The Price of Gold

Winston-Salem, NC -- The weeklong City of Greensboro Kickball Tournament finally came to a close last night with a happy ending. My team, "The Ball Busters" just completed a Colorado Rockies-esque run to become the city champions of kickball! Here's our journey through this 6 team tournament:

• Ball Busters defeated Synergy 8-2 in the Opening Round on Monday.
• Ball Busters defeated top seeded Red Rockets 5-4 in the Quarterfinals on Tuesday.
• Ball Busters defeated the newly top seeded Crush 7-6 in the Semifinals on Wednesday.
• Ball Busters defeated Crush again 9-8 in 11 innings to become the Kickball Champions on Thursday.

It's a double elimination tournament, so Crush was able to knock out Synergy in the losing bracket prior to Thursday's prime time game.

Last night's game was one of the most exciting games that I've ever played in. Here's a short summary of how the runs were scored.

• A 2-2 chessmatch through 6 1/2 innings.
• Crush scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th to take a 7-2 lead.
• Ball Busters scored 3 in the 8th to close the lead to 7-5.
• Ball Busters pushed 3 more across the plate in the 9th to take the lead, 8-7.
• With two outs, Crush tacked on a run to make it 8-8.
• In the top of the 10th, Ball Busters put one on the board.
• With the bases loaded and 2 outs, Crush matched that run in the bottom of the 10th. The next play resulted in an extremely close force-out at home plate.
• Ball Busters were able to manage one more run in the top of the 11th, 9-8.
• Crush goes quietly in the bottom of the 11th and a pile of Ball Busters is formed on the pitcher's mound. While jumping up to hug and high five a teammate, I landed awkwardly on my leg, slightly pulling my upper quad. No worries, there's no game tomorrow.

In that dramatic bottom of the 10th with the bases loaded and 1 out, a ball was kicked beyond second base. Already nursing two severely scraped knees and right arm, I dove for the ball and trapped it, preventing the runner on second from scoring. The next play resulted in a pop-up making it two outs. Crush was able to bunt a run in before we were able to get out of the jam. Unfortunately, the scrapes have extended down my legs, down my arm to my elbow, and on a spot on top of my shoulder. Don't forget about the 5 games that I missed due to that left leg contusion. We peaked at the right time and we're going home with a bunch of bruises -- and the gold!