The Twins played a non-league game today – against a team from West Seattle. Pretty good game, but we ended up losing 8-6. Sennet had a really good game, but the team made too many unfortunate errors. Eli started us off pitching and did quite well, then after the second inning Gene took over pitching. He too pitched pretty well, but West Seattle kept scoring on too many errors. Sennet took over for Gene in the fourth and prompty got two strikeouts to end the inning. He also pitched the fifth and sixth. The fifth inning was a clinic – three up, three down. The sixth he did walk one batter, but they didn’t score any runs when he was pitcher. Some of the kids couldn’t even swing, they just watched the pitches fly past.

He started the game off at short stop and made quite a few plays – caught a couple balls for quick outs and even fired one back to first for a double play, as the runner didn’t get back in time. He would have had another double play on another catch as the runner on second was way off the base. Sennet tossed it to the second baseman, but he dropped it.

At the plate he was walked his first time up. His second time at bat he hit a nice sharp ball into the outfield that scored a run – and he turned it into a double with a good hustle. He struck out his final time at bat. The Twins probably should have won this game, but the errors just let it get away from them. At one point when one of the outfielders let a ball get past him which should have been easy to get, after the play Sennet yelled over to the kid, “It’s alright, you’ll get it next time!” I know he’s really frustrated with the play of some of the players, and we talked about how to be a good teammate and what he could do to help them along. Great to see that level of maturity and sportsmanship – even through his frustration. The team is now 5-3.

Sennet’s team played the Tigers tonight, coached by Dan and Jason from Radiator, and they have Cayden and Troy (respective sons) on their team. It was fun to see them again, and you could really tell that all three boys wanted to do well against each other.

It was a fairly close game, but we ended up losing 9-6. Sennet played second base, short stop, and pitcher. He struck Cayden out twice and struck out Troy but it was a dropped third strike and Troy beat out the throw to first by Henry.

At the plate Sennet struck out swinging against Jalen (who was in Eli’s dance party), walked and stole second, and then hit a double off of Troy. He also hit a grounder off Troy that was right at the second baseman and was thrown out at first to end the game.

Sennet is getting a little frustrated at the errors the Twins are making. After the game he told me, “I can’t wait to play with All-Stars and Rainiers…”

Sennet played a double-header today.

In the morning he subbed for the Bronco-league Mariners (10-11 year old age bracket). Their coach is the father of one of his teammates on the Twins, Owen. They were short three players so Sennet, Owen, and Henry (Twins’ coach’s son) subbed for them. Sennet was a bit intimidated by the older pitchers. He got walked once, and struck out his other times at bat, but he wasn’t too upset because of how fast they threw. Only Henry got a hit out of the three subs. Sennet played a couple innings at outfield and three innings at third base. He scooped up a sharp ground ball which he whipped to first to get an out. The Mariners ended up losing, but it was a close game and they had fun.

Here he is walking, stealing, and then later playing third – keeping the runner honest.

Then the Twins played at 4pm. They played against the Mustang Mariners (9-10 age bracket – same as Twins). The Mustang Mariners are coached by two of Sennet’s select team coaches – Jordan, who coaches for both Radiator and Rainiers, and Jon who coaches for Rainiers. And they have two players from Radiator and two from Rainiers on their team. They are undefeated, with a 4-0-1 record (one tie).

Per the Twins modus operandi, they fell behind early and had to play catch-up. Sennet played first base for the first three innings and catcher for the last three innings. Owen pitched the first two innings, Luke the middle two innings, and Henry the last two. Sennet had struck out once and flied out once. He also took a foul ball right on the bicep when he was catcher, which almost took him out of the game – he was crying and rolling on the ground holding his arm. He worked himself through the pain and the umpire asked him if he wanted to stay in the game or come out, and he said he wanted to stay in the game. We overheard a couple of his teammates in the dugout say, “Oh my god, he’s going to keep catching?” We were behind the whole game, and by the top of the 6th inning the score was 10- 7, Mariners.

