We have all been there, a game where your team is clearly just being out played. In a game situation, as coaches, our job is to keep the individuals on the team engaged and ready - and show the team that you as the coach still have hope. But sometimes the reality of the situation is that you really don't think there is a chance - and you start to re-think all the things that you could have done differently to prepare them for this situation. But you keep that inside. Outwardly, you are still coaching to win. But you know there is little to no chance of winning so the best you are hoping for is the least amount of embarrassment.

In 2015, in Lancaster, California in 100+ heat, I experienced exactly that. Nothing was going right for 4 innings. We came back from a 2-9 situation in the 5th inning to tie the game. Two international tie breaker innings later, we won 11-10. I learned something that day. Just because it seems impossible to you - you cannot underestimate the power of a team's desire to win - regardless of what your own experience are.

A little additional background as well... We lost a district championship to that same team 2 weeks before Lancaster but we still qualified to advance. We new we were going to see them again.

The next time we played that team after Lancaster we beat them 17-0 in 3 innings.