The 2021 baseball season was unreal. It was probably the most fun year of baseball I’ve ever had. It had many ups and downs and taught me that no matter how hard it is don’t stop working and never quit. The first game was in Zumbrota, they walked us off in the bottom of the 7th. That was the only game we played for 2 weeks because of a COVID problem. This was hard. We could not go practice together which made it difficult to get better. But we held online zoom calls and talked and did what we could. After the lockdown, we got back to work. We went to Le Sueur and played in a back and forth game looking like we had the sure win. Bottom of the 7th we made a few errors which allowed them to walk us off again. 0-2. Two walk-offs. Next week rolls around and on that Monday we head down to Pine Island to play a doubleheader. In the first out of the two games, we were playing well. It comes down to the end again. Bottom of the 7th. Bang. They smack a ball off the bat, I start running after it knowing we need to catch that. I turn and watch it soar over the fence. Walk off home run. I feel defeated as we drop our 3rd straight close game. 0-3. Three walk-offs. How does that happen? What are the chances? In the second game that night against Pine Island we got destroyed 2-16. Double header down in Byron, searching for a win. We take the first game 4-3 and lose the second 11-1. Our record now sits at 1-4, we are not playing well. The coaches just kept saying “ Keep working hard, keep climbing the mountain.” We continue to struggle to lose 6 straight. 6 game losing streak. 1-10 record. We are not looking like a good team, losing games to bad teams, getting blown out. But even with the bad record, nobody's attitude changes. Everybody just keeps working, getting better. We go down to Triton and smack the ball around for an 8-1 win. This is where we started to turn it around. This would be the start of a 6 game win streak. Grinding out the wins. This would end the regular season. We did what the coaches said we needed to be doing, ‘playing our best ball going into the playoffs.’ We finished the regular season 6-10, but we felt much better than that because we were hot, on a winning streak, and playing good baseball. The hard work paid off. But now it was time for the playoffs. Nothing that happened earlier in the season mattered. 

This is basically a new season. We beat Waseca 8-2. It is now double elimination. Next, we go way down on a long bus ride to play Maple River, we ten-run them 13-3. Picking up right where we left off winning games. We were the 6 seed in the playoffs. Knocking off the 3 seeds. We get back to practice that week getting ready to head down to Blue Earth two days later. Blue Earth was the 2 seed. In a low-scoring pitchers game, we manage to scratch across 3 runs and then play great defense resulting in a 3-0 win. One game away from the section championship. At this point, I am feeling very excited and can’t wait to keep it rolling. 

June 5th, we head down to Gaylord to take on 1st seeded Belle Plaine. This was a hot day. Upper 90’s touching 100 degrees.  We could not get the bats going and lost 3-0. To win the section, we would have to win 1 more game and then beat Belle Plaine twice because it is double elimination. It’s not like we haven’t been in this situation before. On a Monday night, we travel to Gaylord again to play Sibley East.  Having to win this to keep the season going, lose and we are done. We come out fired up beating them 7-1. We got the first one out of the way. Now on Thursday we would get the chance to head back to Gaylord and rematch Belle Plaine. We had two days of practice first to clean up some things and get better. We pitch our best pitcher, they pitch theirs. We score first. Our pitcher hits a solo home run to give us a 1-0 lead. Belle Plaine scratches two across the plate. We do not get any more runs. Game over. Season over. Sadness and disappointment in the air. 

After the game, we are all disappointed and sad but now I look back on it and realize that was a very good season. We had a good run. Not many teams get to play in the section championship, especially after a 1-10 start to the season. There were many points during the season where we all could have just thrown in the towel and given up. But we kept pushing each other and working hard. The COVID shutdown taught me to find a way. Find a way to get better, find a way to work out, and find a way to communicate with your teammates. In the end, I think that the shutdown helped us in a way. It definitely would have been nice to get one more win to win the section. But we gave it all we had and that is all you can do. That season taught me that it’s always possible, keep working hard, stick together, and many more things. It helped me for my future in baseball and also in life.