Special Moment(s)

I saw this on another site and thought it was interesting. What are the memories that you will never forget? It may not be about winning a championship or anything like that. It was a special moment for you...and perhaps only you.

I remember a particular game where my son lost a heart breaker in machine pitch. All the kids appeared to be distraught about the loss. I was prepared to put my arms around my kid and console him. After the coach was through with his after game speech, my son walked over to me wiping a tear off his face. As I prepared to give him another "life lesson" speech...he looked me in my eyes and said with a smile, " Dad....did you bring the drinks?" Man...he got it! Baseball is just a game

What are some of y'alls memories?

 

I can't remember all the details anymore, too many years and too many other memories cloud my brain any more, maybe Intimidator Coach can fill in the details. As I remember, my son was playing with the Kannapolis Cougers 13U AAU team in a tournament sponsered by the Catawba Valley Storm. We were playing at East Burke HS against the SC Spirit who, at the time were considered one of the best teams around. I felt we had gotten lucky early in the game when one of the guys connected with pitch that cleared the LF fence and put us ahead 3-0. The guys proceeded to pitch well and play well through out the game until the bottom of the 7th. In that inning things started to fall apart for us and the Spirit began to show why they were touted as highly as they were. They quickly scored 2 runs and managed to get runners at 2nd and 3rd. I can't remember the outs but it really didnt matter. The next guy hit a ground ball right at our 3B, it went through his legs into LF, both runs scored and we lost 4-3. On the way back to the dugout after shaking hands, my son noticed our 3B walking along with his head down. He went over to him, put his arm around his shoulders and told him, "Forget it, it's just one baseball game, there'll be others."
At the car as we were preparing to leave the 3B's mom came over to me and my wife just to tell us what Ryan had done and how much she appreciated it. I can promise you that of all his accomplishments, both before or after that night, none have made me prouder.

 

Yes RC .. I remember that very well... I was fortunate to Coach with RC
( actually Coach was in name only. I was more of a supervisor to this group ) a great group of kids back then .. quite a few are playing in college programs now .
One game i remember so well and it's one of the games that really lifted our team to a new level was in a July 4th AAU Tournament...
We were on the verge of knocking some big good teams out all year long and maybe winning a tournament.. This particular one was against the defending National Champs Apopka Yard Dogs.
We had just walked thru this tournament to the Championship Game and played like a group of Champions.. Apopka had players that were huge , fast pitching , good defense , but we stayed with them only losing 1-0 in the bottom of the 7th. They had a runner on 2nd .. and a one hopper back to the pitcher who couldnt get it out of his glove and then bobbled it.. only to throw the ball away over the fence at first .. But our team gained so much confidence after this tournament and we went on to play very well at the Nationals and came back to win a few tournaments after that...

 

This was a bitter special moment for me watching this game.

It was game 2 of the Legion Round 3 playoffs, Area 3 I believe, and the winner advanced to the final 8. Winston-Salem was down in the series 1-0 to Lexington. In game 2 @ Lexington, I swear, it was the most bazaar game I have ever seen.

Winston-Salem poured it on for the first seven innings leading 10-0 going into the bottom of the 7th. When WS took the field for the bottom of the 7th trying to seal the deal of the 10-0 shutout, with 2 outs, Lexington's #8 hitter punched one past the pitcher up the middle for a single. An error and a bloop from the next two hitters allowed the run to score and the game to continue. WS pulled their pitcher because of a pitch count issue, and brought in another one. Lexington did the same.
Throught the last two innings, Lexington rallied back from 10-1 to beat WS 12-11.

You always hear "it's never over until it's over" and it honestly you don't think about it happening like this. That moment was special to me because I take what happend on that summer night with me everyday of my life, knowing if we would have won we would have had a better shot at playing in the final 8, and that is a life lesson that I learned that night.

Sometimes special moments aren't as memorable as hitting a homerun in a playoff game, or throwing a complete game 3 hitter, but rather the life lessons that you learn from such a simple game.

