Posted: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:33 AM - 8,463 Readers
By: Jerrad Lindenmuth
Before practice can begin Tuesday, the Taylor Pony Division all-stars must watch the series of events from Monday night that allowed them to have practice in the first place.
The tape starts with Taylor trailing Northwest Austin 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning. Runners are on second and third with one out.
The situation is tense and dire, but encouragement is still being yelled by parents in the stands. This team is used to playing from behind, having entered the tournament with losses in all of its previous scrimmages against Lake Travis, Pasadena, and several teams composed of players several years older.
“I was hoping that since we had been playing some JV squads, even though it was tough for them, it would help us because of the talent level [we faced], and it did, it made them tougher and they were more relaxed at the tournament,” manager Mark Nunez said.
But the teams they faced in the sectional tournament were all not only the same age, but teams Taylor had faced before. Taylor won its first game 19-3 over San Marcos, getting a strong pitching performance from James Alcoser and plenty of offense from every spot in the lineup.
In game two against Northwest Austin, Riley Schaeffer went the distance in a 5-3 victory to send Taylor to the championship series.
After dropping to the loser’s bracket, Northwest Austin emerged to earn another shot at Taylor and took full advantage in a 11-3 win to force a winner-take-all, championship rubber match 35 minutes later.
“We made mistakes and pretty much gave them the first game,” Eric Alderete said. “We weren’t focused at all.”
In the six innings before the tape began, Taylor led early before Northwest Austin charged back late to take the one-run lead into the final inning.
Let’s go back to the tape.
Brandon Martinez is up and hits a pop fly to left.
It’s deep enough to easily score David Ancira from third to tie the game. The left fielder misses the cut-off man, allowing the runner at second, Alcoser, to reach third.
“You see, it’s those small mistakes,” assistant coach Scott Schaeffer says to his team, offering further proof to the notion that every play counts.
Daniel Moreno walks up to the plate. The first pitch of the at-bat sails high over the catcher’s head and to the backstop. In a fortunate break for Northwest Austin, the ball bounces right back to the catcher, holding the speedy Alcoser at third. The crowd gets a little bit louder.
The next two pitches are strikes. Hoping to avoid extra innings, Nunez, in his last season coaching PONY baseball, tells Alcoser to steal home on the next pitch, one of those decisions coaches make that is either incredibly moronic or brilliant, completely dependent on the end result.
“I had people telling me afterwards I must have had some big ones to make that call,” Nunez said.
Alcoser takes off on the windup and takes pitcher and catcher completely by surprise. Moreno does his part by staying in the batters box as long as possible, though he is not in on the call.
By the time the catcher realizes what is happening, Alcoser is halfway home.
When Alcoser appears on screen, the tape is put in slow motion. You see the ball arriving at the plate, followed in the next frame by Alcoser. The catcher, who is set up far behind the plate, grabs the ball and begins to move up to make the tag, though Alcoser has already begun his head-first slide. Alcoser is to the left of the plate and has to extend his arm out to slap the plate. The catcher lands on top of the plate and Alcoser a fraction of a second later.
In regular motion the play is close; in slow motion there’s no doubt.
The home plate umpire signals safe immediately, as if he was watching in slow motion the whole time. Alcoser walks over to his dugout as if he’s done this a million times, where he’s mobbed by teammates and coaches. Alcoser admits he’s ‘only’ stolen home ‘a few times’.
In the background of the celebration, the Northwest Austin players trudge off the field, knowing they had Taylor on the ropes but didn’t deliver the knockout blow. It’s sad, but the players couldn’t care less.
After the tape is over, it’s time to begin practice. The regional tournament begins today in San Antonio, less than 72 hours after their thrilling comeback, leaving precious little time to recover.
But the adrenaline rush from Monday should get them through practice. It may even get them a regional championship.
