swingin for the fences

when people today have asked me what I did this weekend, I just look at them with tired, red eyes, over the ridge of my sunburned nose, and say one word.

baseball.

trent's last ever little league tournament started on thursday. they were playing deep run, which is the sports complex that I used to play soccer at. (dangle, you preposition.) I haven't been back to deep run since I was 17, and returning was a little surreal. it's a lot bigger now, and the soccer fields are new and in the expanded area. most of trent's games were played on what used to be the field I played on while in the teen years.

deep run's little league team made it so far up the ladder to the little league world series last year that they were on ESPN. it's not hard to imagine that they were whipping the butts of most of the other local teams, which begs the question of why they were even playing in them. it was more than a little unfair. think of the kids who were on the losing end of a 31 - 1 game. thirty-one to one. and that was in the 4th inning.

so deep run had been crushing opponents this year at most of the tournaments that trent has played. it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that whoever they played, they'd win. so we had low expectations for trent's team, even though they had won their first two games. it was hot, sunny, and dry on saturday when the teams faced off. I had to leave early to get ready for nicole and beth, who were coming to my house later. when I left, it was 4 to 1 in the 4th inning, which was, to me, a total win, since we weren't getting crushed. we were holding our own.

apparently I left the single most incredible game in lansdale little league history, as not only did we hold them to the 4 runs they had scored, but the kid who batted after trent scored a walk-off grand slam to win the game. and trent was on first at the time, so he scored the tying run.

the team's outlook had changed dramatically after the thick-headed coach finally decided to put both trent and the kid who would later hit that grand slam into the game a few weeks ago. I think you remember me saying that trent was benched most of the time, simply for playing the same position as the coach's son. the coach put trent in, finally, not because he was doing well - because he was - but because while the other kids had gotten complacent (because they were hardly ever taken out - only for the requisite 1 at bat or 3 consecutive outs required for the benched players) and trent was still full of hustle, even though he was hardly playing. so as a token gesture, and not because he felt trent deserved it, he started trent at center field and let him be the leadoff hitter.

the rest, as they say, is history. not only did trent keep up the hustle, but he did so well that they kept him at his position, moving him to second base to switch things up instead of moving him to the bench. and he remained as the leadoff hitter for the rest of the season. I'm so proud of him. and the kid who hit the home run got put in, too, because of his good attitude, and they beat the smug, complacent, well-funded deep run team because of it.



in non-baseball news, I had a great time reminiscing about high school with beth and nicole and brett on saturday afternoon. check out beth's son joseph. isn't he the cutest thing you ever saw???