Just like Cal Ripken Jr. and the 1988 Orioles (story in this book that we love), this wasn't the easiest season for Zach's baseball team. They played 18 games… and lost 18 times. It was especially rough being a catcher in the first year of kid-pitch in UT, where there are a lot of wild pitches, and they allow base-stealing. Some games and some innings and some at-bats were better than others; that is how baseball – and life – goes. But what I am proudest of is the attitude you can see in the pictures from game 17… Zach giving it his all even when it would be easy to quit. And for an amazing majority of the season, that is what he did at every practice, and at every game.
Things he hung onto to make it through "the longest season":
the "If you think you're beaten, you are…" poem
looking for "little victories" along the way (like a whole game of innings ended by getting 3 outs instead of 8 runs scored against them!)
and the following words from Mr. Ripken himself about his 21 consecutive losses:
"Winning is easy on a person, but you learn more from losing. You learn to keep trying, each day a little harder than the day before. You learn how to be a beter teammate, and how much you need one another to play well as a team. You even learn how to win."
Zach was sure that if they would have gotten to play a 22nd game, they would have won. :) But since they didn't, he's looking forward to next season… and is already spending every afternoon doing baseball drills in the unfinished basement.
That sounds like a winner to me.
Site Title 
Leave a comment