I had a dream ... and it came true

I had a dream and it came true Friday night.

When I became president of the Douglas Little League last August I wanted to end the season with a "bang"; do something special not only for the kids but also the coaches who so generously volunteer their time to coach these kids.

As the season progressed I knew I had to begin thinking about closing ceremonies and what were we going to do.

As I made my daily travels from the 8th Street Park to the 15th Street Park to Copper King Stadium covering the 19 teams in Douglas Little League, I kept seeing many of the same faces at all three sites. Faces of Moms and Dads who were bouncing around the way I was trying to watch all their kids play.

Because of the juniors schedule I knew their closing ceremonies would be difficult coinciding with the majors and minors but I came up with the Championship Night idea of which we'd have two championship games at one field and hopefully really pack in the fans.

When I first arrived at the 15th Street Park around 5 p.m. Friday there was a decent size crowd. An hour later the place was packed with what I am guessing to be an excess of 500 people, maybe even a 1000 - I know it was a lot. Cars were lined up along the outfield fence, people stood along the first and third base sides of the field. There were people in the park, in the stands, everywhere. There was constantly a line at the league run concession stand that had its best night of the year I might add.

I stood back and took a moment to soak it all in and was pleased by what I was seeing - seeing and feeling the excitement of not one but two championship games and the fans, players and coaches excitement warmed my heart - this is what I had envisioned when I became president last year.

The Daily Dispatch Dodgers defeated the Border Mart Yankees 10-1 in the 9-10 year old championship game but it was the major's championship game between the regular season champion Sierra Vista Glass Athletics and the second place H&R Block Marlins that ended up being one of the best games I had seen in a long, long time.

Just the night before my own Backdrop Photography Giants fell to the A's in the semi-finals 1-0. Rudy Salazar, the manager of my team, did an outstanding job of having his kids ready. They played smart ball but one bad pitch to a hitter I feel may have been underestimated by our pitcher would result in a solo home run for the A's ending our season while putting the A's into the championship game.

Now less than 24 hours later it was deja vu.

Roy Aguirre Jr. the pitcher for the A's and Dominic Tineo, the pitcher for the Marlins, each threw great games Friday night. Aguirre struck out eight in six innings on the hill but Tineo fanned 15 in five and third before having to leave the game after reaching his 85 pitch count limit.

Tineo helped himself hitting a solo home run in the second inning that bounced off the top of the left field fence and into the parking lot giving his team the early lead and eventually the 1-0 win. Had that ball hit the fence and bounced back in who knows what would have happened. It wasn't until after the game my two umpires told me Tineo had his eyes closed when he hit that pitch. I'm sure he's dreamt of doing something like that before just like many other kids.

When I close my eyes I dreamt of what I saw on Friday night.

Two 1-0 ball games in less than 24 hours in front of a capacity crowd on a festive night- man what a treat for a true baseball fan.

The Douglas Little League gave out over 250 medals that night to all the players and coaches and even recognized several individuals who really helped out this past year as volunteers.

I want to publicly congratulate them and thank them for a successful season. Without these kids and coaches Douglas Little League would not exist.

And thank you parents and supporters for showing up Friday night it was a thrill to be part of this major spectacle event.

Dreams do come true - if you believe.