The phrase “It ain’t over, ’til it’s over,” applies to the sport of baseball more than any other sport, in my opinion. With the rarest of exceptions, blow out games rarely turn around and produce stunning victories in sports like football, basketball, and hockey (with the awesome exception of one Patriots victory a few years ago against Atlanta in that big game I can’t say.) If a football team is up a few touchdowns and it looks like it will be a blowout, it typically goes that way. Coaches tell players not to look at the scoreboard, just go out and give me a good effort and we will see what happens in the end.

But with baseball, you have to play until the last out and if you can get a rally going and the hits keep flying and the runs keep crossing the plate, anything can happen – whether it is a youth baseball game, amateur ball, or professional game. You never know what can happen and I have seen it for years and years on TV, in person – something gets stirred up and a team can rally from an impossible spot to eventually take the lead and win a game. Just last week, I watched the Sox vs the Yankees trade off huge come from behind victories when it seemed like the game was just about out of reach. The Sox blew a 4-0 lead late in the game and the Yankees won. The next night, the Yankees blew a huge lead after their starter was throwing a no-hitter and lost the game to the Red Sox who rallied late. And during an Ocean State Waves game, the Waves were down 7-0 in the 2nd inning, only to surge back and win the game in the late innings. These teams played hard until the last out and the results were three incredible comeback wins, which at one point in the game seemed all but unlikely.

I received an email from the Rhode Island Reds Amauris Espinal last night with a similar story of not giving up, playing until the last out, and ultimately achieving the team’s goal of being crowned champion of their tournament. Here is more from Amauris, who is a parent of one of the RI Reds players:

“Our RI Reds 13U won 2021 AAU Summer Blast tournament by coming from behind in all 3 brackets games yesterday, players never gave up on any of the games and fought until the last play. 1st game the Reds were down 5-3, bottom 7th when we scored 3 runs and walked-off against a great team from Braintree (Braves) with score of 6-5. 2nd game also we’re down in top of 7th against KR Express with the score of 5-4 but came back and scored 5 runs, winning the game 9-5. 3rd (and the championship) game against CT Mayhem we came back from a deficit of 8-1 to tie the game in the 6th at 8-8. But CT Mayhem scored 3 more taking the lead again 11-8. In our last at bat, we loaded the bases and tied the game with a line drive triple and then a single to take the lead 12-11 and closing with the victory and championship.”

Thanks Amauris for sharing that story and game recaps of this weekend’s AAU Summer Blast Tournament. And congratulations to the 2021 Summer Blast 13U Champions – the RI Reds – on an incredible run to the championship game. It truly was not over in any game for the RI Reds 13U Baseball Club this weekend, until it was over and they were the Champs!!!

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