Tanner had a tournament in Allouez. They played the east side Green Bay Sluggers first, and beat them 5-3. We had some great plays in the field, capitalizing on their base running errors. They also had many errors in the field. You could tell they were having a bad game. They are a better team than that.
Second game was against Appleton, and we won by the run rule, 10-0. Great hitting on our part. No hitting on theirs. Tanner walked and had a nice base hit. Nice to see the new DiMarini working well.
Unfortunately, he had to miss the final game against DePere Black. But we got word that we won 5-1, and so, took home the first place trophies. I emailed Tanner at Camp Luther to let him know. Last weekend in Freedom, Tanner's team beat the DePere black team to play in the championship game. But it rained, and they cancelled the championship and 3rd place games. So they just decided to throw out our game against DePere black, and they gave them the first place trophies based on Saturday's play. Not one person I've talked to thought they handled that the right way. They didn't even call the teams together to hand out trophies. Tanner and I were sitting in the car, and Scott went to see what was going on. He came back with a 4th place trophy. Apparently the boys from our team that were there were crying. One of our moms overheard the black team's coach telling them to not be upset, that they beat them so they should be proud, but that they would beat us fair and square next weekend in Allouez. That definitely makes the win sweeter. One of the boys told a boy from our team on Monday that he knows it's not right that they got the first place trophies. Too bad grown men don't understand that.
Zach's team had a tournament in Stevens Point. They won their first game. Scott had to go to the bathroom during much of the game, but didn't want to miss anything. Finally, our kids were up 8-3 after a 5 run inning, they were in the field, with two outs, and he decided he couldn't wait any longer. Of course he missed another Sports Center highlight play of Zach's. Hard shot to left field, he ran, judged it, ran some more, snagged the ball cross-body, did a shoulder roll, and came up with the ball in his hand. Scott got out just in time to hear the cheering and everyone asking him where he was! They replayed the play all day long.
Tanner and I made it to the second game and got to see Zach pitch 3 innings. He struck out 6 and threw a kid out at first, allowed 3 hits and one run. It was a very fun game, with the 14U team and parents watching and cheering them on. Zach also got to play this tournament with his past teammate Matt Bald. Those 2 are a pair. Zach also had a shot to left field that hit the fence. It was a 300 foot fence. He was happy with the hit, of course, got a triple, but disappointed he didn't hit it a little harder to go over. They ended up winning the game 21-5. Had to wait until the 5th inning for the run rule.
Everyone was staying over at a hotel, and we hadn't made reservations. Mid-week, we learned there was a room available. Scott turned it down. So here they were, all pumped up from wins and ready to go to the hotel and unwind, and the boys didn't have a room. So we ended up getting a room at the hotel across the street, going to Shopko for clothes, swimsuit and toothbrushes, and they stayed over. Tanner and I drove back home since he had an early morning game.
On Sunday they won their first game, beating a team from the Madison area. Scott got into it a little with their first base coach. He said they were jerks. Zach had another great catch at left field.
So they were in the championship game, playing the best team there, Plover. Scott had watched them play and knew they would be tough to beat. They were a team made up of the best kids from a large area, and there were no weak players on the team. Our team had 15 minutes between games to grab some unhealthy food from the concession stand to refuel. Plover had an hour and a half. Scott predicted a blow out with the run rule. They did get run ruled in the 5th inning...12-2. They just had nothing left in the tank. But a second place finish in a 12 team tournament is pretty good. And Zach had a blast, finally enjoying his tournament team experience.
