The Sweet Taste of Victory

First year of Babe Ruth, 1st year back with some of his old 8-yr-old team mates, one big goal in mind, the World Series. This year posed a unique prospect for the Taylorsville 13 allstar team that has won State the past 4 years. Murray is hosting the 13's World Series and not only do they get to play for hosting but our State Champion gets to play as well. Normally, upon winning State, the team travels to wherever Regionals are being held (this year, Eureka, CA. Where the heck is that?). Regionals are fun and tough and you must win that to advance further. Well, not this year! It was imperative that our little team, who should have been a shoe in, win State and guarantee themselves that awesome World Series experience. Word got out and other teams around the state decided to give it all they had to take advantage of the same opportunity.

We started preparing last Fall. Douglas gave up football for baseball and started training with his new coach. Last year he played on 70 ft. bases. This year, 90ft. In the fall they trained on 80 ft bases to make the jump a little less difficult. I have to say, Russell and I were wondering how Douglas would handle the "big boy field". He was smart, he was tough, he was a consistent hitter and he had a lot of heart but if one thing would challenge him it would be his arm strength. He was accurate but didn't have the same throw as some of the other boys his age. It hadn't been too much of a problem before but who knew what would happen on a new team with the full size field.

Those 90 ft. bases took some getting used to. When the boys would hit it seemed like the ball didn't go quite as far as it should have and it took FOREVER to run to 1st. It was a bit of an adjustment, kind of like going back to coach pitch. We got used to it real fast and had the time of our lives watching the boys play!

We signed up as 14-yr-olds for our super league Saturday double-headers. We faced bigger kids, faster pitchers and had to work that much harder. We lost most of our early games but got better as the season went on. We ended up beating many good teams that were older than us. Our last tournament before allstars we played the #1 Super League team out there and hung with them 3-1. I knew we were as prepared as we could be for our State tournament but I still had butterflies the entire week!

We went through the district tournament as is the procedure. We dropped a game to Tooele 3-1. We earned our run and they didn't earn any of theirs. It was frustrating because we knew we would face them again in State. We fought back through the losers bracket and got down to the finals but they didn't need to be played since we were hosting State and the outcome didn't matter.

State started on July 18th. We had what should have been a 7:45 p.m. game time but it ended up being 9:30. We didn't get home until midnight. That was the start of a very tiring but exciting week! We trampled Riverton, followed by Kearns. Tooele got knocked down to the loser's bracket by Alpine so our next opponent was Alpine. We thought it would be a tough match up but we ended up 10 running them as well. It was between Alpine and Tooele to see who would play us in the championship game. They played at 5:00 and the winner would get us at 7:30. I woke up Friday the 24th with the most nervous stomach. In all of our years playing Super League tournaments this game was the most important. I really didn't want to end up going to California (the 2nd place team got that privilege) and I REALLY wanted the boys to play in the World Series.

Game Day Excitement!

Awaiting Our Opponent.

Tooele beat Alpine pretty convincingly. Now was the moment we had prepared all year for. Beat Tooele tonight and it was all over. Lose to them tonight and we play them again in the morning. Since they had dropped a game already in the tournament and we hadn't, we had a big advantage. I let that be my comfort as I anxiously paced and watched.

We were so happy for Douglas. He had worked so hard all year and for the State Tournament he was given the job of 3rd base. He regularly played left field and 2nd but he has had a smart coach the last few years who believed in moving the boys around because you just never know when someone will grow into a position. There was a need on 3rd and Douglas played it beautifully!

One rather amazing play happened as I was walking the perimeter of the field trying to get Mason to sleep. I was watching from afar when I heard the pop of a mitt and saw a rocket throw to 1st base. We had just pulled off a double play in just the inning Tooele was beginning to rally. Great job team. I thought Hunter had made an outstanding play at short! Way to get out of the inning. My mom walked over to where I was and asked if I had seen that play. I told her I had and it couldn't have come at a better time. When it was apparent that Mason was not giving up I walked back to the bleachers. We again were in the field. I watched Douglas charge a ground ball and fire it to first. "Way to go Buddy!" One of the parents asked me what I fed that kid for dinner. I thought that was an interesting question since he had just fielded the ball for the first time of the game. I didn't realize it was such a great play. It was after the game that I learned Douglas had made that double play I heard but didn't get the chance to see. I was so glad he did so well. His hard work paid off! And, that strong enough arm thing, obviously no longer a problem!

We proved in the end who the better team was when we beat Tooele 10-0 in 5 innings due to the mercy rule. I never thought it would end that way. Our boys were on fire. It is so much fun to set a goal, work hard and watch that goal come to pass. I hope Douglas learned some life lessons in the process.

There were sparklers after the game (it was the 24th of July), the boys each collected a bag of dirt since that was the last game to be played on our little old field (new fields are currently under construction). No surprise that Douglas took his dirt from 3rd base!

Now we have a little down time compared to what life has been. Douglas has gone to scout camp for the week, a much needed vacation from baseball. The team will hold a few practices while he is gone and once he returns it will be GAME ON. The World Series start on August 22nd in Murray, Utah. It will be fun just to play but I really believe our little dream team has a great chance of actually competing with some of the best teams in the nation. It will be interesting to see! No doubt there will be more baseball to talk about in the month to come! As for Tooele, good luck in Eureka, Ca. Glad it is you and not us! GO T-VILLE!!!