Playoff Fever! Mojo with Nowhere to Go(jo)

This was a very busy, full weekend. Baseball started Saturday morning at 9 am, with Jr. Jr.'s game, and continued on with Sr. Jr.'s playoff game at 11.

Little League playoff games go for 6 innings, as opposed to regular season games, which can go for 5, but often end earlier. Playoff games must be complete -- all 6 innings must be played. We started off the game with hot, sunny weather. Sr. Jr. was the starting pitcher. He pitched for four complete innings -- his longest ever, and the maximum allowed at his level. During those 4 innings, he also hit a triple and a single and drove in 5 runs. By the end of his pitching tenure, the team was up 9-2 and feeling strong. In the fifth inning, another of our pitchers, J., came up. J. can pitch well, but is sometimes inconsistent. Unfortunately, this was one of his off days, so the other team scored the maximum 6 runs (aided by some errors in the field, including one by Sr. Jr.). The weak part of our batting order was up, so no runs scored. So there we were at the end of the fifth, with our team holding on to a tenuous 9-8 lead. It was hot and the boys were clearly getting tired.

And then the skies opened. I don't mean that it rained. It POURED. Lightning flashed perilously close by. The winds were strong, with tornado watches out for the whole area. Little League policy requires teams to wait 20 minutes to see if the rain will let up. We all stood, huddled under the little overhang by the snack bar, until some Little League official came to his senses and realized it was too dangerous for us to stay there. We were hoping that they would call the game official and complete, but no, we had to go and play that last inning.

So we all gathered yesterday afternoon for one more inning of baseball. When we left on Saturday, it was the top of the sixth. Our team was up at bat. One runner had been walked and was on first. The top of the order (our strong batters) was up, so that's how we resumed. The first up, B., hit a nice shot to move the man on first to second, but was himself thrown out at first. Now it was Sr. Jr.'s turn at bat. First ball he watched go by for a strike. Then there was a ball. Then a foul tip for another strike. Then he hit the patented Sr. Jr. zinger down the third base line that the third baseman can never get. He gets to second and bats in one run. The next hitter, J., hits it strong, so Sr. Jr. scores. Then A. gets thrown out at first and O. strikes out to end the inning. Now the score is 11-8.

A. comes up to pitch for our mighty Giants and finishes strong, allowing only 1 run. We won! I was very happy that we got to say that we won a playoff game. The coaches gave Sr. Jr. the game ball for his excellent play, which made him very proud. Next up is the second place team, to whom we lost pretty soundly a couple of weeks ago.

After the final inning was the "post-season" team party. Today there was a playgroup mom get together which lasted most of the day.

So....

There was pretty much no knitting this weekend at all. Sorry. I started the toe of the new STR club sock, but realized pretty quickly that the size medium I picked was going to be too large, so I frogged it. I did get the toe restarted last night, but I haven't even started the patterning yet.

The first Mystic Meadows shawl KAL clue was released today, and I'm debating whether I should cast on, or wait until I see someone's version knit up. I have an idea for a design of my own that I'd like to swatch for, but...

There's more baseball tonight. Jr. Jr. has a game. And tomorrow I have to do all the stuff that I didn't do today, like laundry and shopping. I'd really like to get a bike ride in, too.

So, there's mojo. It's just got nowhere to go :(