Emmitsburg 9 - Middletown 6

We traveled to Middletown today for the final game of the 2013 machine pitch baseball season.  It was the Championship game.  Emmitsburg won.

 For various reasons this game meant a lot to the kids, coaches, and parents.  For the kids, they just wanted to win.  I will leave the reasons of the rest of us unwritten.

It was an excellent season.  I don't know the record, I could look it up, but its not so important.  What made it excellent was the effort the coaches poured into the team.  It started from the head coach, who was supported by a dedicated group of guys.  Their effort showed up on the field.  Every player improved noticeably throughout the year.  Tobias, for example, gained a bit of confidence with the bat.  He also managed to pay attention to whole games while in the field by the end of the season.

 I don't remember the outcome of this, but I can guarantee it was a hard hit ball.

One of the amazing things to me, shown by ALL teams, was the level of defense.  Kids were finding ways to make plays that left me speechless.  I think one of the keys to today's game was a double-robbing snag of hard hit ball by our short-stop.  I still don't know how that happened.

Seriously, when you were 8 did you keep your head on the ball like that?

At that age, I'm pretty sure the teams I played on were pretty lucky if any non-strike-out outs were recorded.  Okay, it may not have been THAT bad, but we did not play nearly as well as what I saw this year.

Congratulations to the Emmitsburg Tigers on a great season.

( And just a reminder, click images for a bigger view. )