Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. It's been a wild ride.
First, we had our flights down to FL cancelled when the discount airline had its Virginia-based plane (note the singular) damaged by a service truck. By the time we got that bit of news, air fares for other options were sky high and in fact there weren't enough seats available at any price. So, we rented vans and made the drive, starting Wed. night and finishing on Thursday. Got a light workout in Thursday evening and again Friday morning, and then started the games.
We had one real nail biter in pool play. Matoaca lefty Robert Fultineer threw a masterful complete game shutout for a 1-0 win won on a suicide squeeze bunt put down perfectly by Hanover SS Cayman Richardson.
The best thing that happened for both us and the Braves was that we got one of the precious byes in the playoffs. We allowed only 2 runs in our 3 pool games; had we allowed just one more, we would have had to play one more game on Sunday. We did that last year and it made fatigue a key contributing factor in our losing in the third of our Sunday games last year.
When we got to the Sweet 16 last year, we had several key 2016 players on our roster, so this year we had those guys back for the second time and hungry to win. They did a great job of taking care of themselves and preparing to run the gauntlet of 8 games in 4 days -- especially 2/2/3 over the last 3 days. I really felt like we just had more spring in our steps than our opponents all day Monday.
Our pitching was terrific all weekend. Our defense was spectacular. Our offense caught fire and got contagious up and down the lineup. It was a terrifically fun experience for all of us, and would have been even if we had fallen short. Hoisting that huge trophy cup was a surprise -- I don't think we've ever gotten much more than a bunch of medallions and maybe one or two wooden plaques before.
End note: As I write this, I'm letting someone else take a turn at the wheel of one of our team vans. As we went through a construction zone north of Tampa on I-75, something blew up a tire and I felt lucky to get off the road safely. I had a call in to AAA, but two good Samaritans -- contractors -- pulled over with their equipment van, helped us change the tire and even had an air compressor and gauge to make sure we were good to go. The whole affair put us off the road less than 30 minutes. I offered these gentlemen tips and they wouldn't hear of it.
At this point I feel like our guardian angel has been with us today. Hope he hangs around for a while yet!