Alpharetta Raiders Baseball - Monday
It’s Monday evening – the end of another extremely good day. Debrief went well, and sure there were some high’s and low’s and lessons to be learned – but overall, the team has been blessed, has been stretched – and has also exceeded it’s coaches expectations. The entire team has worked together both on the field and off. There interaction with children in orphanages, and in villages has demonstrated an openness that exceeds their age — or maybe it is because of their age. In any event the adults have done well too.
On the baseball front, Monday started with a drive back towards Santo Domingo to ball fields of the La Javilla baseball club. The field was decent although three fields shared a common outfield. If a ball gets by the outfielder – forget it – it is going to roll for a long time. We were obviously the Visitors and batted first. After six innings the score was four to three – their favor. By the end of the last out the Raiders were victorious with a 10-4 victory. There is lot that the boys learned from the Dominican Team – foremost was constant hustle. As Coach Matt said – they did everything crisply, always sprinting and most always playing like a scout was in the crowd. Our boys hustle too – but not like these guys. Likewise – there were some things that the DR Team could learn from us. We broke the game open with a bases loaded squeeze bunt that totally caught them off guard. Likewise, a third strike run to first beating the throw also extended the inning. Our boys are very coachable. They watch for signs and they anticipate well, taking advantage of opportunities. As Matt said – they executed – and the other team was impressed. I was also impressed with comments from the team tonight looking back on the game and the fun they had playing – it wasn’t particularly the winning – but they just plain really enjoyed the encounter with a DR Team. Tomorrow they will get a double dose and will have the privilege of playing on the new SCORE fields.
This afternoon was awesome as we traveled back to another sugar cane village. It seems many of these larger villages have ball fields. These fields provide hope that kids can find a way out of the sugar cane field, breaking the cycle of harvesting and planting and harvesting – all back breaking toil. Our van entered the village and was trailed by a string of kids as we spread dust from one end to the other. Eventually we turned onto a “more dirt” road that opened into loosely defined soccer and baseball field “complex.” Our SCORE Teammates helped to organize a pick-up ballgame with the youth of the village, while the women of our team played “Duck, Duck Goose,” “Patty Cake” and a variety of local games with kids ranging from 2 to 17 years old. Communications problems were easily overcome by hand signals, smiles, hugs and captured fingers. I think this day our kids saw a great commonality with Dominican children, but were also forced to realize the depth of poverty that these children live in day to day. We are currently working on how to attach the photos even via snap fish as the internet connection does not allow for such a large number of photos to be sent out. We will send these out as soon as possible, so my apologies to all of those waiting in anticipation. Thank you for your continual support and consistent prayer.
Dominican Republic Team
