Boy 1 was pitching Wednesday night. The game was tied. There were two outs. The count was 2 and 2. He threw a pitch, it got past the catcher, Boy 1 ran to home to cover as the runner on third attempted to steal home for the win. The catcher tossed the ball to Boy 1, the runner collided with him, and the umpire yelled,
Game over. We lost.
It was a night of some tears, grunting words, and angry stomps.
Almost the same thing happened in the last game. Twice now, Boy 1 has made the game losing error. It’s a hard thing to process for an eight year-old.
Of course, there were many other dropped balls before his. There were kids who struck out while he got on base both times at bat. One inning before, in the exact same scenario, Boy 1 held onto the ball and got the runner out.
But a game losing error stings with a particular pain that is hard to shake off.
The interesting thing about it for me is how all the parents look at me with pity when it happened. I appreciate their empathy. It’s hard to walk your children through failure. But there is something else lingering in the stands.
The other parents are kindly consoling. Brushing the error aside, they say things like, “Poor guy. Poor mom. It’s okay. It’s not his fault.”
I looked at one overly empathetic mom this week and said, “It absolutely is his fault- he dropped the ball. He’ll be okay in a little while. And hopefully he will learn how to hold onto the ball after this.”
Failure is where boys who cry become boys who learn to improve. It’s where kids playing sports become athletes who overcome weakness.
Failure can mature the character of a child for the betterment of his soul. But not if I pat him on the back and tell him it’s not his fault.
Tucking my exhausted son in that night, I hoped that the lessons of overcoming were taking root in his soul.
If he never learns to hold onto that baseball, it isn’t that big of a deal. My prayer is that he learns to hold onto God and trust Him when life stands over him and says, “He dropped the ball!”
If he can learn that, everything really will be okay.
