Today was a very special day! We woke up, got ready for a day out of doors, and headed out to the Ayer Rajah Sports Complex where the Japanese Association was having a big softball tournament. Zen’s team, the Coconuts Juniors was playing, and it turns out that this will be his last tournament as a junior before he graduated from that division and starts as a senior in April.
The first game went well – they played a rookie team, and the Coconuts beat them easily. Zen did some good batting and some good fielding. The second game went well, and the kids were getting excited – they had won two games in a row!! The third game was even better – they were playing a strong team, and at one point were down a few points, but then they equalised, and took a three point lead, earning seven runs in a single inning. The other team never recovered, and the Coconuts won their third game in a row, earning them a spot in the finals against the strongest team, the Gold Stars. Zen had some great action in this game, including hitting a double, which earned the team two points. He also was part of a double play as third baseman, and at another time he caught a line drive with a very quick reflex. He also threw a few laser beams – that’s when the third baseman throws to a ball to the first baseman to get that kid out. Nice!
The final match was also very exciting – they made it to the end of the game with a tied score – 3-3. Then we played a special tiebreaker inning and the other team got one point and Zen’s team didn’t. They were disappointed for having lost, but they knew that they had played very well and had nearly won. They had never made it to the finals, and they had never won so many games in a row. Great!
Zen wrote about the experience here.
Here are some pictures of this day:
At bat!
Fielding (third base)
Ran to first base!
Ran to second base!
Ran to third base!
Coconuts, Gold Tigers, at the end of the match
Coconuts getting their medals.
Me and mama