Puttin' on the Hits

For breakfast this morning I found myself eating my words. But this time I didn't mind choking them down.

Two nights after I labeled Carter's team the "Bad News Bears," they were out to prove me wrong. And they did! I'm sure it had much more to do with Coach Austin's stern post-game "critique" Tuesday night and the fact he had them show up an hour early last night to get in some batting practice. But either way, they turned themselves around to chalk up their first W of the season.

For once, the Orioles were the team taking the lead in the first inning. It started out with walks -- they were getting walked around the bases and scoring that way. Then the first person got his hit. Then another kid. Before you know it, our team looked like a hitting machine.

Don’t know how many hits we had -- but it was more than any other game this year. Carter and several others got their first good whack, that's for sure. The team was so positive, so enthusiastic. It was contagious!

We ended up winning 9-2. Whoo-hoo! I'm sure it took hours for the adrenaline rush to die down. I know Carter still wasn't asleep at 10!

I got the inside scoop on the victory from the coach (since I'm sleeping with him, you know). The big key, according to coach, was "We threw strikes and didn’t give up a lot of walks. Then kids in the field pay attention better and have a better chance at catching the ball."

I'm not convinced the A.D.D. in the dugout is gone, though. At one point I walked by and heard a kid say, "My dog peed in my mouth once," and I kept right on walking.