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GYB Angels and Red Sox game goes 11 innings, lasts 4.5 hours
By Kerensa Uyeta-Buckley
Herald Sports
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When the time rolled around to around 7:30-8 p.m. Thursday, the Angels and Red Sox farm league players might have ordinarily felt like riding home with their families, knowing that they had wrapped up their Galt Youth Baseball Tournament game.
With the game tied and well into extra innings, however, that didn’t exactly happen.
Instead, the teams made a call to GYB president Jim Tyler, who said that they could move the contest to the lighted field at Harvey Park.
“There’ve been games that have gone one extra inning but as every inning passed and the score remained tied, the kids got more and more excited and wanted to win,” Sonny Lunde, the Angels’ manager said.
In the end, the game lasted four and half hours, starting at 5:30 and ending at 10 p.m.
It ended in the 11th inning with a 13-7 Red Sox victory- a typical GYB game is six innings and lasts less than two hours, according to Lunde.
The first eight innings were played at Meadowview Park, then parents, players, coaches and umpires drove over to Harvey Park.
“Everybody packed their gear, got in their cars; it was like a caravan coming over here,” Red Sox manager Craig Thomas said Saturday afternoon at Harvey Park.
“Once we got over here, everybody runs out on the field, we had to turn the lights on and so forth, that took a while. So once we got that going, the teams were really excited,” Thomas said.
With both teams doing their best to take the lead, the Red Sox finally scored six runs in the 11th inning to end the game.
“They played an additional three to four innings over here (referring to Harvey Park). Every inning, we’re just battling and it’s coming down to the last play,” Thomas said.
When asked what the longest game he had played in before Thursday was, Angels player Steven Richter said, “(It was the) first extra inning game (that I can remember).”
“I felt like it was going to be longer,” Steven said Monday by phone.
Angels player Blake Thomas said that he didn’t feel tired, but was energized throughout the game.
“I was excited. Two hours (was the longest game he had played before Friday’s game),” Blake said with his manager dad next to him.
Since the game was part of the postseason tournament, GYB rules enabled the two teams to extend the game past the sixth inning.
If it had been played during the regular season, the game would have ended in a tie at the end of the sixth inning, Lunde said.
Both managers and parents agreed that no matter the outcome, the game will definitely be one to remember.
“Win or lose it was a great experience for the kids, and a “win-win” experience for all who were fortunate enough to be involved,” Lunde said.
“It was tremendous. Both sides were competitive, everybody was hitting, great sportsmanship. It was a fabulous game.” Thomas said.
“We told the kids, ‘hey this is one of those games you’re going to remember when you’re 50 years old whether you won or lost,’ and it is. That’s one of the most unique experiences I’ve had as a coach,” Thomas added.
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