Share a memory when your team was clearly outclassed

[tim_s]

first year 14u

our team was solid.....as good as anyone in our state....first tourney of the year, out of state......we played a team that was arguably one of the two best in NE

we are a small time travel outfit......based out of our rec league, fees were about 350 a girl, bought their own unis......two teams were in this tournament who's orgs sent a ton of girls D1....we got one on Sunday, 2nd round.....they started their #3, won toss, took visitors (which i liked to do a lot lol)

they scored 3 in the top of the first......we came up in the bottom if the 1st.....i likened my girls to bar fighters; we weren't fancy, we didn't practice year round, we had no indoor facility, lots of 3 sport athletes....but they fought for each other, and weren't afraid to break a bottle and stand back to back when they needed to.....we tied it at 3, had bases loaded with no one out.....their coach was pissed, brought in his #1......INF ump laughed to me, and said "i don't think they planned on needing her for this one"....she was legit, big girl, threw in old air jordan high tops.....nasty screw, great velocity.......she got them out of the inning at 3-3........it got worse from there, any pitch we left at all over the plate they started to turn on (and my #1 was solid).....we made plays, we got hits, they ended up beating us 16-3.....they never subbed, never let up, took out my daughter at 2b breaking up a DP when they were up big, slid really late, went at her ankles.....we talked after that next time she needed to make that throw regardless, force the slide (she also learned how to receive the throw and get out of there, but that's not part of this story)....that was their MO all tourney up until then, left girls on the bench, never subbed, pounded everyone

we found out that they were about a $10k a year outfit, plus paying for hitting coach, position coach, travel, etc.....they ended up with the other top team in the finals, lost 14-3 - that other team had been winning fairly close games all weekend, using all of their players, working on development of their whole roster, etc.....they were a progam that imho really did it right, and their record of producing players showed it

was the only time i really went into a game thinking we couldn't win, and was by far our worst loss in our 7 year run.....but it taught my girls a valuable lesson.....we had always preached fighting for each other, that we would never be one of those 'fancy' programs with all the bells and whistles, we played hard and played for each other, picked each other up...we were bar fighters

we ended that season with a 2nd year 14u team that we had lost to 10-3 on saturday of that first tournament (we had 3 girls on our roster that year that were new to us, had never played out of state, etc).....we finished our last tournament of the year with that same 10-3 team, winning a game in the semis with a walkoff in the 7th.....and then beat that same 10-3 team in the finals 4-3 in 8.......that 16-3 loss was really a watershed moment for us; after the 16-3 loss we talked about what we had talked about pregame....that we needed to go out and fight for each other and not quit, regardless of the score, and our girls had done that; they took their punches, tasted a little blood, and kept fighting

our team broke up after our first 16u year; we ended a run of 6 straight state titles at 4 different age groups....our girls all went to bigger programs, that have year round practice, indoor facilities, and they are all taking those lessons with them, and i expect to see their success continue......so that was a good experience for us long haul, but damn did it suck at the time.......

 

[tim_s]

first year 14u

our team was solid.....as good as anyone in our state....first tourney of the year, out of state......we played a team that was arguably one of the two best in NE

we are a small time travel outfit......based out of our rec league, fees were about 350 a girl, bought their own unis......two teams were in this tournament who's orgs sent a ton of girls D1....we got one on Sunday, 2nd round.....they started their #3, won toss, took visitors (which i liked to do a lot lol)

they scored 3 in the top of the first......we came up in the bottom if the 1st.....i likened my girls to bar fighters; we weren't fancy, we didn't practice year round, we had no indoor facility, lots of 3 sport athletes....but they fought for each other, and weren't afraid to break a bottle and stand back to back when they needed to.....we tied it at 3, had bases loaded with no one out.....their coach was pissed, brought in his #1......INF ump laughed to me, and said "i don't think they planned on needing her for this one"....she was legit, big girl, threw in old air jordan high tops.....nasty screw, great velocity.......she got them out of the inning at 3-3........it got worse from there, any pitch we left at all over the plate they started to turn on (and my #1 was solid).....we made plays, we got hits, they ended up beating us 16-3.....they never subbed, never let up, took out my daughter at 2b breaking up a DP when they were up big, slid really late, went at her ankles.....we talked after that next time she needed to make that throw regardless, force the slide (she also learned how to receive the throw and get out of there, but that's not part of this story)....that was their MO all tourney up until then, left girls on the bench, never subbed, pounded everyone

we found out that they were about a $10k a year outfit, plus paying for hitting coach, position coach, travel, etc.....they ended up with the other top team in the finals, lost 14-3 - that other team had been winning fairly close games all weekend, using all of their players, working on development of their whole roster, etc.....they were a progam that imho really did it right, and their record of producing players showed it

was the only time i really went into a game thinking we couldn't win, and was by far our worst loss in our 7 year run.....but it taught my girls a valuable lesson.....we had always preached fighting for each other, that we would never be one of those 'fancy' programs with all the bells and whistles, we played hard and played for each other, picked each other up...we were bar fighters

