July 20th, 2015              

    Samantha volunteered to play for the Holly 2 junior baseball team tonight, and possibly for the rest of the season. The team was a last minute addition to the league, and they have struggled to start the year with a 1-5 record. Sam was hoping to be a part of a second half turnaround with this team, but tonight's game apparently wasn't the night to provide that spark. Being the away team gave the Holly 2 team first at-bats, and they took advantage to take a 2-0 lead. That quickly evaporated in the bottom of the first, as the Hartland team scored 7 runs. The second inning also went to the Hartland team, this time by a 10-0 score, giving them a 17-2 lead in the game. The final score wound up being 17-4, as the Holly team scored 2 unanswered runs in the third before the game was called (a combination of time limit and the score).

    The only thing I took away from this game that was a positive occurred late in the game. A Holly batter hit a grounder to the shortstop, and the runner on second was called out on his way to third base. The Hartland shortstop admitted to the umpire that he didn't make the tag and that the runner should be out. The ump wasn't going to reverse his call, but after the two umps conferred they awarded the player third base. I thought that this was a class act by a young man that obviously has his priorities straight, though his coach wasn't too thrilled with his player as he gave him an earful at the end of the inning. As a parent I would have been extremely proud of my child for this act of sportsmanship.

HLL Junior Baseball Holly 2 Game 7 - at Hartland 3
	Samantha in the field playing second base.
	Sam at the plate for her only at-bat of the game.
	Sam taking a ball high.
	Sam tossing her bat aside as she heads to first after being walked.
	Sam with a lead off of first base...
	...drawing a throw from the catcher...
	...that got by the first baseman...
	...allowing Sam to steal second and...
	...make it all the way to third base.
	Sam with a lead off of second base...
	...and coming home to score a run on a teammates hit.