Dateline: Reston North 1 (formerly North Point 1)
On an unseasonably warm early September day the Ironbirds under the helm of recently hired Coach Grossman took the field. Many observers were surprised Coach Grossman was now at the T-ball level after a long career in AA, AAA, and the Majors but its clear he was driven the opportunity to coach his own son, the young left-handed hitting prospect Isaac. Before the game, this reporter asked Coach Grossman how he liked being in T-ball. He said, “Well, baseball is baseball, and I’m just out here teaching the fundamentals just like I have always done. It has been a little bit of an adjustment, but we’ve got a great young team and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do against those Muckdogs”.
After playing tough defense in the top of the first, the Ironbirds came to the plate. And so it was that Isaac led off with a sharp grounder that he just beat out on a close play at first. Logan followed with another infield hit. Suddenly there were two on and no outs. The Birds continued to drive in runs. This reporter lost track of his scorebook but he remembers an onslaught of offense by the Birds. In no particular order, Alec, Marcus, Zack, Scott, Matthew, Nicole, Olivia, Mitchell, Grayson (celebrating his fifth birthday) all reached base and most of them scored. It was a big inning.
The Birds played some more great defense in inning number two. Olivia made some nice stops on the mound, Matthew fielded a grounder at third and fired the ball across the diamond to almost get the runner at first. The team started to show some real awareness of what to do with the ball. In the bottom of the second, Isaac led off and hit a shot down the line but the Muckdogs first baseman made a great play and got him by a step. Logan followed with an infield hit to third for his second hit on the day. The Birds again had a great inning with Matthew and Scott and Alec all drilling balls to the outfield grass.
