Got 10-runned by Champlin Park

It's a good thing it was senior night. I left some of the words I will need to say, unsaid. We had one of those nights. We almost got no-hit. The Rebels took advantage of everything. Ockuly pitched pretty well for CP. And even though we hit a few balls hard, we couldn't get a break at the plate. The Rebels made good plays in the field. We did not. Champlin hit almost every mistake pitch. We couldn't catch much in the outfield. Bad hops in the infield. They beat out infield singles. We couldn't buy a hit until Wags got a two-out single in the bottom of the 6th (right before the game ended on the 10-run rule). We did get out of the first inning without allowing a run ... at home ... for the first time. And we even took our first lead at home in the second, with a walk, a pick-off that had our runner hit in the head and end up at second, a sacrifice bunt, and a wild pitch that didn't go too far but the catcher fell down trying to retrieve. You think of it, it went their way besides that inning. I'm not sure if the boys are embarrassed enough to practice hard over the next week and "Deserve Victory", but I sure am. We'll see what happens. Baseball is a funny game. I just want to work hard enough in practice to earn what we get. So far, we have earned everything we've achieved - which is not up to our expectations or goals. WE NEED TO WORK HARDER! I've always loved a set of four phrases that I learned in high school, but that I've seen many good coaches use as motivation.

Play hard. Play smart. Play together. Have fun.

In that order! Because if we do give it our all, think about what we're doing and learn from previous experiences, work together instead of putting each other down - then we will have fun. Sometimes fun is the by-product of working hard and getting better at a game we love.

And I do love this game!