With last night’s loss to a squad from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, the dreams of West Salisbury’s advancement to the LLWS finals were dashed. With an 0-2 record in pool play and the two teams immediately ahead of West Salisbury playing each other, unless two teams are tossed out for some rule violation tomorrow will be their last game as they take on a 2-0 Texas team.
But the optimist in me looks at the upcoming game this way. How many kids will have their last game of the season on national TV but have no pressure to do anything but have fun? It’s sort of like a college bowl game – sure you want to win for the pride of it, but if you try your best and come up short you have no regrets. Truthfully, it’s not like these kids aren’t going to be treated like kings the next few months regardless of how things go tomorrow. Something tells me that they may be honored guests at an upcoming Shorebirds game, the holiday parade, and so on.
So I’ll make sure I have the tape rolling on the game (hopefully the weather won’t interfere.) It’s been fun to watch the team bring the community together, and for such a little city we really do get our share of national sports attention. Remember a few short months ago Salisbury University won the Division III national lacrosse title again.
And tomorrow boys can be boys and have fun for a day. Let’s hope that they make some good memories for themselves and the parents who work hard to support them.