 

Of all...

my amazing, wonderful, uncanny, unpredictable moments on the diamond from my playing days as a 5 yr old to the later years as a hs player and college player to a HS coach they pale in comparison to the event that has unfolded in my life over the last week! Truly special and miraculous!
http://forums.ibsys.com/viewmessages.cfm?sitekey=ral&Forum=334&Topic=12958
Big Brother

 

I want to know about your brother. Tell us about him....some of the special moments that you guys shared

 

I want to share a story about another person's son. This happened 4 years ago and it's apropos (Dbacks..explain this word to Hapi) that it happened in Jupiter at the WWBA World Series.

We were playing the Miami Sluggers who won the event the previous year and returned everybody on their team. Now, you have to understand that the Miami team was just a little different than everyone else. They were talented, cocky, arrogant and respected nobody...and they had the fans to match. Their pre-game warmups were an event in themselves. The Miami fans would line the fences on both sides and cheer their team on with whoops and hollers...trying to intimidate the opponent. I saw a great Dallas team wilt under the pressure the Miami team and their fans put on them. These guys were invincible and they wanted to make sure you knew that before, during and after their games. They didn't care what you thought of them..they played the game with a chip on their shoulder. And their goal was not simply to win...but to annihilate you. They didn't want to 10 run you...they wanted to 20 run you. And in many cases, they did.

Well, after they conquered the team from Dallas (a team with 6 draftees)...next up for them was a no-name team from Charlotte, The O's.
The O's selected Robert Woodard to pitch for them. I saw Woody at the Miami vs Dallas game and mentioned to them, " Those guys are cocky...but they are pretty good" Robert responded, " Nah...I know how to beat them" ~ I said to myself~ "Whoah..go get 'em young man".

Well, we played them..their fans were loud and obnoxious...and Robert shut them down. After each player was walking back to their dugout after each at bat..they were shaking their heads in disbelief. They couldn't believe they were getting a whipping from some team they never heard of nor the city they were from.

That night I sat with the Miami people at another game they were playing. After I got to know a few of them and they found out what team I was with, they all came up slapping me on the back and shaking my hand like i had something to do with their loss. They kept asking me about Woody in a tone of reverance. After basking in their praises I told them to turn around..."There's Woody". Well, dang if you didn't think the Pope had arrived. People crowded around Robert like the conqueror he was....and this is the thing that I will always remember about that young man. He displayed humility, humbleness, courtesy and politeness. He made me proud that I was with the On Deck team and that we were from Charlotte.

...and the best part of this story is this: Robert continues to display all those same characteristics with his unbelieveable success at UNC. Yesssir...it was a special moment!

 

Special Moments

My first coaching job in High School I was the Head JV Coach here at South Granville. Before the season Coach Ferrell gave me a run down on all the returning players I could expect to come out. He told me about a Soph that did not come out his Freshman year because he was afraid that he would get cut. He told me the kid was a bit small and not very athletic but if he came out take a good look at him because he was a great kid. Well I noticed his hustle at tryouts and he always wanted more ground balls and extra swings. When the season started he was on the JV team and getting some playing time. As the season went on he just started to blossom as a player. The last game of the year we played a DH 5 innings. I started him behind the plate and he hit two dbls and a hr. The next game he came in an pitched the last two innings to get the win. Well this kid just caught fire for baseball. He worked in the off season in the weight room and in the cage like you would not believe. He also grew about three inches between his soph and Jr years and put on about 20lbs. His Jr year he started in the of and made all state. His sr year he recieved a D-1 scholarship. I guess this guys whole career was a special moment for me. His Sr year I went to Doak to see him play against NCSU. I can still remember him coming over to the backstop before the game and thanking me for coming to see him play. By the way he was his college teams MVP his Sr season. (He was a special moment for me). Quincy Jones is his name.

 

You know Coach...I guarantee you he remembers that day that you gave him an opportunity and encouragement for the rest of his life.

 

Braves....it won't do any good. It will get lost in the translation!