15U

We began our day with breakfast at 7AM. At 8:00 it was on to the bus and a 30 minute ride to the ballpark in Santo Domingo for our 9:30 game. The field was in a semi urban setting, and ballplayers from the community were prepping the field as we arrived. After grooming the infield, they chalked the batters box and the foul lines all the way to the outfield fence by hand (No chalk dispenser; they reached in the bag for hand fulls of chalk and laid the lines by hand!)We had originally planned a double-header, but by about the 5th inning it was decided to play one nine-inning game instead. Jordan Zepernick started on the mound for RS and pitched the first 5 innings. Brandon Person finished the final five innings, with the game ending in a tie, due to time. The game featured a strong offensive performance by Tyler Hidalgo. Chris Hoefer laid down a key bunt to move runners into scoring position to help tie the game. Sandy Dodge had a well hit ball to left center field for a double, but we were unable to score him to break the tie. In the bottom of the ninth with one out and a runner on third, Josh fielded a well hit ball at third and made a hard throw to Cameron Walters at home to stop the winning run. Cameron blocked the plate and kept a firm grip on the ball when the baserunner plowed into him "Dominican style". A subtantial collison ensued, but the runner was out and no one was hurt. The next batter was a pinch hitter. Strike one was a 350 foot blast foul down the left field line. Strike two, another blast past third base, but foul. Clearly, this batter was dangerous. Brandon then got him to chase a pitch down and away for a whiff strike three to end the inning.  With the score still tied, the tenth inning came and went, and it was decided to call the game due to time.The players met in the stands afterward, and the RS team presented their hosts with gifts of baseball gear and RS t-shirts. Coach Sites presented his story of salvation through our Score interpreter, Wilkins. Back to the Score hotel for lunch and then a trip to one of the sugar cane villages to play games and distribute gifts. We played volleyball Bump, and hackey sack with the boys and girls, and Raymond played a very competitive game of tag with a young boy with bare feet. Gift distribution started OK, but had to be cut short when started to overrun us a bit. Once again, Wilkins, our score interpreter was invaluable.

Back to the hotel for dinner and devotional time led by Brian Peterson. A wonderful, full day.

The 16U team had an  eventful day. We left the SCORE hotel in the morning for a sugarcane field. The players started a pick-up game of baseball on the local field which was nothing more than a backstop and a pither's mound with rudinemtary bases. The guys were in awe of the players who fielded in an extremely refined manner with perfect fundamentals. After about an hour and a half of playing ball, the players from both sides as well as the spectators gathered at home plate where Coach Jeff Cherry shared about why we are in the DR and his testimony. Our SCORE translator and guide, Denny, then led a prayer for those who wanted to committ their lives to Christ. It was a cool thing to hear a handful of voices repeat after Denny in spanish, inviting Christ to come into their hearts.

Our afternoon was spent in the town of San Cristobal, which is southwest of Santo Domingo. WE played a local team on a very nice field, complete with an elevated mound, dugouts, and grandstands. The Dominican players were quite large, most of them older than the 16U players; our guys were not expecting pitchers that were throwing around 90mph! We had a pitching duel for the first couple innings before Reality managed to get a few runs. From then on we traded some runs in the follwing innings of our complete 9 inning game. We ended up winning 7-6, and we had a blast making our first international appearances. We ended with the same talk as the sugarcane field, and we handed out Reality Sports Baseball shirts to the other team along with some gear.

We will have more on our 18U team in our next update. Thanks for your support! Dios te bendiga!!!