A Miracle

         

 

State All-Star Tournament in Seneca, South Carolina. More details to come. The score was not the miracle.

 

Update (August 2010): Where on earth does all the time go??? When Ryan agreed to play on the all-stars, we did not realize that it would be a full-summer commitment. We mentioned to the coach that Ryan would not play on Sunday. The coach said that he would not keep anyone from playing due to their religious beliefs. Luckily, the district tournament was on Father’s Day weekend so Sunday was not an issue. Ryan’s team won the entire tournament – a big deal because Mauldin has never (?) won the district ozone tournament.

Fast forward three weeks to the state tournament – we received the packet of information which included information about a mandatory worship service on Sunday morning from 10-11, a mandatory banquet on Sunday morning from 11-12, and then a game Sunday afternoon. The way the materials read, any one player not attending all three events (worship, banquet, & game) would eliminate the whole team. We told the coach that Ryan would be there if the team would be eliminated. He talked to the director at the state level & we were given permission to miss everything on Sunday. Yeah!

When I was driving to church that Sunday, I was thinking how nice it was that we didn’t have to be at the ballpark. I was taught that it was not just nice, it was a miracle. The director’s heart was softened so that Ryan could be excused from everything. As it turned out, everything in the afternoon was canceled because of rain. The rain would let up long enough for the fields to be cleaned up & then the rain would start all over again. This meant that Ryan would be able to play in the next (& final) game of the tournament. The final score was 11-19 but Mauldin had come back from a 5-11 deficit. The kids did great, played to the best of their abilities, & would have been clobbered in the next round.

 

Ryan had Rick & Tony as coaches for three regular seasons (fall, spring, fall) and two all-star seasons. Neither has a kid on the team but they love to develop great baseball players. Rick even coached one of the kids on the National Championship USC team. Ryan had Jeff as a coach this spring & learned a lot there too. It is nice to be involved in sports & meet so many great people.