The Simcoe Giants 11U Stole Home Twice. Their Coach Says The Real Story Was In The Dugout.

A back-and-forth AA matchup with the Guelph Royals turned into a Simcoe Giants offensive explosion. Two steals of home. A 6-run fourth. And a coach who used his post-game interview to name a kid who wasn't even at the game.

By Hometown Sports Network // Simcoe, Ontario

There's a certain kind of baseball game that starts one way and ends another.

The Guelph Royals 11U AA scored the first run of the ball game. A ground-ball triple from Gavin M in the top of the first inning brought Dylan S home from second. 1-0 Royals. The Guelph parents in the bleachers were on their feet. The Royals dugout was chirping.

For about eight minutes.

Then the Simcoe Giants 11U Tier 1 came up to bat.

By the time the last out was recorded five innings later, the Giants had scored fifteen runs, stolen home twice, walked eight batters in a single inning, and delivered a masterclass in what a hot lineup can do when they get comfortable at the plate.

Final score: Simcoe Giants 15, Guelph Royals 6.

But if you ask Coach Steve, the story of Saturday afternoon isn't the fifteen runs. It's the kid on his bench who wasn't even there.

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The Giants' answer to Guelph's early run came fast.

Bottom of the first. Liam Hessup led off and ripped a double to right field, the kind of leadoff at-bat that changes the temperature in a dugout. Two pitches later, Mak K stepped in and tripled to left field to score Liam.

1-1.

The Giants weren't done.

Carter M walked. Corbin S walked. Then came the play that woke everybody in the bleachers up.

Carter M took off for second base. As the catcher fired down to try to catch him, Mak K broke from third and made a run for home.

He made it.

A straight steal of home in the bottom of the first inning of an AA baseball game.

Reid Goddard followed that up with a two-RBI single to left field, and by the time Guelph got out of the inning, the Giants were up 4-1.

Guelph would answer in the top of the second, scratching three runs across on a Luke H single, a Swayze McMillan single, an infield error, and a passed ball. 4-4.

For a couple of innings, the game felt tight.

Then the Giants started running again.

The bottom of the third was where the Giants started to pull away.

Mak K singled up the middle. Carter M singled to left. Corbin S walked. Reid Goddard reached on an error at second base that scored two runs, Mason D and Corbin.

Wait. Mason D? Yes. And here's why.

With runners on second and third and Mason D at the plate, Corbin S timed his lead off third perfectly and took off for home. The catcher couldn't handle the ball. Corbin scored.

That's two steals of home for the Simcoe Giants in three innings.

At the U11 level, one steal of home is a highlight. Two in three innings is a statement. It tells you exactly what kind of baseball this team is playing. Aggressive. Alert. Reading the field. Making things happen instead of waiting for them.

By the end of the third, it was 9-6 Giants.

The fourth inning is when the wheels came off for Guelph.

The Giants sent eleven batters to the plate. Ben B walked. Theo C singled. Ben T walked to score Ben B. Brock Zelm walked to score Theo. Liam Hessup singled to score Ben T. Mak K walked. Carter M lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Brock.

Six runs. Six batters reaching base without a single strikeout in the whole inning.

Score after four: Giants 13, Royals 6.

The Giants added two more in the bottom of the fifth on a Ben B double and a Theo C single. The Royals couldn't answer.

Final: 15-6.

But here's the thing about a game like this.

The score doesn't tell you why it happened. That answer came after the game.

We caught up with Coach Steve of the Simcoe Giants after the game.

Before he answered our first question, he did something coaches don't always do. He thanked the network.

COACH STEVE, SIMCOE GIANTS 11UT1

"Maybe before I answer that, I just want to thank you guys for coming out. This is an awesome thing you guys are doing. I know the kids are going to love seeing this on social media."

Coach, thank YOU. That means a lot.

Then we asked him what his team did well that won't show up on the scoreboard.

He didn't say the fifteen runs. He didn't say the two steals of home. He didn't say the six-run fourth.

He talked about the bench.

"I thought the thing our team does really well that maybe doesn't show up on the field is they are very positive on the bench. They're always picking each other up. If they make an error, a kid strikes out, everyone's positive. That goes a real long way with a baseball team like this."

That's a coach who's watching the whole team, not just the players on the field.

When we asked him about a kid who doesn't get enough credit, he did something even better.

