The title of this blog takes its name from a series of articles I wrote when Matthew played H.S. Varsity baseball. Originally titled "Matt Stats" it was designed to report, via e-mail, Matthews games stats when playing on the J.V. squad. We've come to the end of the regular baseball season and I've probably exhausted family/Dad baseball stories. So as a close to this portion of blog posts I'll close with the final edition of an Old Peanut Bag moldy oldie.
Taking a 5-1 lead into the bottom ofthe 7th inning against the Blue Springs South Jaguars, the Raytown South Cardinals were unable to hang onto the lead and lost the district championship on a game winning 3 run homer. Starter Adam Meyer pitched very well until that fateful inning. He struck out six, walked two and had given up a solo home run until that point. In the seventh he simply ran out of gas, giving way to Greg Walker who had pitched only two days earlier against Truman. Balls by the Jaguar batters found gaps until finally a three run homer to left center field gave Blue Springs South the victory and the District 14 Championship.
Matt played LF and played well, making a put out on a fly ball early in the game. At bat he went 1-2 (3 AB's) I arrived in the top of the second inning where Matt had an 0-2 count. He stretched it to 2-2 before hitting a grounder to the right side. The ball went off the first basemans glove who was unable to retrieve it in time to throw to no one covering first base. Steve Kuehn on third base came in to score the Cardinals first run. Matt came in later in the inning on a double by Shawn Stilwell, driving in two more Cardinal runs. Later in the game Matt grounded out 5-3. In his last at bat the third baseman trapped Matt's pop bunt allowing him to reach first base.
Yes, it was a tough loss but many of us sitting on the cold bleachers of March in Mill River Park can remember thinking, it was gonna be a long season. The Ray-South Cardinals had that awful start in the Liberty lead-off Tournament going 1-4, their only win coming against Raytown and one of the losses to the Liberty JV squad. The Cardinals would go on to lose their first two home games against Ft. Osage and Center High School. (both of those losses were avenged later in the season) At this point the Cardinals found themselves 1-6 and the season was looking even longer. However, a win against Ruskin before Easter got the Cardinals headed in the right direction. From this point on the team went 16-7, winning the small 7 conference Championship (10-2), eventually beating a state ranked team of Blue Springs and then finding themselves in the District Championship game. Yes, it was a heart breaking loss and at this point many of us found ourselves saying the season didn't go long enough.
In the beginning of the season Matt wasn't getting much playing time and I'm sure was getting pretty discouraged. I know at times I found myself getting discouraged driving to games to watch Matt play only to find him riding the bench or in very limited playing time. I enjoyed watching the games and seeing the team play and improve but as a parent you always want to see your child play. On game day mornings I would leave for work, telling Matt to make the most of his opportunities and rub his head for good luck. (rubbing his head for good luck was already a tradition) Eventually he worked himself into the line-up playing in left field and starting 15 games.His hitting, starting off slow, improved throughout the season. One of his goals was to not strike out, unfortunately he struck out 8 times. One stat that I found especially pleasing was that he got on base 8 times due to fielding errors by the opposing team. In our reflection after the game he would always ask what happened; he was too busy running to the base, not watching the ball. Good hustle Matt, when you put the ball into play something good may happen, make the most of your opportunities.
Remember, LIFE IS A BALL, MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR OPPORTUNITIES. -30-
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