I was at the 3A North Regional Championship to watch the Marked Tree Indians and saw one of the most common sights in baseball, or any sport for that matter. What I'm talking about is the way a team or individual can go from being on top of the world to the bottom of the pit in a matter of minutes.

Such was the case with the Indians.

They came out strong, scoring four runs in the top of the first. Great. Then Tuckerman came back an put up a run in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-1. No problem. Marked Tree had more runs where those first four came from. And they did.

In fact when long, tall Richie Tate ripped a three run homer over the left field fence in the fourth to put the Tribe up 8-2, it looked like there would be no stopping them.

The Marked Tree dugout and small contingent of fans were going berserk as Tate rounded the bases and was mobbed by his teammates as he stepped on home plate. At that moment, at least for Marked Tree, every thing was right with the world.

The world is a funny place, though. Most joys are short lived. Vacations have to come to an end. Beautiful babies soon turn into terrible twos and later into terrifying teens. Even the most beautiful peach will eventually become putrid with rot. And so it is in sports.

Two innings after Tate's shot heard round the park, the Turkerman faithful were celebrating even more as they came back with two home run shots of their own to take a convincing 18-8 win.

The Indians were devastated, naturally. The game had been in the bag, but the bag developed a hole and the win spilled out gone forever. But as I said, such is the way of the world.

The Indians can hold their head high as they DID make it to the championship and ARE going to the state tournament. Of the six baseball and softball teams I cover, they are the only ones who are still alive. Not because the other teams weren't as good, because at least two had better records. No, they are still alive because they WERE good enough to get where they are and took advantage of the few breaks which came their way.

Even the best teams can lose if they don't take advantage of the breaks. Just ask the New England Patriots.

So congrats Indians. You're still in the game.