Runner Up

WARNING: THIS POST IS ABOUT BASEBALL. IT IS ALL WE DO RIGHT NOW. I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO WRITE ABOUT.

I just thought I would get that out of the way so if you are completely sick of my baseball stories you can click over to another blog:). If you are kind enough to read on, I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into our world. Be sure to take a 7th inning stretch. You are going to need it!

Tournament time! I can't imagine forgetting the fun of a super league tournament but I am going to document it none-the-less. For our family, holidays usually mean baseball. The first tournament is President's Day in St. George followed by March Madness, also in St. George. Over Spring Break we did the Pizza Factory tournament and just this weekend was the Memorial Day tournament. Next weekend will be Idaho Falls, followed by the Fourth of July, followed by the Tournament of Champions (this one you have to qualify for). We usually have a big end-of-year tournament that we play in as well. We did Steamboat Springs for 2 years and took a summer off to save up for the big one: Cooperstown, New York which we had so much fun at last summer. This year our goal is the Babe Ruth World Series. League games and Saturday double headers fit into this schedule as well.

Douglas had his first tournament when he was 9. We thought it was about the funnest thing we have ever done (easily entertained:)). We have been hooked ever since. It is approximately $400 for a team to enter a tournament and it usually spans over 3 days. There are an average of 40 teams in each age group that participate. Many of the tournaments are played in Park City, Heber, Spanish Fork, Alpine, and Lehi.  There is no time for other activities during a tournament. You literally live at the ball field.  The team siblings hang out together and play wiffle ball, DS, ride scooters, make several trips to the snack bar, cheer, run and have a great time. The team parents visit, stress, cheer and eat. Seeds keep you busy when you need something for your mouth to do, "If you can't say anything nice, spit seeds!" is what I like to say.  A tournament is the ultimate holiday weekend activity!

Teams are divided up into pools and play 4 inter-pool games. The winner of each of 8 pools qualifies to move on to the championship round. Winners are determined first by record, then by common opponent, then by runs allowed. Many times you will have more than one team with the same record in pool play so the runs allowed are used often. Top 8 teams play on Championship Day. If you win the first game, you end up playing 3 games back to back to back. If you win the first 2 you play for the title. If you win the first but lose the second, you play for 3rd place. The top 3 teams qualify to play in the Tournament of Champions at the end of the season.

Friday was the first day of our Memorial Day tournament. Our schedule was 12:00 and 4:00 in Lehi. By the time you allow for drive time and an hour early warm-up you pack the car for an entire day. We had a nice little bring your own main dish and something to share potluck with the team in between our 2 games. Sometimes we get a break, sometimes we play back to back. Saturday we played at 11:30 in Pleasant Grove and 3:30 in Spanish Fork. There was barely enough time for a picnic lunch at Discovery Park.

After 2 days of play we won all of our games and allowed a combined total of 5 runs in 4 games. We entered Monday's championship round the #1 seed. This is where it gets exciting!

We had 4 obstacles to overcome. The first: we haven't been the most consistent team in the mornings. We seem to come out a little sluggish and it takes us awhile to get in our groove. I know our coach has been concerned about this in the past and I hoped he or the boys didn't dwell on it with our 9:30 start time.

The second: we were matched up against Douglas and Hunter's old team for our first game. Without making this super long post any longer I will just say  who doesn't want to beat their former teammates and coach? I wish those boys well but I REALLY wanted Douglas to have a good game.  I had all day Sunday to anticipate this little rivalry and spent the entire Monday morning with a nervous stomach ache. With a knot in my gut the entire game we won 4-0. Douglas had a great double and made a few catches in left field. He had a part in that victory. I felt like singing the na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye song but knew that would be downright rude so I didn't. I did think it in my heart though and I know I will be condemned for my thoughts as well as my actions. I will try to do better but boy did that win feel good:)!

The third: the next team we played knocked us out after the first game of championship day in the March Madness tournament. They are a good team but I believed we could take them. We sailed over this obstacle with flying colors. The score was 8-3 but I never did feel safe.

With two tough ones under our belt we jumped in the car and headed to Alpine to take on our 4th obstacle, the Idaho Falls Red Sox. We also have a history with this team when we were on the team of the afore mentioned coach that Douglas used to play for. Many times we made it to the final game only to lose to that pesky Idaho team. They used to be called the Mariners and have since changed their name but they are the same team with the same peskiness. You really have to be at the top of your game to overcome this one but with how our team had played thus far, I was confident.

We scored first and hung with them for about 4 innings before we started our melt down. First one error, then another and soon we couldn't do anything right. They ended up trouncing us 13-1 and we didn't even play the full 7 innings due to the mercy rule. Should you really need a mercy rule in the championship game? Afterall, these are the best two teams left in the end. I guess it just wasn't in the cards for us yesterday. We will take our Runner's Up trophy and hold our heads high knowing we beat out 45 other teams to earn it. And, just maybe we will get the chance to sock it to those pesky Sox one day.   How about on their home turf next weekend in Idaho?!

So, there you have it, tournament life. Everything revolves around baseball. We eat WAY too much food, we get WAY too much sun, we spend just the right amount of time together and we have WAY too much fun!  I also have to mention my awesome family.  Grandpa made it to every game, Grandma was at most of them and Douglas had a whole cheering section on Monday when many of my siblings and their families came.  They are the best!

And I forgot to mention, instead of a nice cool shirt and a pair of shorts Stockton likes to dress like the team, baseball pants and all.  I think he was more excited for Douglas than Douglas was!