He named a kid who wasn't even at the game.

COOPER FRY

"They all get credit. They're all great baseball players. If I had to pick one, he wasn't here tonight, but I'd say Cooper Fry on our team. He's a great kid. He's smart. He always pays attention. He always does what we ask. He's just a very very solid baseball player and a really good presence on this baseball field."

Cooper wasn't at Saturday's game. Cooper's coach still shouted him out on the microphone in front of the Hometown Sports Network.

That's what a good coach does. That's what a good teammate does. Cooper, wherever you were on Saturday, you were on your coach's mind.

We're passing the message along.

Then Coach Steve told us about a volunteer who keeps the team together off the field.

ADRIEN TURNER

"Going all the way back to Auxiliary Under, we've had one parent, Adrien Turner. He's our Game Changer guy. He keeps the statistics. He keeps us aware of where we're at with pitch counts. He does a great job."

Every competitive youth baseball parent knows what a Game Changer guy is worth.

He's the one tracking every pitch. Making sure no arm goes over the limit. Logging every at-bat so the coach can see who's hot and who's cold. Recording the stats that follow these kids for their whole careers.

Adrien Turner has been doing it since Auxiliary Under. That's years of quiet, unpaid, essential work.

Adrien, from Hometown Sports Network, you're seen.

We also grabbed two of the players after the game.

Liam Hessup, who led off the game with a double and had a big single in the fourth-inning rally, told us his favourite teammate to play with was Corbin.

LIAM HESSUP

"Corbin. Always energetic. Always cheering on everybody, telling everybody what to count. Just a fun team."

That's the same Corbin who walked and stole home in the third. The kid who never stops cheering, and never stops running.

When we asked Liam who taught him to play, he told us about his dad.

"My dad. He's been teaching me how to keep my eye on the ball all the way in. How to track balls better. We've been playing around in our backyard and just been practicing, practicing."

The backyard. The eye on the ball. The dad who plays catch in the evenings.

That's a whole childhood in three sentences.

Then we caught up with Mak, who scored the first steal of home and delivered the RBI triple that tied the game.

Mak had one of the best specific answers we've gotten from a kid all season.

We asked him what he did well.

MAK

"I hit well, loaded, and strided, and stayed down on my ground balls."

Loaded. Strided. Stayed down on my ground balls.

That's an 11-year-old who's been coached properly. Somewhere in Mak's baseball education, an adult broke down the mechanics of an at-bat so clearly that he can rattle off the four things he did right without having to think about it.

His favourite teammate to play with was Ben Bane.

"Ben Bane. He encourages me to do stuff. He cheers me on every time I have to play. He says 'good job' every time I make a play in the field."

There it is again. The favourite teammate isn't the kid who hits the most home runs. It's the kid who cheers the loudest.

And when we asked Mak who taught him to play baseball, we got the sentence of the day.

"My dad. He taught me how to not throw with my glove."

How to not throw with my glove.

Every parent who's ever taught their kid baseball has said that exact phrase a thousand times. Standing in the backyard. Standing in the driveway. Standing at the ballpark before practice.

Buddy, don't throw with your glove.

Mak's dad said it enough times that it stuck.

That's a hometown baseball education, right there.

Here's what this game was really about.

Yes, the Simcoe Giants 11U Tier 1 dropped 15 runs on a very good Guelph Royals AA squad. Yes, they stole home twice. Yes, they hung six runs on the board in the fourth inning without a single strikeout in the whole frame.

But if you ask Coach Steve, the story wasn't the runs. It was the bench.

If you ask Liam Hessup, it was Corbin cheering everyone on.

If you ask Mak, it was Ben Bane telling him "good job."

If you ask us, it was a coach who took a moment on a microphone to name a kid who wasn't even at the game.

Cooper Fry. Adrien Turner. Ben Bane. Corbin. Mak's dad in the backyard.

That's what a baseball team is. Not just the guys who show up on Saturday.

The Giants are back in action soon. We'll be there. Mic in hand.

Got a kid playing? A coach making a difference? A volunteer holding it all together? Reach out at hometownsportsnetwork.ca. We want to hear about it.

Got a kid playing? A coach making a difference? A volunteer holding it all together? Reach out at hometownsportsnetwork.ca. We want to hear about it.HOMETOWN SPORTS NETWORK

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