Exit Laughing (with Tears): Webster 17, Cor Jesu 0

The only games all season to be threatened by rain were the first and last, and we had to play through some light sprinkles today. Not that the weather was going to slow down this team!

Last year, facing Cor Jesu in our last game, we had trouble regaining our momentum from the Hancock tournament and thus finished our season with a loss. A couple factors kept that from happening this year, including the minor detail that this year’s edition of CJ wasn’t very good. However, we also kept our focus, took care of business, and quickly dispatched the Chargers by a 17-0 score.

I’d feel worse for them except for a minor incident as we were cruising in what was clearly going to be our last at bat (in the bottom of the second inning). We had not only taken our foot off the gas, we had even slammed on the brakes, leaving base early to end the first inning, stopping stealing, not scoring on the multitude of passed balls and wild pitches, etc.

We wanted to make sure every player participated in the last game of this magical season and were freely substituting. Apparently the umpire did not hear me call out the substitution. (I was pretty casual, although loud enough to be heard by most everyone else, by this time.) Apparently not trusting us to not run up the score, the CJ coach complained that we had made an illegal substitution (of our #4 hitter and clean-up batter) because the umpire had not reported the change to her, thus generating an out for “batting out of order” and depriving our sub of a walk and RBI. The umpire apologized after the game for not hearing the change. Irksome, but not a real problem. We just started scoring on passed balls and wild pitches to ensure we ended the game as quickly as possible. Karma is a real thing.

At the end the girls presented Coach Kate with her own spirit animal (unicorn), shed a tear or six, enjoyed one last break (“WEBSTER!!”), applauded their parents and fans for the season-long support, and headed for what I hope remains a tradition long after my last game, a trip to Serendipity for ice cream and more memories. I’ll have more to say in a day or two, with photos from the tournament and this game, a season wrap up, and perhaps another article of observation, but for now, 22-2 will stand as a record for a long, long time.