June 14 – “Championship”

Wow.  Did we ever have an exciting evening.  We drove into Texas for the Hitchcock Little League championship game.  Jachin’s team, the Nationals, had clawed their way through the loser’s bracket to face the two-time champion Red Sox, a perennial powerhouse.  It was an exciting slugfest, with the lead changing hands several times. 

The Nationals found themselves down by one run in the bottom of the last inning, 14-13 (I told you it was a slugfest).  With one out they managed to get runners on second and third.  Jachin came to bat.  What a pressure-packed situation.  He already had one hit, so he was keyed up to add another.  And to his credit, he responded well.  He smacked a hard line drive to the right side, but it was speared by the second baseman.  Two outs. 

The next batter had been crushing the ball all night, even hitting one all the way to the wall.  So the opposing coach ordered his pitcher to walk him intentionally.  Pretty smart move, actually.  But this particular Nationals batter had other ideas.  He took a huge swing and miss at the first pitch, which was dangerously close to the strike zone.  The swing apparently disconcerted the catcher enough that he lost his concentration.  He missed the pitch and the ball trickled behind him.  The runner from third raced home with the tying run, and the runner on second made his way to third.  The winning run was just 60 feet away. 

This time the catcher, now thoroughly confused, resumed his regular stance behind the plate.  But the pitcher was still in intentional walk mode.  His next pitch soared over the catcher’s head, and the winning run scored.  The crowd went wild.  The Nationals and their parents poured onto the field for the inevitable photo sessions.  The league president came out and presented the trophy.  Each player received a medal.  Speeches of a sort were made.  One guy said this was the only game he had been able to convince his boss to let him off for all year, so he was worried that if they had lost it would have been his fault for jinxing them.  Their coach told them how proud he was that they never gave up, and that they had fun all year long.  Assistant Coach Kel remained quiet in the background, but he was hard-pressed to contain the joy and pride and excitement.  The underdog was the new champion.  Somebody call the Hallmark Channel.  Let’s make a movie. 

To his credit, the Red Sox coach made his way over to the Nationals bench after all the photo ops had settled down, and he was glowing in his appraisal of the team that had just defeated his.  Thanks for showing some class, coach.  Congrats to the Nationals.  Nice job to the Red Sox.  And Jachin … we are really proud of you.

Romans 10:11 says, “As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’”

Father, thank you for all those boys and the effort they put into their season this year.  Give them grace and draw them to yourself.  Amen.