Hey everyone, my name is Pierce Greenleaf. I play for the 14U All Star Baseball Academy team. I have been playing for ASBA, summer and fall, since I was 11, but we were called the Blue Claws then. I was given the chance to write about our ASBA Downingtown summer team and report about both the serious and funny events of our season.
Here is my second weekly report on our summer team:
My ASBA 14U team traveled all the way to Virginia for our tournament last weekend. The trip took around five hours one way and was a physically draining ride for everyone, especially the parents. The tournament was called the Virginia Open State Champions, so that would explain why a lot of the kids were big. Our first game, at 5 o’clock, was against the IYG Spiders and after the first two innings, thunderstorms came into the area. The game was delayed for about 45 minutes. During those first two innings, we were hitting the ball and fielding the ball very well. But the other team had added players from their 15U team for this tournament and one of them came into pitch in relief. After that, our bats were silent and our fielding went out the door. We lost 8-2.
Our next game was 30 minutes afterwards and we played under the lights against the Diamond Longhorns. The first inning was a carry-over of the first game and we went up by four runs. Just like the first game, we hit horribly. I think we got 2 hits, maybe. The umpires at that game were very picky. I got called for a balk on a third to first move because my foot never came off the rubber. Our coach, Keith Falcone, was not happy at all about that call, but we didn’t hit at all so Keith was more upset about that than the balk. We lost 10-1.
On Sunday, we played at 10:15. We had a shaky first inning, but got through it. Our bats showed signs of waking up for a moment, but after the first three innings, we didn’t get one hit. This game, we didn't field the ball or throw strikes, and we ended up losing 8-2. This past weekend, we looked like the Phillies up to bat, couldn’t throw strikes, and could not field the ball. I hope that this poor play is now out of our systems, so we can move on and win a few games. Our team's attitude is still positive and I'm looking to do my part to pull us out of this little slump. The Phillies can do it and so can we!
