Truly a Joy

It didn't end that way.

I called a baseball game today, and it was magnificent.

I don't mean my call. My broadcast was full of stuttering and mistakes and other signs that I was hungry (and probably tired).

But I loved watching two pitchers: Gavin Noriega of Salesian High School (from New Rochelle, NY) and JD Sparks of Brunswick School (of Greenwich, CT). They spun five innings of pure magic. Zeroes rang out on the scoreboard and in my scorebook.

Noriega was twirling, as he had a perfect game through four-and-a-third innings, and a no-hitter after five. Sparks was equally good, scattering five hits over seven innings. Sparks became "Houdini" as he climbed out of several jams.

Noriega was gone after five, replaced by a young man named Steven Pisacano (and I misread his name on the hand-written roster as "Pisacaro." Sigh). Pisacano was also quite good, allowing two hits over 1.2 innings.

No score after six-and-a-half.

It was a game that took one hour and 47 minutes, and it ended with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

This is the full broadcast.
 Or if you just want to hear the bottom of the seventh, then listen to this:
Or...just cut to the chase. This is the call of Jake Hyde's "walkoff" single.
Brunswick 1, Salesian 0.

It was fun. Warm. Sunny. As always, it was a challenge to scribble lineups and talk to coaches before the first pitch. But it's a dance that I so love when everything is right.

I take calling these games seriously (yep. NEWSFLASH!), and I have brutal crisis of confidence. But so is the very nature of it.

It was near 70 degrees for the game and I was wearing shorts. It's heading down to 41 and cold for the second broadcast of my day: Brunswick and New Canaan in lacrosse.

Sigh.

** On some level, a few of you who read this blog might care what I have to say about the Huey Lewis news (that's NOT a joke) from yesterday. To be honest, I'm still debating a blog post on it, but suffice to say, I'm quite sad about it. I'll leave it at that.

I digress. So I'll call the lax game and leave that for another time.

Calling the game from right field. Making the best of it.