Sour Taste

I confess that there are some games that I want to win more than others. Seldom do I know that in advance, although there is a coach or two that makes winning more enjoyable. But when the coaches (and, to a lesser extent, the fans) act like world peace is at stake or who nod pleasantly in the pre-game about the importance of sportsmanship and then proceed to spend the next seven or so innings whining about every call.... I have no problem asking about a call if it's a rule interpretation or if I think an umpire's partner might have had a different, or better, view of a play. But when you "ask" about every call that didn't go your way, you have, IMO (I never use IMHO because humility is something I'm seldom accused of), a skewed view of sportsmanship. 

So moving on, our home game against Northwest Cedar Hill (that used to be called Northwest House Springs until they moved into the converted prison they now call a school. Wait, what, it's NOT a converted prison? They actually intended for it to look like that? Oh, okay, never mind. Just ignore that part.) was expected to be, and was, a test. Because we lost you might think the coaches viewed the results as a failure. 

Not so. We could have rolled over and quit and ended the game early. Instead, we kept fighting, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th and making the final out on a hard shot by Alina Castro. We hit the ball well and kept the pressure on the Lions. They were, as they demonstrated in the pre-season Jamboree, a little better than us. I think that we can win 3-4 times if we played them 10, but, as noted above, really playing them once is sufficient.

That kind of perseverance fits my definition of a successful effort. From Day One, we preach the mantra of "Win with Class, Lose with Class," and this game exemplified that approach, at least on our side of the field.

As always, enjoy the pictures from AmyJo Love.