It was an exhausting game to coach! We were even, then ahead, then we fell several runs behind, then we caught up and pulled ahead in the 5th inning. It was very tough on pitchers for both teams. John pitched marvelously and Lucas did a great job finishing the last inning. A very big thank you to Wiley and Tim for filling in at pitching.
In addition to taking on a big pitching challenge Wiley drove in the winning runs with a near Grand Slam in the 5th inning. What a hit. He also had a great catch early in the game, so it was a bit of a Wiley fest.
A number of our players did very well. Tim caught for 3 innings and Collin for two -- very tiring positions but neither complained. Tim pitched a strong 1st inning but had a sore arm in the 2nd. David Shanahan had a great hit, and Oscar and Lucas did well at bat and in the field. All our players did really well. I was particularly glad to see everyone taking good swings at the ball.
A special thanks to Luke Shanahan for recording our outs and score.
Max Celandar is heading away for the rest of the summer. He was to play tonight but fell ill at the last moment. We'll miss him, I wish he could have been there for our win. Ben is away at camp but will return next week. Will and Sophie were also absent.
A number of players arrived late today and two players were missing without notice. These are tough times for a lot of families -- people are either working two jobs or are looking for work. There's also a fair bit of illness going around. Even so we do need to find ways to work on the late arrivals and the unannounced absences. It's not fair to the players who show up, it's not fair to the other team, and it's kind of hard on the coaches too.
Saturday is our outing to Grand Slam. Coach Marty can't make it and I think Paul will be away, so Coach John will be solo. I'm not going to be watching or supervising anyone but my own son, so please do come along with your player. I will be at the batting cages working with the player at bat, but I can only watch one at a time. As noted previously everyone has to buy their own batting cage tokens, lunch, etc. It is a fun spot so I hope to see some Bees on Saturday am.
I will be away for next Tues practice (business travel) but Marty will be there and we expect Coach Paul to be back. We really appreciate parents who come and help out.
