Baseball March Madness

What an exciting weekend of baseball! The Rattlers played in their first tournament of the season this past weekend, after playing 2 league games the previous week, both at 8:00 and winning both! We didn't want history to repeat itself--you see in tournaments, the Rattlers have not usually done well. They come out scared and fall apart.

This weekend was different. Friday night they won 15-0 in 3 innings. Saturday afternoon they won 6-2. Very late Saturday night, we found out the Rattlers were the #1 seed in the tournament and had a bye their first game on Sunday, not playing until 3:00. The Rattlers would be playing a 13U Elite team playing up. For 13 year olds, they were HUGE. I think the Rattlers only had 2 errors but they just couldn't get their hits to the outfield. 3 innings we left 2+ players on the field not scoring. Since we were home team, we batted last. Our last bats had the score at 4-0. Kole was first up to bat (yes, my stomach was flipping out), but he had a solid hit and was on base. Everyone after him made solid hits. The winning run was on base with one out. Kole's best buddy Jordan was up to bat. He CONNECTED and the winning run scored. Rattlers won 5-4! Our boys, coaches, and parents went CRAZY! It was amazing. The other team was in shell-shock.

So, the team packed up their gear, grabbed some quick food, and headed to the next field to play the semi-finals. The semi-final game was expected to begin at 5:00 but didn't actually start until after 5:30. The Rattlers had 2 great innings, but then just plain tuckered out. They ran out of pitching arms from all the ball they'd played. They made some mental errors also. Rattlers lost 10-4 and once again would not make it to the championship game.

As the boys were packing up their gear, I was nervous what the "post-game" speech would be. I just couldn't read Kev. I soon discovered, there was no need to be nervous. He gave the most amazing non-win speech I'd ever heard. He was soooo positive with them and expressed how proud he was of each of them and their hard work. He said the Rattlers now shared something in common with Duke and Kansas, a #1 seed not making it to the championship.

Yes, it's defintely been March Madness but what a great ride! 1 league game this week and then the Rattlers play in a tournament this upcoming weekend in Brenham. Hoping for a chance to play in the championship game then. BRING IT ON!!!