Screeeeeeech...

The all-star team managed to play its game tonight through an annoying mist. It's always sad when officiating contributes significantly to a loss. Tonight was, unfortunately, probably one of those instances.

The boys contributed to the loss with plenty of fielding errors, but the ump (the LONE, large ump who didn't stray more than five feet from home plate for the entire game) blew two calls that definitely affected the score. One of our kids was called out at first when he was clearly safe, and a ball that was about two feet wide of the baseline was called fair in the top of the sixth, allowing the winning run to score for the opposing team. Terrible call.

Why there was only one ump is a good question. "Scheduling conflicts" was the official answer. All the other games we played had FOUR umps... a plate ump and one at each of the bases. And the officiating has actually been good. Not to say the kids would've won had those two calls not been made correctly tonight; however, we would've definitely had a better chance! The final score was 9-8, and Keeper Boy's all-star career for this season came to a screeching halt.

He has nothing to hang his head about. He had a GREAT post season. He was the team's leading hitter over the three games played. He'll tell you that tonight he batted for the cycle. He did have a single, double, and triple. The homerun is suspect, but we'll let it slide. He hit a solid single (maybe a double if the scorekeeper is feeling generous), and then kept running and made it home due to fielding errors. But hey, we'll take it!! :) He was SO excited!! That almost happened to him during the regular season one time. He hit a triple and the coach got caught up in the excitement and sent him home when he probably shouldn't have and he was tagged out at the plate. So maybe tonight made up for that. :)

Anyway, he also had some great plays in the field. He was the right fielder on this team. Not a position he is used to playing, but he has a great arm, so he is a strong outfielder.

The only positive to come from tonight is the knowledge that we now have our evenings free again! Woo hoo!

I think all around it was a great experience for him... and now we have yet another baseball cap to find lying around the house. Joy!