One of the things that makes this Warriors team so much fun to coach is its team chemistry--from all the players to the coaches and the parents. Once again, this group of players rose to the occasion--and prevailed over a bigger and stronger team.
We've seen this time and time again. The beauty of baseball is that often times smart play is rewarded over strength. This can be very frustrating for our opponents--as we've seen twice in the past week or so. I never tire of watching this play out!
After last night's game, the Oak Lawn Westside coaches stepped in to stop some of their players as they were yelling about how they should never have lost to a team like our's--as they were towering over our players during the post game handshakes. Just a week earlier, the Cicero Knights were stunned by our Warriors--not understanding how a much smaller team handed them its first loss in over two years of Metro play--and by a very large margin.
Most importantly, we should all be proud of our team's sportsmanship. As opponents become frustrated during and after some games, our team has never allowed the actions of our opponents to affect how we behave on or off the field. All of our players have maintained a very high level of sportsmanship.
In an earlier post, I expressed disappointment at the number of absences for one of our Oak Lawn tournament games. Believe it or not, we have many readers of this team blog--and I started getting some "Comments" (blog replies) from other coaches who monitor this site. Some took delight in the "issues" that our team experienced that day--indicating that we are now experiencing the same insurmountable problems that come with the territory when dealing with players of this age group. They sense a crack in our armor.
People from outside this team have no idea how strong the group is. We experienced one day in which a "perfect storm" of scheduling conflicts caused our team's active roster to drop to nine players. I was made aware of most of these scheduling conflicts weeks or months before the game! Even for that one game, we would have been 11 strong if the rain hadn't delayed the game by over two hours.
Our team has had over 70 practices, 20 scrimmages and 55 games over the past two seasons. For nearly every one of these events, every single player has participated. Even on the most miserable winter nights, every player made it to Junior Diggins to work on his game. I am very appreciative of the commitment level of our players and families.
I must admit I was disappointed with the decisions of a few last Saturday. But, I've expressed my feelings in private conversations--and it's time to move on. If our team's issues are placed in proper persective, there's never been a team, and probably never will be a team again, that's as strong as this one. Let's create a few more lasting memories before we conclude the "Season of 2010".
2011 Chicagoland Tournament Champions & 2011 Lombard Tournament Champions!
