A 15-run lead with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and two strikes on the potential final batter isn't ordinarily a situation that calls for a pitcher-catcher conference on the mound.
For Friends' Zach Loewenberg and Josh Brooks, that brief meeting resulted in a decision that cost their team a run, but also had a positive effect on both squads and won't soon be forgotten by those in attendance.
While it may show up in the line score looking like a fairly meaningless run allowed in a 16-2 Friends' win on April 1, when Mount Carmel's Robbie Long, a 16-year-old sophomore who has autism, scored that run, it touched off a celebration the likes of which is normally reserved for title games.
"Being able to win a championship [in 2011] with my son on the team is the greatest moment in my coaching career. This was a close second," Mount Carmel coach Mike Naunton said. "I expected our kids to get into it, because they know and love Robbie. I didn't expect their team to, but it did. The kids did it all and that is what made it so special."
After the Quakers scored 10 runs in the top of the seventh to put the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference game out of reach, Naunton walked over to Friends coach Brett Linnenkohl to see about getting Long a chance to bat. Linnenkohl was all for it.
"This was an opportunity to create a special memory for Robbie and I think it made all of us involved feel pretty good, ourselves," Linnenkohl said.
Naunton asked if Linnenkohl could put somebody in who would throw to Robbie the way "an older brother throws to his younger brother." After two outs were recorded, Loewenberg, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior first baseman set to play baseball at Washington & Lee in Lexington, Va., next year, came on in relief.
"I wasn't pitching, and I do not pitch much, but we all decided that we wanted to do it," Loewenberg said. "Why wouldn't I want to have the opportunity to be involved?"
Making his first plate appearance of the season, Long swung at and missed Loewenberg's first two offerings and the game could have ended on the next pitch.
That's when Brooks trotted out from behind home plate to meet with Loewenberg. They had a plan.
Long swung at and missed the next pitch for strike three, but the ball got past Brooks allowing Long to reach first base, where he immediately high-fived the Friends first baseman.
Both sides of a crowd that had been relatively quiet due to the lopsided score suddenly became energetic, even boisterous.
"Mount Carmel has always been there for us, but it was what Friends did, and their fans, that really sticks out," said Robbie's father, Rob Long, recently hired as Mount Carmel's girls basketball coach. "Friends knew what was going on. They had us against the ropes, and the players orchestrated this situation themselves."
Robbie Long standing on first base felt like a victory to all those watching. It was only the second time in his high school career he had reached base, having been hit by a pitch once last season.
What happened next took the moment to another level.
With the Cougars' Caron Chase at the plate, Loewenberg delivered another pitch that got past Brooks, allowing Long to take second base. Loewenberg eventually walked Chase but not without the ball again getting past Brooks.
"He is a really good young catcher for them, so it was obvious what was being done," Naunton said. "I just sat there and smiled as it unfolded."
As Long headed for third, Brooks fired the ball past the third baseman and into left field. Long headed for home.
Next came a jubilant slide across home plate, an emphatic safe sign from the umpire, and an eruption of cheers worthy of the seventh game of the World Series.
"You go from being down 15 runs and frustrated, with a very quiet bench, to seeing what this game — and life — really is all about," Naunton said.
It was an important win for the Quakers, currently fourth in the MIAA B conference standings. But it paled compared to the impact of seeing Long score.
"You just don't get to experience a significant moment like this first-hand too often," Loewenberg said. "When you look at it, at least from my own perspective, it changes the way I look at the game.
"Seeing the smile on Robbie's face wipes away any thoughts of wins and losses."
Robbie's father was smiling, too.
Rob Long has been around sports his whole life. In addition to his new post at Mount Carmel, he previously coached at the College of Notre Dame and CCBC-Dundalk, and can be heard on the radio as co-host of "The Vinny and Rob Show" on The Fan (105.7 FM). He knows an authentic sports learning experience when he sees one.
"I am a sucker for educators, and the Friends team did a great job representing their generation," Rob Long said. "Because he is incorporated with the other kids and goes about a normal high school day, Robbie is learning how to be a productive part of society. At the same time, other kids feed off that, and they learn how to treat all kids equally, which I think elevates everyone involved."
Now in his 23rd season guiding the Cougars, Naunton is nearing 250 career wins. But few have been as memorable as that April 1 loss.
"It was great for everyone there to get as excited as they did — it almost looked like a wave out there with how everyone's reactions reached a fervor," Naunton said. "I always feel like teenagers get a bad rap nowadays. But this moment just shows what kind of genuine kindness they are always capable of."