Whew! That was a close one…the Padres live to play another day. I don’t know if its the intensity of the playoffs or if its just the other teams getting better. But this game went back and forth with who was in the lead and was a nail-biter for both teams. Our boys stopped the ball in the field, but didn’t throw well to their targets and it nearly cost us the game.
This was Coach Kevin’s last game to manage the team as he goes on a pre-paid vacation for the rest of the playoffs. I take over as manager and Coach Ed takes over 1st Base Coach duties as well as being the hitting coach. We have some big shoes to fill as the kids really respond to Coach Kevin and hopefully we’ll bring home the championship trophy for him.
Christian has been solid in the playoffs since the first game and today was no different. He was our lead off first run as Zach W drove him in from 2nd base at the top of the 2nd with a double. The 2 kids from the championship team from a couple years ago have really lead the team in hitting and defense. Both have had several key outs and key hits during the tournament. Christian closed out the game with a 1-3 combo with Zach W.
Reece got the game ball for stepping up at plate to drive in runs and got a really big out catching a huge hit to left field in the 6th inning. Lets hope the other kids will settle in and start to play as well as they did in regular season for the rest of the playoffs.
Our next game is this Thursday at 5:00 pm against the Giants. The last time we met this team, we kept them to 1 run. But they have a couple kids that can really hit, but their defense is suspect and we need to capitalize on it. See you there! Go Padres!
Final Score: Padres 16 – Devil Rays 15
PS I should have video highlights up Wednesday evening.
