, and then heading to an all-star game with a South Lexington team (same org. as Blimpie mentioned, older boys though). Fun times.

It's a feeling like no other...part of 'the best years of our lives'....Savor, RB.

You're right Sweetstop, and I do.

[RedsBaron]

Good ol Little League. To tell you guys the truth, I am actually 12 years old and just finished my season. I had 472. average which was decent for our league. I also pitched a complete game shutout.

Congrats. Hey, if you pitched a shutout, send your name in to the Reds. They need help.

[gitrdunn44]

Haha thanks man. I'm sure my 55 mph cheese would really fool some hitters.

[RedsBaron]

Huntington, WV (AP--Admiring Papa )-Lavalette hung on to win a cliffhanger this evening, beating Ona 5-4.
We jumped out to a 2-0 in the first inning on a two run triple by our centerfielder. Our firstbaseman added a home run in the third, and we tacked on two more scores in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.
Almost everything came unglued in the bottom of the fifth, as several Lavalette errors and a couple of Ona hits produced 4 runs to bring Ona within a run.
In the bottom of the sixth, the final inning, we still lead 5-4. Ona's leadoff hitter got an infield single. With two outs, an Ona hitter smashed a double to deep rightfield, but our rightfielder made a good throw to hold the lead runner at third. With the tying run at third and the winning run at second, and with me and several other dads too tense to breathe, our pitcher induced one of Ona's best hitters to pop it up back to the pitcher. WE WIN!
My own son didn't do much. He scored a run as a pinch runner early, but otherwise went 0 for 2. None of that bothers me in the least.
Did I mention I'm enjoying my son's Little League season a lot more than I am the Reds this year?

[RedsBaron]

Haha thanks man. I'm sure my 55 mph cheese would really fool some hitters.

You're already approaching Danny Graves-like speed.

[gitrdunn44]

Your son and me= the nasty boys. I guess we need 1 more person though.

[gitrdunn44]

Would you like to be the veteran 2 round us out

[RedsBaron]

Would you like to be the veteran 2 round us out

I definitely qualify as a veteran.

[RedsBaron]

Today we lost. We started off great, grabbing a 5-0 lead early over League 3 (an all star team from Huntington). However, in the fourth, League 3 scored 4 times, with a three run HR in the mix. The next inning, they scored two more in an inning that feautred some errors by Lavalette, both physical and mental (our pitcher forgot to cover home during a rundown). We lsot 6-5.
Not a great day for my son either: 0-1 at the plate, a groundout, and the scorer (that would be me) marked him down for two errors, an overthrow and a dropped flyball (would've been a nice catch, but he should've had it).
The kids seemed tired after four games in four days. They get tomorrow off and will play again Monday.
I still love Little League. You can't win 'em all, as the Reds seem determined to prove this season.

[gitrdunn44]

Too bad. Don't let him get his head down about the errors, even Adam Dunn makes them . You guys will go get them Monday!

[Sweetstop]

Mmmm...sorry. They'll get 'um Monday.

[achilles]

I love it too. Some of my best memories.

[RedsBaron]

We lost again tonight, as lavalette went down to East Huntington 10-3. We actually hit the ball better than East Huntington did, but they were the best fielding team we've faced, turning two doubleplays even though we didn't have Sean Casey in our lineup; meanwhile we made a bunch of errors.
We are supposed to play again Wednesday evening, but if the rain we are supposed to receive from the remnants of Hurricane Dennis actually hits us, they may change our tournament into a single rather than double elimination tourney--if so, we are done.

[RedsBaron]

We're done. We lost in extra innings tonight to Ceredo-Kenova, 15-14. We lead 2-0, 4-1, and 8-3, before C-K tied the game 8-8 in the bottom of the fifth. Each team scored in the sixth, forcing extra innings. With two outs, we scored 5 times in the top of the seventh to lead 14-9, only to give up 6 runs in the bottom of the 7th.
We had 18 hits, but we also committed 10 errors.
My son scored two runs, but was 0 for 1 officially at the plate. He had one putout while playing leftfield.
The umpires blew several calls, and displaying rabbit ears, threw one fan out of the game for daring to question a call.
After the game, my son told me he was glad he had played all stars.
I still love the game. Our fall baseball league starts in September.

[Sweetstop]

If your son is glad he played on the team (and loves baseball as you do), then all is well.