Fall Mountain Brawl

I’m writing this blog post from my perspective and my perspective only. These comments may not reflect the thoughts of the entire coaching staff, but I hope that I at least hit the paper (as we say in the target practice world).  

The Cubs attended an “open” tournament in Ruidoso this weekend and faced our toughest competition of the season.  USSSA teams are arranged into categories depending on past successes. The Cubs are currently a AA team.  Several of the teams we played this weekend were AAA teams, which is the next level up. This was my first exposure to the “open” format as well as my first exposure to very well-built AAA teams.  

Welcome to my Friday Night Lights phase of Cubs Baseball!! If you don’t get the reference, feel free to watch the movie. The teams we played were clearly culled from a larger market (El Paso) and quite possibly have their teams on a steady diet of HGH (joking). No, but seriously, it got me thinking, how do we beat a team like this? How do we take the Cubs from one of the top AA teams in the nation (top 10 currently in both points and Power Ranking) and compete at the AAA level? Is the answer simple? No not likely. Is it going to happen overnight? Probably not.  Is this an achievable goal? Now that’s the million-dollar question.

Looking around the huddle after we were eliminated in the semi-final game this weekend one thing was clear. No one liked this feeling. No one was throwing up their hands figuring we had found our limit, that a Texas AAA team was just too much for our club.  No one was OK with losing.  Expectations were high and we came up fairly short on our goals.  

So, while the goal of competing and winning at the AAA level may not be a new concept to the other coaches on the staff, as the junior coach I have new perspective on a likely long-term team goal.  USSSA AAA baseball is some of the best baseball being played in our great country. And I would venture to guess that USSSA AAA Texas baseball is right up near the top of the list nationally.  The Cubs arguably have our foot in the door. We might not knock the door off its hinges overnight but the first time those boys walk across that diamond to shake hands with a Texas AAA team as their heads are hung low because the Cubs just handed them a loss they’ll know that all that hard work, all those extra hours and all those tough weekends were worth it, not for winning one baseball game, but for learning that  all goals are not accomplished overnight but with enough work all goals can be accomplished. Go Cubs!!!

David