Championship
It’s been a long tough road for the Roadrunners.
In spite of the athletic terrain the girls kept working hard in practice and learning all those tough lessons that come with loosing at tournament after tournament.
That all changed this weekend as they were forced to learn how to be gracious winners.
I say forced because they demolished the field in their first ever 16U tournament (we are a 14U team moving up to 16U).
They shook off some rust and nerves dropping their first game of the weekend 13 to 7 but went on a bona fide championship run winning the next 5 in a row and outscoring their opponents 53 to 6.
There were moments, on that field, when it looked like we were coaching team USA.
Our girl had a career game going 2 for 2 and pitching a 1 hit shutout for 1 of the 5 wins.
With 1 out and 2 runners on base the championship game was stopped in the 3rd inning because of a mercy run rule.
Final championship score was 15 to 3 but that wasn’t the best score.
The girls didn’t rub it in, they didn’t go wild and crazy and drape themselves in flags and run around the diamond.
During the lineup after the game (where you go through and shake the hands of the other team) our girls (and coaches) congratulated the other team, encouraged them to keep working hard and told them to keep their spirits up.
I continue to be so proud (and honored) to be on the coaching staff of this team because of the character and sportsmanship of these girls.
Character is always more impressive than the final score, in my opinion.
Congratulations!
I had a great conversation last night with a former big league pitcher about the dangers of coaching your own kids. We agreed that it is a minefield.
This is a better story than anything that came out of the Olympics!
Congrats to Madison and Coach Staff. You are so right about the sportsmanship the girls displayed. The reality is that most of the girls on the team will not go beyond H.S. playing softball but the lessons they learn about losing and winning will follow and shape them for a lifetime.