Good teams find a way to win through adversity.
Most of the girls missed one or more practices this week because of being sick. Not only do we have Swine Flu going around (2 of my girls this week), we have Strep (2 other girls), Pneumonia (1 girl), and just the general flu/cold (at least one other girl) that comes around this time every year. Girls who weren't sick were still missing the practices they normally missed (basketball practice, sewing lessons, cheerleading, etc), or missing practices because they missed too much school because they were sick and had to stay home and do homework.
Even though a lot of girls missed practices this week, everybody showed up for the game, sick or not, which was a relief. Our normal center fielder had to be scratched from the lineup -- she tried to warm up, but was too sick so she just sat in the dugout or on the sidelines with her mom. Our pitcher looked like death warmed-over -- she was still getting over swine flu, but she said she was ready to go. Most of other girls didn't have the same energy they normally have, and you could tell they weren't feeling 100%, but were going to give all they had for the game.
I guess we were lucky. One of the 10U teams had to reschedule their game yesterday because only 5 girls showed up -- everybody else was sick!
It was warm yesterday, about 90 degrees. I normally would have turned on the dugout misters, but with so many girls under the weather, I didn't want them sitting around getting damp. I asked them before the game would they rather play defense out on the field in the sun, or sit in the dugout in the shade and hit? "Hit!" they said, so we said, "Then play good defense so that you aren't out in the sun too long!"
That we did, at least for the first two innings. We were up 7-2 after two innings, and then we hit a wall. We went 3 up and 3 down in the top of the 3rd, so we had to go back out onto the field too soon to give our girls a good rest on the bench, and it showed.
1 out and 4 errors and 5 runs later, and I had to pull my pitcher -- she had nothing left. I got to the pitcher's circle, and she was soaked with sweat, her eyes were glassy, and she was a little wobbly. I put my older daughter in (she'd been fighting a cold all week long and wasn't that thrilled about having to pitch), and she got the final two outs but let in two more runs. I was just thankful to get that third out. My girls were out on the field for 25 minutes!! Yikes!!
We only had 15 minutes left before no-new inning, so I figured this was our last at bat and we were down 7-9. Time-wise, I had to s-l-o-w the game down to give my girls a chance to recharge on the bench in case we had to go on defense again. Fortunately, neither of Catsup's pitchers throw a lot of strikes, so I gave every batter the take sign until they got one strike on them. Our batters usually only got one strike to swing at before they'd walk.
We walked the bases loaded, then walked in two runs, then drove in two, then walked the bases loaded again, then walked in another run before the inning was over. We scored 5 runs in slow motion making the score 12-9, but most importantly, spent 20 minutes in the dugout.
My daughter went back out again, but I could tell she wasn't focused and wasn't feeling good. She walked one batter, who advanced to third on a ball hit to the outfield. Then the next batter drove in their first run of the inning.
I looked at my starting pitcher, who was sitting next to me on the bench. She looked much better now that she was hydrated and had rested. She looked at me, and I could tell she wanted to go back in. I asked her if she could get 3 outs for me, and she said yes. I was worried about sending her back out, but she said she felt better. I looked over at her dad, who was my coaching mentor when I first started coaching, and he was looking at me. I sent her out to the circle -- I figured the game would be over in the next few batters one way or the other anyway.
It turned out, it only took 2 batters to end the game. She struck out the first batter she faced. She then got their lead-off batter to hit a weak come-backer off a nice curve ball. She wheeled and fired to first for the second out but without checking the runner on third. Our first baseman then fired a strike to our catcher a little bit on the first base side of the plate, but our catcher was able to dive across the plate and tag the runner out for the third out and the ball game. Final score 12-10.
What a gutty, gritty performance by the Tiny Titans, especially our starting pitcher. All's I can say is these girls are amazing. I am incredibly proud of them!
