Never Give Up

Rather cliche, I know, but this weekend I witnessed a perfect example of what happens when you Never Give Up!

My 11 year old son plays Travel Baseball. This is in addition to his regular Little League team. At first I was grateful for this team because for an unknown reason, he was not getting much playing time on his regular team.

However, the travel team was not winning.

They got "mercy ruled" more then once, and after every game there were a bunch of very miserable boys. I don't know what the head coach was thinking, he kept using the same pitcher with the bad attitude every game (cough *his son* cough) and we just kept losing. He can pitch, he just can't lead the team. So when he would get a bad attitude, it would resonate throughout the team. The parents were mad as hell. This supposed star pitcher should have been thrown out of the game for talking back and a bad attitude more then once and their kids, who are good players, were riding the bench.

So they end the season 0 & 8. Not one single win. A few close games, but never a win. However, with the way the league is set up, everyone makes it to the playoffs. So the first playoff game comes and our last place team goes up against the 2nd place team (1st place team got the week off). The whole ride up there my son is complaining "we don't even belong in the playoffs, we suck" I remind him of the Giants last Superbowl win. They were the underdogs, New England had not lost 1 single game the entire season & post season. They were not favorites to win. But what happened? That's right, the Giants won! 18 wins & one Giant loss. It's one of my favorite catch phrases!

My husband tells me "star pitcher" can't pitch. He pitched the night before! (league rules)!!!!

So we're at the game and since we're the away team, we get up first and score 3 or 4 runs! Wow what a great start!!

The coach puts in Matt* to start off the game. Matt is a good pitcher and he's left handed which will confuse the batters. He has a good first inning, but a couple of runs score. However, we're still winning!

Top of the second inning we again score a few runs.

Bottom of the inning Matt is back pitching. A few runs score and you can see he's losing it. These kids are at such a fragile age, you have to take them out before it deflates their ego. The game is still close & we're still wining. I think it's 6 to 5.

The coach pulls Matt and puts in my son. My son can pitch. He's a great pitcher. It's really too bad his regular team coach never used him because he is really good. I know I'm his mom, but trust me, he's VERY good. And this day, he is ON FIRE! He is on his game 100% and then some! Let's put it this way, "star pitcher" had to stop catching because my son's pitches were hurting his hand!

Ok back to the game.

The innings are just flying by, the other team may have gotten some hits, but no one scored. My son pitched 4 shut out innings. AND AND!!! The very last out of the last inning was a line drive right to my son's head, AND HE CAUGHT IT!!!!!!

I could have cried I was so proud of him! He was shocked that he caught it too! The entire team ran in and jumped on him. They may not have won a single game during the season, but they just knocked out the 2nd place team, 10 to 5!

So when life gets you down & you think things are never going to get better, think of this little rag tag baseball team from the Jersey Shore that won a game they didn't even think they belonged in.

Don't forget to check out my website Names on the Jersey Shore !

*names changed to protect the innocent.