Pop Up to the Catcher

Game 7

The third game of the Tennessee tournament was a match up of the 4th and 5th seeds from pool play. My son's team qualified 4th by beating the 5th seed head to head the night before. Well the team did not do as well the second time around. The 5th seed team pitched their ace against some of our new kids. My son was the catcher for the 2nd, 4th and 6th innings and batted 2 times. In his final AB he walked and was eventually thrown out at the plate to end the game in the 13-2 loss. He was being overly aggressive in the lopsided game. The coach did not yell at him, but he knew he made a mistake and was mad at himself. 

After the game we walked back to the car, I know not to talk to him in a situation like this. We walked in silence and packed up the car. I broke the silence by asking if he wanted to go to Cici's pizza before the long drive home. He loves the cinnamon buns there. He said yes. I broke the ice about the game by saying what a great play he made on a pop up that was straight above his head. While it looks easy to the casual fan, a pop up straight above the plate is hard to pick up with a catchers mask on. My son handled it like a seasoned pro. My son said, "yeah that was pretty good, I would have had the other pop up down the 3rd base line if the 3rd baseman did not call me off." That ball dropped to the ground. Remembering that play seemed to cheer him up.  The Stats Dad also told him that the other team only scored 1 run in the innings that he was catching. I also reminded him that no one out hustled him when he was on the field. He felt pretty good about those things.

We had a good time riding home and listening to NCAA basketball on the XM Radio.