| Teams | Innings | Runs | Hits | Errors | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||||
| Us | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 3 |
| Bosco (B) | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 9 | 6 | |
| Huthnance, W | 2-3, RBI |
| Taylor, B | 2-3, 2R, 3SB |
| Poole, M | 1-2 |
| Kavanagh, B | 1-3, R, SB |
| Poole, D | 3IP, 2H, 3R (2ER), 5BB, 3K |
That Bosco team needed to win round 20 to ensure they finished as minor premiers. Given where we ranked and they ranked a 13-8 loss was not too shabby. They conceded 7 unearned runs against us and they will need to do much better in the weeks ahead if they intend / hope to win the competition.
We batted competitively, achieving 7 hits and reached another 4 times with batted balls where they couldn’t make the out. They may have played a little possum pitching some less experienced arms knowing they would need plenty of arms in the longer format matches ahead. But that was a risk given they would have been chasing the minor premiership. Or then again perhaps they were content to finish top 2 regardless of the result against us. Who knows? It moot now anyway.
Our fielding let us down a little, given how well we did in recent weeks. Our errors contributed to 7 unearned runs. Their errors contributed 7 unearned runs as well, which really helped keep us in the game. Our pitching was a little astray, conceding 8 free passes, 4 of which came around to score. I know Jonathon put it all on the line, leaving the game with an empty tanks after 1 innings. He may have been able to go longer if we had corralled a couple of chances in the first innings. These misses also gave them a significant cushion after 1 innings. Dan threw well in patches. When he was in and around the strike zone he was very effective but, other than his first innings, he struggled to consistently throw strikes. No criticism, just observation.
Personally, that was a disappointing game. Not because I didn’t get much game time, but because that will be my last Summer Season game of baseball and we didn’t get a win. I had been quietly confident we could have ambushed that team. It wasn’t to be. There is no criticism in my “game time” comment. Unless you’ve managed a team and had to make the hard choices of who gets game time and who doesn’t you may not understand what goes into those decisions. I told Dan during the season I had no ego about where I played and even if I played, the team comes first. I reminded him during the game I was comfortable with whatever choices he made and I remain content with those choices.
Congratulations to this team. The improvement over the course of the season has been terrific. A willingness to attend mid week sessions and listen to the experience voices has paid dividends. Don’t get too carried away, there’s still plenty to learn.
A big thank you to Matt for coming out of retirement to help out this team. His experience on the diamond was invaluable. I know he is intending to return to retirement and I wish him well. That game is now the last game we will play together. It has been a pleasure to share the diamond with him at various times over the last 30 something years.
Thank you Alex for scoring for the bulk of our games. Your skill made my weekly task of prepping the stats so much easier. Enjoy your freedom from weekly baseball commitments.
Thank you to our cheer squad – always enthusiastic. Thank you for being in our court on so many of our games despite the travel, weather and non-baseball commitments.
