The "Nice Day For A Ball Game ... Let's Play Two … Or Maybe Three: Part I" Story

Game #1 against the Ephrata Squires.

It was an ordinary day.  8:00 AM on a Saturday morning and I'm sitting in my lawn chair wearing a Villanova Baseball sweatshirt watching the away team bat during the first inning of the Memorial Day Mt. Joy Baseball Tournament.  

Caden awaits the pitch.

The tournament is for little leaguers, both boys and girl (I only saw one girl playing), ages 10 and under.  Teams from towns in Pennsylvania with names such as Mt. Joy, Mountville, Warwick, Ephrata, Donegal and Hempfield all came together for two days of pure baseball.  Mt. Joy Baseball Association declares on their webpage: "The greatest of all, the game which seems to breathe the restless spirit of American life, that calls for quick action and quicker thinking, that seems characteristic of a great nation itself, is baseball." And, this morning my friends, that statement seems to prevail.  Three fields all carry action with family and friends  screaming, coaches calling out instructions and giving hand and body signals while players shout and yell encouragement to their teammates.  

The customary high-five.

My grandson, 10 year-old Caden, is a member of the Mountville Pirates "B" traveling team.  He loves the game as does his dad and granddad have for ages.  His bright yellow shirt and white pants won't look like that for more than maybe 15 minutes,  for you see, dust and dirt, black eye rub, sunflower seeds, spit and just being a kid are also part of the game of baseball.  A man dressed in a dark blue Mt. Joy baseball shirt walks up and down in front of us telling us the tent on the hill to our right now has breakfast sandwiches and drinks for sale.  The Pirates scored in their first at bat and never looked back while beating a very overmatched Ephrata Squires team.  After the final out the two teams form a line down the foul lines and go through the customary high-five at the end of the game.  

Caden firing a strike.

Ten minutes later, after the field had been relined and water sprinkled around the bases to try and settle the dust, the Pirates slip the helmets back on again and game number two begins at the strike of 10:00 AM.  The Pirates are once again the home team and open the 1st inning with a few runs off an extremely young Donegal Red Sox team.  

Caden getting hit in the shoulder with a pitch.

As the Pirates took the field we noticed that Caden was taking the pitcher's mound and starting to warm up.  Back in April Caden pitched in a practice game before the regular season opened and walked player after player and we thought that would be the last time he pitched this year.  Then last week, while playing in another league game, he was called on to pitch once again and he struck out the side.  Wow!  Well, as he began throwing we could see he was really pumped up.  Three innings later, when the coach used another pitcher as he always does, Caden had struck out all nine batters.  

Caden pitching in the afternoon game.

Another big win for the team and a game time of 3:00 PM was set for the next game.  Carol and I came home to rest and we didn't even play in the game.  3:00 PM and we are back at the field for the third game of the day.  The weather is perfect with the sun warming the air and the sky a perfect shade of blue.  Again the Pirates were home team with the same results.  Bottom of the 4th and Caden takes to the mound once again.  

The final high-fives.

The Pirates built up a big lead and after Caden mowed down the Mt. Joy Blue team in the bottom of the 5th, the game ended an inning early because of the 10-run rule.  Once again Caden had prevailed striking out 5 of the 6 batters he faced.  By the end of the day the Pirates knew they would play the next day at noon against the Hempfield White team.  Two wins tomorrow will give the Mountville Pirates their second tournament medal this year.  Stay tuned!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Coach/son/dad Woods congratulates pitcher/grandson/son Caden.

Head Coach talks to the team after the game.

A smiling baseball player.