The Astros played a great game tonight in the opening round of the year-end tournament. We played a tough opponent in the Reds who played us well all year round and were, possibly, the second best team in the league. But before the game started, I recognized all of the kids contributions throughout the regular season (click here final regular season video & stats) and awarded Joe our Most Valuable Pitcher award; Dillon our Most Valuable Hitter award; and Madison our Most Valuable Player award.For the game tonight, Joe was our starting pitcher once again, and he gave us three solid innings allowing only 4 Runs (3 earned). We hit the ball well early as well, giving us a 9-4 lead after three innings. Cody came in for relief and, despite some solid pitching, he lost some of the magic from the previous two games in which he allowed no hits and no runs. That combined with some fielding mistakes and next thing we knew we were down 13-9 with bases loaded. Dillon then came in and walked one hitter while striking out the side and avoiding another major Reds inning. But in the top of the 7th and final inning, we just couldn't get our bats going again. So final score was 14-9 (final tournament stats in the image above). A nice game and a nice season by the Astros (special thanks to my assistant coaches Regis, Jim and Dave for all the help this year). I really enjoyed getting to know and coaching these kids - and I can't wait for next season! Enjoy your summer everyone!
