GSWS Austin Day Four

Day four. We were told to wake and be ready at 8am. At 9am we were told no games would be played until noon and the organizers were asking for volunteers to help clean the fields. I am not sure what they were doing overnight or since sunrise. At 10:15am we were told we should check for updates at 11am for the schedule of games between noon and 5pm as they expect four fields to be playable at noon. They said check again at 2pm for the rest of the day's schedule. The good news is the sun is shining in about half of Austin. The bad news is light rain is expected most of the afternoon. If we get lucky the fields will be spared as they can not take any more water. If today is cancelled, it will be the first time in forty years that the world series would not have been played to a championship game.

Meanwhile, at breakfast they ran out of bacon and the manager gave me a $44 voucher for a breakfast buffet for two at the restaurant downstairs. That works out great as I'll be able to give back to Beav for letting me stay in his room for this trip. Living this luxury week was unexpected and I wish I had a better way to thank Beav than just thank you. The downtown JW Marriott with Elite privileges for relatively free (I am treating him to two dinners and paying the parking fees) in the middle of all the fun is a whole lot sweeter than the America's Best Value with smokers far from the fun without a vehicle. This is the first tournament I do not have a room or vehicle of my own. Very weird to depend on someone else. The best news is that I am feeling more team spirit from this group than any previous team (except maybe the first) in spite of hardly playing any ball. The rains could have really created a lot of negativity, but almost everyone is pulling together and making lemonade. Yay team.

We finally got the tournament play started in the late afternoon (or something like that). The set up was 30 minute games with one pitch. That's getting up to bat with a 3-2 count and a foul ball every time. A strike is an out. A foul is an out. A ball is a walk. Tough on pitchers who have control issues. Tough on batters who are not confident they can hit most anything. So that altered performances and changed the results of the series more than anything else could. We played hard, but we just were not ready for the first game in the new format and we lost 3-2. Yes, not really a softball score, but we went into the last inning up 2-0 because I had the other team under control. Unfortunately, several errors in the last inning loaded the bases for the other team with no outs. I got one to fly out and a run scored on a tag up. Another error let another run score so we were tied 2-2. I got another guy to foul out but the last batter hit the ball over the left center fielder who was positioned way too far in by the coach and then misjudged the ball. Really frustrating loss as it was all errors, particularly errors by the guy I would never have chosen as a fill-in player, and including coaching errors. A coach who is too easily distracted by socialization and phone calls really hurts this team. I love him, but his ego won't accept criticism no matter how constructive it is so we all just accept it.

We went on to win three more games, two close ones with come-backs and one blow-out. By 2am (yes, 2am) we were exhausted and errors cost us our second loss by one run, 7-6. We came back from 7-2 in the bottom of the last inning, but unfortunately with bases empty, I and the guy in front of me grounded out to close out our world series. Exhaustion and for me, frustration. I looked around and saw players who were done making foolish errors. The coach made some foolish changes for the game, moving players around to positions they had not played all series and it cost us. The replacement player I questioned as a choice made four errors on easy balls that cost four of the six runs and moving one of our outfielders to third base when she was not warmed up for third cost two more as she overthrew first base on her first two throws. This team doesn't have the stamina to play that many games back to back and it showed. We were done.

We finished 13th our of 59 teams, a very respectable finish. We were beaten by two teams that finished 7th and 8th respectively. We would have beaten either of those teams handily with our regular players and fewer coaching errors. Disappointing more because we are better than we showed, but still, we all had a lot of fun and the new players got a lot of good experience. Maybe the coaches will take my advice next year and not choose a player I advised against as a replacement player for players who can not make it. Hopefully we will make it to next year's GSWS in Portland. Either way, I'll most likely be there with one of the teams that do make it.

After we got back to the hotel, the five Marriott crew players gathered in the Executive Suite on of the players had ($499 a night) and four of us drank until about 8am (not me) and then stumbled down to the Executive breakfast which was a lot of laughs for us and most who saw or who interacted with us. You can find a bit of the fun in photos on my Facebook page.

The summary of our Series, four days of softball condensed into one twelve hours long into the early morning hours.

Maybe I should mention we are the Orlando Hung Jurors. :)