Champions!

Michael's Little League team, the AAA Red Sox, battled all season with ups and downs, winning great games, and losing some games ugly. In the end, they ended up the regular season champions going into the playoffs.

In the semi-finals of the playoffs, his team played well, making good plays and getting good hits, and won their way into the finals.

The finals were played last night. And by night, I mean night (notice the light in the team photo). While we started at 6pm, we didn't end until after 9pm. It was a 3 hour, 10 minute, 10 inning epic battle to the end! The Red Sox got down early, giving up 6 unanswered runs due to numerous errors in the field - so numerous that the only outs recorded were 6 strike outs by Michael. The Red Sox battled back and by the end of the 5th inning, it was tied up at 8! Both teams played tight in the 6th inning to take the game into extra innings. All time limits went out the door when it was clear this was going to be an epic battle to the end.

The 7th inning saw no runs given up by either team, but the Red Sox found themselves in scoring position several times, just not able to convert.

In the top of the 8th inning, the opponent scored and we were afraid that might be it for the Red Sox. But, we answered with a run and came CLOSE to scoring the winning run, stranding 3 runners.

Another scoreless inning for both teams in the 9th inning left the teams tied at 9 and the daylight quickly escaping.

So, in the top of the 10th inning, our opponent scored 2 runs and went ahead 11-9. Coach Caroline kept the tone positive and let the boys know that it was 2 runs to tie, 3 runs to win - knowing full well we had no innings left because we were getting ready to play by moonlight at this point. 1 walk, 1 put out, and 3 hits later, with the last hit made by one of our weaker hitters, the Red Sox took the lead 12-11 well after the 3 hour mark to take the championship.

Quite the battle. Congratulations to Michael and his team!