The Junior Dodgers

Last night on a beautiful late afternoon on field #3 at Harpeth Hills Church of Christ, the Junior Dodgers blanked the Cubs, 12 - 0, in the last game of pool play in WNSL's end of season tournament.

It was one of those special games.  Every player in the lineup - all 10 of them - had at least one hit.  Everybody contributed.  The boys were happy to be playing baseball with their friends.  And I was happy as hell to be running the pitching machine and coaching them.

With J.P.'s team, the Dodgers, I didn't normally run the pitching machine.  I had the maestro, Dan Ayres (aka "the Professor"), to run the pitching machine.  And he was the absolute best at it.

The pitching machine, by the way, is a spring activated machine that's designed to throw a consistent pitch, every time, to the 7 and 8 year olds in our league.  And it almost never does.  Some can operate it better than others.  Fortunately, I've got enough experience on it that I generally can coax good pitches out of it.  Generally, not always.

There's nothing worse than having a 7 year old up at bat with one pitch left to throw - each boy gets three swings for five total pitches if he hasn't swung and missed three times - and, as he looks out at me expectantly, I throw him a bad pitch, he doesn't or can pull the trigger and swing, and his at bat ends after which he trudges back to the bench, head down.

Conversely, some nights are like last night.  The machine is dialed in or I'm dialed in, or both, and every single boy is hitting.  We've had two, maybe three games like that all season.  It's a joy to watch.

Last night, two of my boys, James and Lucas, got big, big hits.  Both of them are right-handers and have been stepping out of the batter's box with their front foot when they swing, stepping toward the third base dugout.  It's been a struggle, because we haven't been able to get as much - or any - practice time due to all of the rain this spring.  Still, they've battled.

James took a ball off his right knuckle in his first at bat, but didn't cry and stayed in there to finish the at bat.  It was a good one.  His swings were good and level and he didn't step out of the box with his front foot.  In his second at bat, with two strikes, he roped a line drive to right field between first and second base.  I jumped and cheered as he ran to first base.  I could hear our parents, sitting or standing on the third base side of the fence, down the left field line, cheering wildly.  I ran over to James and gave him a big hug.  I was, and am, so proud of him.

The next couple of players got hits and James ended up at third base.  One of our strongest players and best hitters, Trey, was coming up to bat.  Trey's enthusiasm is infectious.  Great, great kid.  First one at the ballpark, always smiling, always ready to play baseball.  Before he stepped into the batter's box, he yelled down to James at third base.

"James!  Hey, James!"  When James looked at him, Trey said, "great hit!"

James smiled and yelled back, "thanks!"

That, in a nutshell, is why I devote so much of my time to coaching baseball, scheduling games, emailing parents, etc.  In that one moment in the twilight on baseball field at Harpeth Hills Church of Christ, I saw leadership, sportsmanship, camaraderie, friendship, innocence, earnestness and a blissful happiness.  And more.  All in that one moment.  It was beautiful.

Later, Lucas, who has struggled hitting as of late, laced a hard ground ball single in the hold between third base and shortstop.  After he arrived at first base, again to the cheers of all of our parents, I heard him yell, "I don't know how I did that!"

I smiled, then laughed out loud, then picked up a baseball and carefully placed it on the pitching machine, just so.  Still smiling, I pulled the lever back, popped it and pitched the ball to the next batter.

And somewhere in that moment, I thought to myself, I just might be the luckiest man in the world.