This is my ninth year in coaching baseball for Wilson Park. After all these years I still don't know how the players will perform in a late game. Some times the kids are tired and come out flat. Other times they come out over hyped and make mental errors playing under the lights. What ever the reason, I'll probably never figure it out. I'm just not that smart I guess. This is why I was a little nervous heading into our game against the Phillies. With the chance of this game being called early because of rain I wanted to jump out to an early lead. I did not want the kids getting behind early and have rain take away any shot of a comeback. Two innings into the game it was an uncomfortable 2-2 game. While Zach was pitching a nice game our bats were stuck in nuetral. Thankfully, the next two frames saw our Sox plate nine runners. Who knows, maybe it was the distant lightning that gave us a spark. Whatever it was I'm just happy we jumped out to a nice lead with the heavy rains threatening play. While the bats were hot in the third and fourth our defense was maybe more so. Like Tristan the previous inning, Brianna gunned down a base runner trying to steal second. It was her first chance to throw out a base runner in her catching debut. Nice job Brianna! Time and rain were on our side the rest of the way. The Phillies did push a few more runs across the plate but the Red Sox did just enough to close this game out. Luke and Zach combined for 7 RBI and Mikey, Tristan and Jack totaled 9 runs between them. The Red Sox proved to be the better team on this night with a welcome 12-9 VICTORY!!! Time to relax and enjoy this one.

A lesson learned; Good sportsmanship is very important to our league and team. As players and coaches we never want to be poor sports or show up the other team, umpires or our own team. Another part of sportsmanship is having respect for yourself and your equipment. Unfortunately, I had to remove one of our players from the game for throwing his hat. While that may not appear to be the worst thing in the world had the umpire seen this happen our player would have been suspended for the remainder of the game and the next game. I did not want to pull him from the game but it was the proper action to take. I know he feels terrible about his actions and how it affected the team. Also, he has apologized and I do feel bad for him. The positive to this is he has learned his lesson and I'm sure it will not happen again. While we all want to win and be a part of a great team we need to represent ourselves and our team in a positive manner. At our team meeting at the beginning of the year I handed out a folder to each parent. I ask that every family please read and explain to your kids what written on the player conduct form. Also, as a reminder to ourselves, we should probably reread the parent conduct form. I will also be addressing the team on this topic and am confident we will have no further issues. Thank you.

Next up; A Wed, 5:30 game at Ball Park #2 against the Rangers. After back to back late games it will be nice to get back to our more familiar start time. Once again the Red Sox will be looking for their first winning streak of the year. Good luck kids and see you all at 4:30.