Thunderbird Little League 2019 - AAA Diamondbacks

I started this post last June. It is now October, and I realized I never finished the post. And now my memories are blurry! I keep telling the kids that I have an old brain and it is hard to remember details like I used to.

I've also asked Tommy to write a blog post here and there... he is the expert when it comes to baseball, so he would have sooooo much more to say about Matty and his Little League team than I do. But, now that it is October, here is what I remember about the exciting end of the season:

1. Matty and his team, the Diamondbacks, had a great season. They played half of their games against two other Thunderbird Little League AAA teams and half against Bellevue Little League teams. I do not know the season record, the Diamondbacks were a pretty good little team. And it has everything to do with their coach! 
2. At the end of the season, there was a tournament between the three Thunderbird teams. The team standings after the tournament determined the seeding of the teams in the Bellevue City Tournament, which was a tournament between four different Little League clubs.
3. Matty's team won the Thunderbird AAA tournament. The final game was a heated one. Matty's team played the Reds, and the coach of the team is intense (more about him later). Matty's team was down by six runs at one point but came back to win 12-9. I do not remember the score, but Matty is sitting next to me right now and telling me the stats. Haha! It was a great moment for the kids. They each got a trophy and felt really good heading into the City Tournament.
4. The Diamondbacks had a three seed heading into the City Tournament (all of the one seeds from each Little League were arbitrarily assigned 1, 2, 3, 4 seeds). The easiest way to the tournament championship was to win and ride the winner's bracket. The tourney was double elimination, so if the team lost a game, then they fell into the loser's bracket and would have to fight their way back to the winner's bracket.
5. The Diamondbacks won the first game. No problem. Then, they lost the second game. Down to the Loser's bracket they go. Tommy was out of town for that game and I do question what the outcome would have been if he were in town. 
6. The team played another SIX games (four of those games were within a five-day period). And they kept winning! They even beat the team they initially lost to (when Tommy was out of town) in a very contentious ending. I would get so nervous when the games were close, and then had to remind myself that these were 8-year olds playing Little League! 
7. By the end of the tourney, there were three teams left standing: Matty's team and the two other teams from Thunderbird Little League. The other 13 teams were done. Matty's team had to beat the Yankees team in order to advance to the championship game and face the Reds (go back to bullet #3). During this game, the coach of the Reds was there, scouting out the competition. Again, these boys are 8! The details are lost on me, but Matty's team barely won this game. And my son was pitching in the last inning - I had to stand up and walk away - even though he did awesome!
8. The Diamondbacks advanced the Bellevue City Tournament championship game: their 4th game in five days. And they lost. The Reds beat the Diamondbacks and tasted sweet victory after losing to the Diamondbacks in the Thunderbird Tournament. 
9. In the end, there were lots of tears, lots of laughs, group pictures with both teams (Matty's buddy Lucas played on the Reds this season), and celebratory frozen yogurt. It was a fun Little League Season.
10. But wait, it is not over! Now we turn our attention to Liberty Select Baseball. The summer is full of baseball tournaments so the fun is just starting.

Bellevue Thunderbird AAA Champions

Matty and Coach Tommy

Bellevue City Tournament - Winners and Runners Up