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When winning Democratic manager Rep. Mike Doyle gave the Congressional Baseball Gametrophy to his counterpart, Rep. Joe L. Barton, to put in Rep. Steve Scalises office while he is recovering, it summed up the feeling of the evening.

Its so awesome to show everyone that we actually get along and I want that to be the message that everyone takes away tonight, Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis said after the game.

Texas Rep. Roger Williams, who injured his ankle scrambling for cover after a gunman opened fire on the Republican teams practice on Wednesday said, We needed to play this game. If we hadnt played this game, the bad people would have won. They dont want us to be able to live our lives like were used to, so we had to play the game.

I hope this is a day we can look back and say, we kind of downed the rhetoric a little bit agree to disagree.

The Democrats crushed the Republicans, 11-2, but that wasnt the focus of the post-game chatter. The missing presence of Scalise, who was hit by a bullet in the hip and underwent his third surgery in two days shortly before the game.

Game On: Video Highlights from the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game

We lost the game but we won for Steve Scalise with the showing that turned out and whether it was the fans with the record turnout or the players, Minnesota Rep. Erik Paulsen said. We just really did it for the right reasons.

When news broke that Scalise had come out of surgery and his condition had improved, it quickly reached the Republican dugout.

The best news of the night was that Steve is improving. I saw that in a tweet or something, Rep. Ryan Costello said. Everybody is still trying to deal with what happened as best they can. The fact that hes improving, the fact that no one was killed, is a huge sigh of relief. Hell be back next year, I have all the faith in the world,

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Two others who were woundedwere there, though: Williams staffer Zach Barth, and Capitol Police officer David Bailey, who threw out the games first pitch. Barth and his boss walked out on crutches together following the game.

Baseball is a healing sport and thats what we saw here tonight. It was healing, it was unity and you saw that evidence by the Democrats giving us the trophy, giving it to Scalise. Hes fighting for his life, Barth said. Hes the guy who needs the prayers right now. Were getting together and this is step towards healing.

Barth said he never expected to hear an entire stadium cheer for him.

Maybe when I was really young, hesaid. I never thought this was possible, but it was great to see and extremely encouraging.

Another touching moment was when both teams met at second base to pray for Scalise.

It was the prayer out on second base that was pretty moving. I think it hit everybody when you realized that we had this whole thing going and Steve wasnt there, Pennsylvania Rep. Pat Meehan said. He was there in spirit but you just keep waiting for him to turn the corner and be in the dugout.

The prayerful atmosphere at the beginning of the game turned into a positive and patriotic feeling for the rest of it. While staffers cheered for their bosses, they were louder cheering for Bailey and Barth.

One of the games longest-playing veterans, Republican Rep. Kevin Bradyof Texas, has never seen a crowd like Thursdays record attendance of nearly 25,000 in his 21 years on the GOP team.

It was like a dream I mean, the whole place seemed packed and the roar of the crowd and having David Bailey and honoring the Capitol Police, that made this a very good game, Texas Rep. Kevin Brady said. Next year well get them.

[Patriotic and Unified Atmosphere at Congressional Baseball Game]

The somber, yet proud and unified feeling, overcame the Republicans as they walked through the stadium at the end of the game.

Im not so happy about the loss, but Im pretty happy we played the game. I think it was a great experience for everybody to get out and away from all of the tragic trauma of the last day and a half, Meehan said.

For the Democrats, the win was bittersweet.

Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragn, playing in her first game, said Doyle had decided before the game that if the Democrats won, they would give the trophy to the Republicans to put in Scalises office. Doyle didnt ask for the teams consent until the lateinnings, when the Democrats had a comfortable lead.

Mikes very superstitious, Barragn said.

At a news conference before the game, Democratic pitcher Louisiana Rep. Cedric L. Richmond said his wife reminded him that 90 percent of his conversations with Scalise were about the annual game.

Richmond joked that Scalise wanted the Democrats to win because if the Republicans won without him, that would diminish his value.

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While at pastCongressional Baseball Games, members pop in for a few innings or attend parties in the suites, there was an outpouring of members at this game.

Everyone from Reps. Pete Sessions, Joseph P. Kennedy III, Robin Kelly, Debbie Dingell, Brian Fitzpatrick, Dwight Evans, Louie Gohmert to all members of leadership Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leaders Charles E. Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Scalises counterpart, Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer were there.

Members sat together, hugged one another, chatted throughout the game, andpartisanship seemed to not be present.

This is a statement. A statement was made tonight about a lot of things. About violence, about political extremism and hopefully the public views us as regular people who are trying to do the best we can in a very difficult world, Illinois Rep. John Shimkus said.

Freshman GOP Rep. Roger Marshall had ordered Scalises home state Louisiana State Universityjerseys for members of both teams but they didnt arrive in time. But LSU hats did make it before the game, and by the end, several members at the stadium were wearing them.

Obvious, in honor of Steve Scalise, Ohio Rep. Bill Johnson said about hishat. We talked about him the whole game.

[Congressional Baseball Game To Honor British Terror Victims]

Another last minute change was who threw out the first pitch.

Bailey, who along with fellow Capitol Police officer Crystal Griner, who remains hospitalized, was credited withpreventing a massacre by taking the shooter down in an intense gun battle, threw it out while on crutches to Roberto Clemente Jr., son of baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.

Griner stood next to baseball greatJoe Torre. The crowd cheered Bailey and afterwards members from both teams waited in line to hug him and pray.

Before the shooting, the British ambassador was scheduled to have the honorsto rememberthe victims of the recent terror attacks in England.

Bridget Bowman, Kyle Stewart and Griffin Connolly contributed to this report.

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Democrats Down Republicans, Both Down the Rhetoric - Roll Call