The verdict was in. The Royals had to forfeit last week’s matchup because they couldn’t field a team on any of the proposed dates, so today we enjoyed a fun game while they battled the Yankees to see who would join us in the championship.
I was hoping we would get to play the Marlins in the playoffs, but the dream was that it would be the finals. I had been coaching with their team’s bench boss for most of my time at Scott Park baseball, and battling for top place would have been an ideal finish to our years of coaching together.
I’ve learned so much from coach Tony over the years, making it bitter sweet that we should both take on head coaching duties this year for two different teams due to coaching shortages.
The games against one another this season have been a blast, with us going 3 for 4 against them on the year. The student had become the teacher.
Tony has been at Scott Park since his eldest kids were little and it seemed this was the last of his kids to play at our park. He too had watched so many of these kids grow over the years, and had a hand in teaching them how to pitch or especially hitting techniques.
Throughout this year as I put together batting and fielding lineups, I could hear Tony over my shoulder commenting on this or that. We may not have shared the same crew, but his words of wisdom were still not far from thought.
For today’s game, I had kids trying all sorts of different positions in an effort to make sure I knew who I could put in certain positions in a pinch for tomorrow’s finals, but I closed out the match with more permanent positioning so we could finish strong, ready, and confident.
I knew this was likely the last game we would ever coach in together and if the season had to end today, I could think of a no more fitting way to close out this time together than with someone I will always consider a friend and coaching mentor.
Thank you for everything you gave our teams and my kiddos over the years. I will miss this time together.