Went to my nephew’s first Little League game of the season last night. It was a night game; started at 7:30 PM out at Alpenrose Dairy Farm, which is home to the Little League World Series. I’d never been out there before; it’s a great facility for kid’s baseball.
I showed up late in the third inning, and his team was down 3 runs (score was 1-4). My nephew got up to bat (he bats 10th out of 12) and popped up right to the first baseman. Hey, at least he made contact. We cheered him on.
The other team scored another run in the next inning, and my nephew’s team couldn’t get any offense going for a while.
They only play six innings total, so there’s not a lot of time to get a rally going. But then, in the fifth inning (“our” team batted last) the kid ahead of my nephew got on base with an infield grounder. My nephew got up to bat, man on first, no outs, and after getting a full count, swung away and knocked a low pop right between the pitcher and first basemen and over the head of the right fielder, who had pulled too far in. The kid got a double out of it! And the kid on first made it all the way to home!
That was the start of the rally that led to their team tying up the game at 5-5 and sending the game into extra innings. They only needed one, though and they ended up winning their season opener.
My nephew had the biggest grin on his face at the end of that game! He’d done good, and helped keep the rally going!