Alice spent a long day Saturday playing three softball games. The weather cooperated in the morning with only a very humid close to 90 degree high but as soon as the clouds dispersed the heat was on. It was a tough day for the girls.
They played a team from Warren County NC their first game and lost 15 to 5. The team was “interesting", very high strung coaches constantly yelling at their players (not coaching). Kept “forgetting” their lineup and were definitely somehow squeezed into the younger age bracket. There second game, they won by just as high a margin as they lost the first. Which meant another game. We were assuming they would play a different team but no, they had to face the first team they played again. The girls were scared, hot and tired. The other team had just come off a 2 hour break while Alice’s team was just coming off their second game.
Alice’s team gave them a run for their money. The other team, I should say their coaches, continued cheating. Changing their line up and getting caught by the judges/umpires three different times. Delaying the game on many occasions and yelling and upsetting the girls. Their coach actually even yelled out for all to hear “Get out their and beat them to death.” At one point Alice was up at bat and the male coach was screaming about something while another coach tried to calm him down, on the field in front of their dugout. Poor little Alice was so scared of him she was too busy watching him and not paying attention to the ball. We all thought the coach would be reprimanded or something, no luck. Later on the director had to watch the last half of the game because they were getting so ugly. The girls kept the score tied for some time and then moved ahead 2 runs. The umpire could have called the game then because of the time limit, I guess they are supposed to after an hour, I think it is, but they did not.
The other team got up to bat and they were up to their tricks again. Changing their line ups, delaying, delaying. I think they were doing this because they knew our players were worn out. The entire park seemed to be watching this game, my husband and I turned around at one point and everyone, including other teams were watching the game. The crowd had moved closer to the fence and it seemed everyone was on their feet. It was very tense. The other team scored 4 runs and started arguing about some calls and the director and umpire called the game. It was awful. The girls were fighting back their tears, some loosing their fights very quickly. They did the handshake with the other team and then they broke. It was the saddest event poor little Alice had ever gone through. To loose because of poor sportsmanship and cheating. Not a lesson I wanted Alice to learn, at least not on her first go around.
I am so impressed with the girls though. They played an unbelievably awesome game. They put up a great fight and they played fair and played for each other. I tell you I wish I had a video of the game, it was so impressive to watch those girls play.
I know a lot of parents think games should be protested so their kids can win. I am not concerned about the win, the treatment of our team and their own players should have been enough to get them tossed and it was sad to see a playoff with so many rules leave out that most important one. They too, should be ashamed they allowed that to happen.
After the game, Alice kept asking about a little girl she saw on the other team crying. She woke up at 12:30 last night and asked about her again. She wondered if the little girl was okay and wanted to know that she wasn’t scared and still crying. Alice never seemed upset about loosing the game, just the player who was crying. That is my Ali-Bear, I love that kid!
~ Jennifer ~
