World Cup - Day 7 - vs Italy

We had to leave a bit earlier today to get to the game as we were playing in Santiago today which was about 1 hour away. We were meant to leave at 10:15am but just like the last few days, we didn't exactly leave on time. Just like every longer bus trip we have a movie playing, and today was no exception even though we wouldn't be able to finish the entire movie before we got to the stadium. We watched the movie Hall Pass, and if anyone has seen it, they would know how funny it is. I think our team enjoys watching comedies since that's all we have really watched on the bus trips.

We arrived at the field and did the usual, run, stretch, throw and then batting practice. By the end of batting practice it started to rain a little, and once we got back in the clubhouse the heavens had opened up and before you knew it the tarp was on the field and we were looking like heading into a rain delay. The scheduled game time was suppose to be 2:00pm but it was highly unlikely we would start anywhere close to that, I'm not too sure but I think we started the game close to 3:00pm.

Once the game got underway our starting pitcher Chris Oxspring and the Italian pitcher traded zeros through the first 3 innings, and then in the 4th Italy's bats woke up and they drove in 4 runs with 2 outs. We had dug ourselves into a hole, it wasn't too deep to get out of, but every time we got runners on base, the Italian defense either made a great play, or a very lucky play to end the inning. We just could never really get more then one runner on base until the last inning, but by then it was too late as Italy had got out to a 7-0 lead. It was quite a tough loss because now we have to win 4 out of the next 5 games to advance to the top 8 and give ourselves a chance at a medal. I believe we have the ability to win our next 5 games, and I'm sure everyone else on the team believes that as well. I know this is very cliche but we just have to take it one game at a time and win every battle, just have quality at bats, execute pitches and play good defense and the rest will hopefully take care of itself.

After the game we just headed back to the hotel, ate dinner then I think everyone just went back to their rooms to relax because I know that's exactly what I did. Tomorrow we play Korea and my room mate Clayton Tanner is starting on the mound for us, hopefully he can get us back on track and give us one in the win column.

The tarp on the field whilst the rain was coming down