The Mariners were home team, so if we didn’t score enough to tie, the game would be over. We got a couple hits and a walk, along with some strike outs, to have the bases loaded with two outs and Sennet came up to bat. He got some balls, some fouls, and some swinging strikes to get the count to 3-2. Then he smacked a fly ball to right field past the outfielder. All three baserunners scored to even the score of the game, and the catcher began to walk towards the pitcher, leaving home plate undefended, so Sennet – being Sennet – sprinted home, for a grand slam home run. As they say in the majors, “Get out mustard and rye bread, grandma – it’s a grand salami!!” Twins up 11-10. The next batter struck out, so we went to the bottom of the 6th.

The Mariners got a couple hits and a walk and scored the a run to tie the game. We got one out. They had a runner on second, and our coach decided to intentionally walk the next two hitters to load the bases – hoping to get a double play to end the game in a tie. The next batter got a base hit to score the winning run. Game over. Very strange way to lose a game. I hadn’t seen or heard of that strategy at this level. Can make sense in the majors, when it’s not unusual to get a double play. At this level it’s very uncommon to get a double play. And I never want to be that parent, that questions the coach, but we could hear even the players on the other team in their dugout saying, “Why isn’t Sennet pitching?”

The Twins chalked up their second loss, but Sennet had a grand slam, so even though he really wanted the win, he was pretty happy with his game. I was coaching first base when he hit the slam, so we don’t have it on video.

Here he is catching:

Sennet (#10) & Flynn (#8)

The Twins played another game tonight, against the Yankees, and it was a doozy. This team sure starts off slowly.

Henry started as pitcher and Sennet catcher. In the first inning Henry gave up quite a few hits and a number of walks and we were down 0-5 before we got to bat.

Luke was up first, he grounded out. Zeke was walked. Henry flied out. And Sennet grounded out on a nicely hit ball, but they made the play at first.

Second inning Henry pitched for a bit and walked a few and gave up some more hits. They brought Eli in to pitch (this is not the same Eli from Rainiers who we did the Haka party for). He did fairly well but did give up a couple hits and a walk before retiring the side.

We got quite a few walks and runs over the next couple of innings and Eli pitched better. One was a dropped third strike, which means if the catcher drops the ball on a third strike, the batter can try to run to first and if he beats the throw or tag he’s safe. Sennet (catcher) promptly threw him out. Into the 4th inning I think they were still ahead 9-6 or something.

The next time Sennet was up to bat he hit a pop fly that was caught for an out. Then he played first base and Luke pitched. Luke did well and at the end of the 5th inning the score was 11-10 and they were still ahead. Sixth inning was the final inning.

They put Sennet in to pitch and he let a couple counts get to 3-2, but ended up striking out all three batters. The last strike out Henry (playing catcher) dropped the third strike and the ball scooted away. The batter sprinted to first base, but Henry scooped up the ball and fired a missile to the first baseman (Luke) and that was it.

Bottom of the last inning, down by one. Sennet’s Radiator teammate Flynn was pitching for the Yankees. Top of the order, so Luke was up first for us – and hit a triple! Next up was Zeke, and he walked. Henry next and he hit a single, scoring Luke and moving Zeke to third. Score tied. No outs. Sennet up. He ripped a shot into the outfield that everyone thought was probably going to be another home run. The outfielder made a spectacular catch though, surprising everyone. Zeke tagged up and sprinted for home, but Henry had already taken off for second, thinking it wouldn’t be caught, and so had to try to get back to first. He was thrown out at first, but that allowed Zeke to score, putting us up 12-11 and that was the game. So Sennet had a walk-off sacrifice fly that turned into a double play, but still drove in the winning run.

Twins are now 4-1. Only team with a better record are the Mariners who are 4-0-1 (one tie). They also have two kids from Radiator Whiskey (Malakai and Julien) and two kids from Rainiers (Eli and Quinn), and the head coach is Jordan from Radiator and the assistant coach is Jon from Rainiers. And that’s who we play next!

I really hope our coach starts having some practices, because we’re winning, but we always fall behind early and have to play catchup and it pretty stressful. We’re almost winning games in spite of ourselves.