I'm speeding into a new sunrise
I forgot to update my softball games from this weekend. I’ve been much busier at work these past two weeks, and I don’t know if I actually have more work or if I am feeling the pressure to get as much done as possible prior to leaving for Amsterdam.
We played 2 games on Sunday, and we won both of them. First game, I started out very slow, as did the whole team. I was playing right center, and one got over my head which went for a triple. After that, which about the third inning, my team was down 10-4. We then mounted our comeback, which included me actually hitting and scoring. We ended up winning 17-16, with me scoring the winning run in the top of the 7th inning (our league plays 7 inning games.)
It was in the next game that I felt comfortable in the field. It started off in the first inning when, with runners at first & third, a screaming line drive was hit to center field. I had paid attention to this batter from the first game and knew he liked the middle of the field, so I cheated over to true center, and was able to catch the ball and then whipped it to first base, as I saw the runner off the base. Sadly, our first baseman was dreaming of his better days in high school baseball I guess, as he was about 6 feet off the base and had to dive to his left to even stop the ball from going past him. Had he been on the bag, it would have been an easy double play. No runs scored, and the next batter popped up to the infield, ending the threat.
I hit 2 homeruns in the second game. One was a real home run, where I hit it over the heads of the outfielders and just kept running, and the second one was of the running as fast as possible variety and having to slide at home to make it in. In my next at bat, I hit a triple and didn’t want to make myself run home. I did score, though, so no problem. I had I think 5 put outs in the field, so I felt good about that. And at one point, with runners at 2nd & 3rd and no out, the other team intentionally walked me to load the bases. I felt like Barry, without the engorged head and shrunken nuts. We run by mercy rule, 21-6, after 5 innings.
There was one low point in the game for me. When it was still early in the second game, we were only winning by a few, and with one on and two outs, the batter hit one over the head of the left center fielder. This fielder is just about the fastest guy on the team, and he ran to the fence, got the ball and whipped it to the shortstop at cutoff who threw a strike to the catcher…who then let it doink off his glove, and the batter scored. I started screaming. I turned around, jogged about 20 feet further away from the field and started screaming “FUCK!” at the top of my lungs. I was furious. That is the one part of my league that frustrates me. We seem to always put the worst fielder at one of the most important positions, catcher. I think it frustrated me more as this was the second time that day it had happened. And as an outfielder, you run all out and try to make a perfect throw to the cutoff, only to see the catcher blow the play. It is frustrating, but I was much happier when we started scoring, and winning solves all problems.
My team is now in first place at 5-1. I am feeling good about this team, because, despite the mental errors, we seem to be able to play well when needed and we can score runs. It was nice in the second game to go ahead and stay ahead, as our previous 3 games we went down by a lot early and had to fight back to get even, winning 2 of them from large deficits (13 runs in the first game last week in the game we ended up winning). But the most important thing, as far as I can tell, is we have about 14 players who really want to play and about 3-4 who know they will play more sparingly. I have been on teams in the past where we are lucky to have 8 or 9 players who want to play all the time, and we’ve had to scratch together some line-ups, although that did lead to my greatest triumph as an outfielder. We had to play a doubleheader 3 seasons ago with only 3 outfielders (most softball leagues play with 4 outfielders), and I played center field, had a ton of put outs and we won both games. I also ended up ripping off the skin from both of my legs and spent about a month in a lot of pain. I learned that in the outfield that you need to play with long pants to protect your skin if you are going to slide & dive for catches. I also learned that winning can take the sting out of a lot of injuries.
We played 2 games on Sunday, and we won both of them. First game, I started out very slow, as did the whole team. I was playing right center, and one got over my head which went for a triple. After that, which about the third inning, my team was down 10-4. We then mounted our comeback, which included me actually hitting and scoring. We ended up winning 17-16, with me scoring the winning run in the top of the 7th inning (our league plays 7 inning games.)
It was in the next game that I felt comfortable in the field. It started off in the first inning when, with runners at first & third, a screaming line drive was hit to center field. I had paid attention to this batter from the first game and knew he liked the middle of the field, so I cheated over to true center, and was able to catch the ball and then whipped it to first base, as I saw the runner off the base. Sadly, our first baseman was dreaming of his better days in high school baseball I guess, as he was about 6 feet off the base and had to dive to his left to even stop the ball from going past him. Had he been on the bag, it would have been an easy double play. No runs scored, and the next batter popped up to the infield, ending the threat.
I hit 2 homeruns in the second game. One was a real home run, where I hit it over the heads of the outfielders and just kept running, and the second one was of the running as fast as possible variety and having to slide at home to make it in. In my next at bat, I hit a triple and didn’t want to make myself run home. I did score, though, so no problem. I had I think 5 put outs in the field, so I felt good about that. And at one point, with runners at 2nd & 3rd and no out, the other team intentionally walked me to load the bases. I felt like Barry, without the engorged head and shrunken nuts. We run by mercy rule, 21-6, after 5 innings.
There was one low point in the game for me. When it was still early in the second game, we were only winning by a few, and with one on and two outs, the batter hit one over the head of the left center fielder. This fielder is just about the fastest guy on the team, and he ran to the fence, got the ball and whipped it to the shortstop at cutoff who threw a strike to the catcher…who then let it doink off his glove, and the batter scored. I started screaming. I turned around, jogged about 20 feet further away from the field and started screaming “FUCK!” at the top of my lungs. I was furious. That is the one part of my league that frustrates me. We seem to always put the worst fielder at one of the most important positions, catcher. I think it frustrated me more as this was the second time that day it had happened. And as an outfielder, you run all out and try to make a perfect throw to the cutoff, only to see the catcher blow the play. It is frustrating, but I was much happier when we started scoring, and winning solves all problems.
My team is now in first place at 5-1. I am feeling good about this team, because, despite the mental errors, we seem to be able to play well when needed and we can score runs. It was nice in the second game to go ahead and stay ahead, as our previous 3 games we went down by a lot early and had to fight back to get even, winning 2 of them from large deficits (13 runs in the first game last week in the game we ended up winning). But the most important thing, as far as I can tell, is we have about 14 players who really want to play and about 3-4 who know they will play more sparingly. I have been on teams in the past where we are lucky to have 8 or 9 players who want to play all the time, and we’ve had to scratch together some line-ups, although that did lead to my greatest triumph as an outfielder. We had to play a doubleheader 3 seasons ago with only 3 outfielders (most softball leagues play with 4 outfielders), and I played center field, had a ton of put outs and we won both games. I also ended up ripping off the skin from both of my legs and spent about a month in a lot of pain. I learned that in the outfield that you need to play with long pants to protect your skin if you are going to slide & dive for catches. I also learned that winning can take the sting out of a lot of injuries.
posted by Mike at 7:19 AM
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