STATE BOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a game that lasted nearly 5 hours and 13 innings, the Friendswood Mustang baseball team made school history last night, advancing to the state baseball tournament for the first time ever! To say that the game was thrilling is an understatement. I heard our defensive coordinator approach Jamie after the game and say, "Crock, if you missed that game, then you missed something in life." There were so many ups and downs that I lost track! We started strong with an 8-1 lead, but Lamar Consolidated slowly chipped away at our lead until they tied the game in the 6th inning at 8-8. A scoreless 7th inning led us into extra innings. Each time an inning would go by without a run scored, it became more and more tense. The heat was unbelievable. In the stands we were exhausted, and we couldn't even begin to imagine how the kids were feeling down on the field where they were in direct sunlight.

Our kids were so incredibly tough. They really dug deep and showed character to remain composed and focused. I'm so proud of everyone. I'm thrilled for Charlie, Scott, and Jamie - and all of the players too of course. I am also feeling incredibly blessed right now. In 1994 I had the privilege of being a player on a state championship volleyball team. Now 14 years later, my husband is going to the state tournament as a coach. Most athletes never even get to win a District title, much less go to a state tournament. For our family to be twice blessed is amazing, and we are not taking that for granted. We know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we are enjoying every moment.

A few words about the earlier games in the series with Lamar Consolidated: We won game one in a close game by a score of 4-3. But we knew this incredibly talented LC team would not go down without a fight. They came back very strong on Friday night and defeated us by a score of 1-8. That set the stage for the long battle yesterday. The coaches have all said that LC's team is the best they've ever played against. I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we have to admit that at any moment this series could have gone either way. I'm so glad that we persevered!!!

Of course, I took about a million pictures this weekend. I've done another new slideshow to show them off, and I will have it up at the top of the page shortly. There is also tons of media on the game, and I'm working on putting that all together in a post as well.

GO MUSTANGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!