we ended that season with a 2nd year 14u team that we had lost to 10-3 on saturday of that first tournament (we had 3 girls on our roster that year that were new to us, had never played out of state, etc).....we finished our last tournament of the year with that same 10-3 team, winning a game in the semis with a walkoff in the 7th.....and then beat that same 10-3 team in the finals 4-3 in 8.......that 16-3 loss was really a watershed moment for us; after the 16-3 loss we talked about what we had talked about pregame....that we needed to go out and fight for each other and not quit, regardless of the score, and our girls had done that; they took their punches, tasted a little blood, and kept fighting

our team broke up after our first 16u year; we ended a run of 6 straight state titles at 4 different age groups....our girls all went to bigger programs, that have year round practice, indoor facilities, and they are all taking those lessons with them, and i expect to see their success continue......so that was a good experience for us long haul, but damn did it suck at the time.......

on a side note, we ended our state title run with another in state team, had more bells and whistles than we did, arguably more talent than we did.....i'd say other than our two pitchers, they were probably had more or equal talent than us at every position across the board.....we won that 5-4 in 8, holding them scoreless in the first tie break....we wouldn't have done that without that 16-3 game, imho.....those lessons of taking their punches, moving on from mistakes, picking each other up and continuing to fight for each other until the game ended...we played one more tourney last year, up at 18u, and did well......but that was gravy, imho we went out in style with that last state title.......and i thank that 16-3 game for it, but yeah, it sucked lol

 

[_MIA_]

My DD's team has gotten pretty bad a few times the last few years and what she learned is that...some teams are better than yours. She didn't become President of the United because of it, didn't find a cure for cancer because of it and didn't prove that solutions exist, and are smooth, for the Navier-Stokes equations because of it... Some of you guys need to write for Hallmark..

 

[Quigs10]

Back in 2016 when older DD was in 10u on first newly formed Cal Cruisers travel ball team and first big tourny with out of state teams. Played a team from Las Vegas (Mystique?) and we faced a girl that threw absolute GAS and just mowed us down K after K after K. We tried bunting we swung our asses off and just could not even touch her. The ball was in the mitt before our girls could even react. Some of the girls looks at the plate were of sheer terror and awe. Like "WTH was that???" Some parents would sarcastically yell at ump..."Hey...that SOUNDED like a ball blue!"

Finally in I think the 4th inning we got a foul tip and a foul ball to 1st base side. All the parents jumped and cheered like we did something amazing. It was both sad and funny at the same time.

At 10u distance we just had no shot. She ended up with a perfect game on us. Never since have I seen a more dominant pitcher that just couldn't be touched. Wish I knew her name to see what happend to her.

 

[badmonkey]

I expect to have a bunch of these stories at the end of this upcoming season. Fielding a 14U team with two girls with TB experience. And the two with experience are runts. Got a bunch of decent rec players whose parents are going to have their eyes opened in a couple months.

 

[whiporee]

We and a bunch of Colorado teams went to OKC city last year for a "B" tournament. First game we held the first team scoreless in the first inning, and managed to squeak across a run.

Never got the ball in play again. We ended up losing 12-1, and that was our closest loss of the tourney. As a state, Colorado went 3-28 there -- and two of the wins were against other Colorado teams.

 

[MNDad]

DD’s first conference series in college. Over three games we allowed 51 runs. Don’t remember how many DD allowed, but it was a lot! The rest of the season wasn’t much better. Her conference ERA was something like 13.00. I wasn’t sure if she’d overcome that, but she bounced back and had a solid career.

 

[Lance Steckler]

the ironic ones, where you are talking to coach X about their team and it's all about 'this D1 player or that D1 level player' or "their #1 pitcher throws 60+mph". and then you watch the team play and they get absolutely blasted by a middle of the road squad. Or you radar said pitcher and she's topping out at 51mph. I often wonder what shade of pink sunglasses said coach is wearing.

It takes all levels for teams, but why be delusional? Not every player is the next D1 power 5 conference player.

 

[ldaughenbaugh]

DD's 12U team was a C-level team in an open tournament but the other team was a solid B-level team and pretty quickly things got out of hand. The opponent's team had a potent offense. I found it pretty classy that when the inning went on for a little bit that the opposing team's coach quietly directed the base umpire's attention to his player on second base who took an early lead and got called out. Subtle way to move things along and end the inning for the third out.

 

[Coach Foster]

We had won a State Title the previous year, returned 7 starters, including two All-State pitchers. We had very high expectations again for this year, too. Not gonna lie, we were good

We went to a large, weekend tournament in a neighboring state and matched up with a very large County school (way over twice our size) who was starting 8th graders in CF and behind the plate.

We got absolutely waxed 13-3. They put up 6 in the first few innings and we knew we were in trouble.

We won 3 the next day, and ended up repeating as State Champs, so I guess we learned from it.