Thread by @joe_rigney

So it seems that a number of you liked Orange Crush: A Wiffle Ball Story. And if that’s you, I’ve got good news: there’s more.

Like I said before, the coaches feel like we lived through a movie. But it wasn't just because of the storyline; it was because of the 12 goofy kids we had in the dugout. They're what makes the whole thing so amazing.
So allow me to present:
#OrangeCrush: Tales from the Dugout

#TalesFromTheDugout
Part 1: Bagpipes
So we have a kid who only started playing baseball in 2019 (so this is only his 3rd season of playing baseball). Great kid. Doesn’t like to wear shoes. Super fun to have on the team.

We put together walk-up music for each kid. Most kids chose hip hop songs, or hard rock. One kid picked Eye of the Tiger. The usual. This kid? He picks a Scottish dirge played on bagpipes as his walk-up music (and earns his nickname in the process).

Early on, we realize Bagpipes has an arm. He throws hard. Problem is that he throws like Nuke Laloosh or Wild Thing Vaughn. You never know where the ball is going to go.

So we give him a few opportunities to pitch during the season. Has some success here and there. He would be lights out for one inning, and then really struggle the next.

In one game mid-season, he gave up the first home run anyone had ever hit off of us, a towering blast over the left centerfield fence (this did not help his confidence as a pitcher; we lost that game 11-1). On the whole, he pitched 5 innings in our first 30 games.

Now we’re in Willie & Wiffle stage. We pitch him in the playoff semi-finals (against our friendly nemesis who had beaten us 5 of 6 times). 3 up, 3 down, & he looks awesome: Strike, Strike, Throws behind batter, Strike, Strike, Strike, throws one over the catchers head. Strike.

Good enough to get outs; wild enough to scare the bejeebers out of the hitters. So we decide to roll the dice on a second inning (Mighty Ducks of Baseball, remember?)
Second inning, 3 up, 3 down, AGAIN. And now we’re thinking, “Huh, what have we here?”

So we get to the state tournament (remember this kid has thrown 5 innings *all season.*) We throw him in the middle of game 1. Gives up a run or two, but we're up 7-0, so it’s fine. He does his job.

So he throw him for an inning in Game 2. He ends up throwing 2 innings, only faces 7 batters to get 6 outs in our 10-0 win. So we throw him in Game 3, and Game 4, and Game 5, AND Game 6.

He literally pitches *in every single game of the state tournament*. A kid who never pitched TILL THIS YEAR. Mighty Ducks of Baseball.

It's the night before bracket play in the state championship. We tell the kids to get a good meal & go to bed early. They've played a bunch of baseball, & the quarterfinals game is at 8am, so they'll need to wake up at 6am to get to the field by 7 to do Willie Mays & Wiffle Ball.

Later that night my wife goes on a walk with a friend around the lake near our house. It's probably 9:30pm. She sees a flash of orange down near the water. It's Bagpipes, no shoes, but still in his game uniform, fishing in the dark. He waves. I'm not even joking.

A great moment from Game 5 against No. 3 seed. Recall that their No. 3 hitter (a 6 ft, 180 lb 11 year old) hit a monster blast in the bottom of the 1st. He's up again in the 3rd. Bagpipes pitching. We’re ahead, but they’re coming back. We don’t want this kid to spark something.

So we tell our catcher to walk the kid. Don't give him anything to hit. So the catcher sets up outside the plate & hardly crouches at all. Bagpipes pitches. Ball 1. Good deal. Do it again. This time Bagpipes doesn’t quite get it outside enough. Kid swings & fouls it off.

No problem. “Catcher, get farther outside and stand up more.” He does. Bagpipes pitches, still puts it over the plate, Big Kid swings and fouls off strike 2.

Head coach says, “We don’t want to pitch to this kid. We need to walk him.” So I holler at the catcher to get way outside & stand up. He starts to move that way, but Bagpipes is already into his windup.

Pitch comes, high and over the plate. Big Kid swings….and misses. Strike 3. Bagpipes literally strikes the kid out *while we're trying to intentionally walk him.*

But the magic isn’t done yet. In the state championship game, we go up 5-0, then the powerhouse team claws back and ties it 5-5. We get 2, they get 2. Now it’s 7-7. And our kids are nervous. They can feel the game slipping a bit.

Top of the 4th, and Bagpipes is up first. First pitch. BOOM - towering blast over the left centerfield fence to give our team the lead and re-spark Orange Crush (my son hit the grand slam in the next inning, and we never looked back).

First home run we’ve ever hit as a team, by the kid who gave up our first home run ever as a team. Because he's Bagpipes and he plays for #OrangeCrush. #TalesFromTheDugout