The Bruins ended their exciting 2003 season on a down note. First, their coach gets stomach flu the morning of the 2^nd regional game, and is a no show. Then the Bruins have a tough day on the field, losing 11-0 to the first seed, CTK.  The vaunted Bruins defense just didn’t show up.  Seven errors.  Historically Saturday morning games have not been the best for the Bruins.   The slamming Bruins offense of Thursday just couldn’t get their bats on the ball.   

A season is not, however, a single game. When you look back on the Bruins 2003 season you were given some exciting junior high baseball, both offensively and defensively.    Our first sweep of Mt. Pulaski. The great 5-4 win over New Berlin. The game one regional win over CES 11-3.   As for defense, play after play !!   The diving catches. Pitcher and catcher pick offs. Cross diamond throws from deep in the hole at short..   Third basemen climbing fences to make catches.   Out fielders making big catches, some repeatedly.   Big stretches and scoops at 1^st base. Relays to the plate to nab the runner. It was an exciting year. Offensively, we rattled bats. Several doubles and triples. Key hits at the bottom of the order. Aggressive base running. 

It was a fun, safe and exciting season. Thanks to all our fans for your support.  Thanks moms for doing our laundry. Thanks parents for hauling us to our games. Thanks to those of you who kept score and brought treats and water. Thanks to Sharon Schraeder who kept the coach in line with the paperwork and put our stories on the website.   Thanks to AD Jim Ziegler who lined up our games and our umpires.  Thanks to Mrs. Wear for allowing us to play and represent the school.

As coaches, we hope that your young men grew in skills and stature. We enjoyed coaching all of them, even the jokesters. For those who may go on to play high school ball we hope that we instilled in them skills and work ethic that will carry them through. For all of them we hope they learned what it means to be a team player and that hard work, whether it be in school, on the field, or in life, has its rewards.

Ah, Baseball !! Think about the game. It is most likely the only sport where the defense starts with the ball.   To even accomplish something offensively you need to first hit a little ball that someone is trying to hurl past you, then you need to hit the ball to “where they ain’t” and then you need to beat out the throw to the base that is 80' away and then you have to hope that by hits or errors you can leg out the other 240' and score safely.    And then they put you back out on the field with your glove and make you defend your area of ground.   There is no zone defense in baseball. If you are an outfielder, you have to cover your entire pasture. If you are an infielder you need to be in , back, up fences, deep in the hole, in short–everywhere. If you are a pitcher, you have to consistently throw the ball in a small square with an umpire, your coaches and a gizillion fans judging each pitch you throw. If you are a catcher you have to catch the small ball while someone is swinging a bat in your face, your coach is yelling, an umpire is holding onto your shoulder and you are sitting in dirt that flies up in your face all the time. And if that’s not enough, your coach may move you into different positions and ask you to do different things well.    

 In sum, there is nothing better then a good little league game on a beautiful afternoon.   And when you are a coach, with great fellow coaches, and young men eager to hustle, to leave it on the field, and most importantly to smile, you can say that you had a satisfying season.

Good season Bruins and best of luck next year!!