Georgetown, Delaware Little League

Our boys had their last Little League games last night.  They had a great season, and have both learned a lot.  They are well liked by their coaches, who expressed a desire to coach them next year.

Asher pitched some in this last game.  His pitching has steadily improved over the season.  Asher takes everything to heart, and is very conscious of his performance.  It is one of his strong points.

Asher

Elias does not seem to take his performance as much to heart.  And since he doesn't have quite the natural ability as his younger brother, it is one of his strong points.  He just does his best.  We discovered that Elias's prescription had changed dramatically since his last eye exam.  His new glasses came in this week, in time for his last game.  His performance improved noticeably.  The coaches rotated the players around more than usual, and Elias ended up playing second base for an inning... even made a play at first.  At the end of the game, Coach Penuel complimented him on his efforts, and gave him the game ball.

Elias - next to last player on right.

Coming into Little League two years ago, we heard all kinds of cautions, mostly pertaining to overly competitive coaches and parents.  We have experienced none of that.  Georgetown Little League has been an outstanding organization, staff and parents alike.

We did have one small incident, the details of which are listed below:

• A visiting umpire made a questionable call.
• Elias's Coach Jeff tried to question the call, the umpire refused to discuss it, and as he walked away, Jeff muttered the words "Well that's a horse crap call."
• The umpire immediately ejected Coach Jeff from the game.  It was his first ejection, ever.
• A parent got involved in the situation (normally calm and extremely pleasant), and probably without thinking, let the "F" word slip.  He too was ejected from the field by the umpire.  The parent protested that he had just cut the grass on the field, and couldn't be ejected.  The umpire did not think these extenuating circumstances merited any leniency, and the parent was ejected anyway.  When he hesitated to leave, the umpire threatened to cancel the whole game.
• Another parent rose from the stands and shouted "It's all about the kids.  Let them play ball!"
• Our coach and parent then quietly left the field.  No yelling, no kicking of dirt onto the umpire's shoes, which was very disappointing, as I thought these things were part of the game of baseball.  Apparently not in Little League.
• The term "Horse Crap Call" became a joke for the rest of the season.  
• Elias was called out at first last night by this same umpire.  The ball clearly reached the base before he arrived and the umpire called him out, but the first baseman apparently bobbled and then dropped the ball.  Jeff was coaching first base and politely asked for a revision of the call, which was ignored.  He elected not to use the term "Horse Crap Call", and let the call go in the interest of good sportsmanship and the fact it was closing night.
• Later, Jeff said he thought I should have gone to bat for my son, and should have used the "Horse Crap Call" line myself.  

Thank you Georgetown Little League.  Thank you coaches.  And thank you boys.  From your perspective,  you are just playing a game.  From ours, you are enriching our lives.