Back On Track

After that surprising loss last Sunday, the Lake Shore Lightning girls got back into their winning form this weekend. Their first game was scheduled for 9 am on Saturday. It would have been against her former travel softball team, the Bayside Breeze, but that game was cancelled due to wet fields (on par with this whole season). The Lightning won their two other games, 14-0 (another Coral shutout) and 11-1, or something like that. We placed top seed for Sunday's elimination. We did stay after we were done playing so we could watch her old team play their next game. They won. And, it was fun talking to the parents and coaches I know from last year's team.

In the semifinal game, we could have played the Bayside Breeze, but they lost, and we played the Churchville Lightning. (I think Lightning and Storm are the two most popular softball team names) In that game, Kenzie got the first RBI, which turned out to be the game-winner since we won by slaughter rule, 10-0 (yet another Coral shutout).

The second, championship game, gave all us parents heart attacks. We played the Swoop, from Delaware. It rained during most of the game. Ali was having another phenomenal pitching performance, but so was the opposing pitcher. The Swoop squeezed out a run and led by 1-0 for most of the game. Once again it cam down to the bottom of the last inning. The game was tied, and I'm very ashamed to say that I've forgotten the circumstances that tied the score up. I think the excitement fried some critical memory circuits in my brain. Anyway, with one out, Kenzie came to bat. She hadn't gotten a hit yet against this pitcher. This time she stroked one to left-center field to get a single, with Toni at the plate. Toni ripped one to center that rolled to the fence. Kenzie took off, and wasn't going to stop until she touched the plate, which she did, as the ball rolled off the catcher's glove, onto the ground. Toni's dad (Big Tony), one of the coaches, now has to pay Toni a hundred bucks for that game-winning RBI. He also told Kenzie he owes her $25 for being in position to score that winning run. I won't hold him to it (and neither will Kenzie); we're just happy to part of this winning team.

For the weekend, by my count, Kenzie wound up going 8 for 11 (a .727 batting average) and was part of a few defensive plays. Several of her hits were line drives to the outfield, so that's a major improvement for the year. I only got upset at her once, when she was caught off the base when a fly ball was caught in the outfield. I then found out it wasn't her fault. She was obeying her coach's sign to steal second, was focused on that task as she should be, and just couldn't get all the way back to first to tag up. The same thing almost happened again in a later game. That's what happens when the batter is swinging away when a steal is called for.

To top off this great, but busy weekend, Alex said it was the best time he's had for a long long time. We need more weekends like this, where we can all be in the same place at the same time.