Catching Up On.....Softball

OK, it's been a while since I posted, so I'm going to split it up into small, bite-size portions. Softball seems to be the first place to start, since we've had two games since I wrote last.

The first one was a week ago Friday, right after the day-long BBQ work. (More on that later.) An 8:30 start after a day like that didn't seem to hold much promise, especially since a number of our players weren't able to be there.

However, the team we played was a much closer comparison to us than any other team we have played this year. It was a good game and we actually led going to the bottom of the fifth 10-9 on an inside the park grand slam by Jon. Unfortunately, we were using someone that hadn't pitched at all this year and she seemed to run out of gas in the last inning. The other team actually had runners on, but time ran out before they could score any more against us.

In that game, I started behind the plate and went, IIRC, two for two. The first at-bat, I noticed the pitcher had left the ball up for the last batter, who had driven in a run with a solid stroke. He left it up for me as well and I drove in a run with a strong base hit up the middle.

The second time, I reached on a single, but then was cut down at second on a force play before all the grand slam heroics came along.

So, even though we lost, it was much more of a moral victory than we'd had in quite a while. Last night took care of a lot of those good feelings, though.

We knew we were going to be in for a long game because our opposition had dropped from Division 2 last year to Division 4 this year because they'd "lost some players". Supposedly, they were only legally supposed to be able to drop one slot, but way underestimated their abilities (charitably, I'd say unknowingly, but I have a hard time believing it) and got the waiver from the commissioners.

I say I have a hard time believing it because there was one batter in particular that had no business being on the field with us. He hit two balls over the fence, which thankfully are just singles in Division 4, but still, if you have that kind of talent, you are just slow playing (to use a poker term) to be in a division with a team that can't catch the ball half the time. He wasn't the only one with a strong bat, either.

And, for all that, we actually played them close for a bit. They scored four in the first, aided by some of our miscues, but we came back and got three from them in the bottom of the inning. Both teams were held scoreless in the second, but then the floodgates opened for them.

I got into the game when we made substitutions in the top of the fifth, our last inning. We were not aided by either official all night, but there was one play that almost unanimously would have been considered the blown call of the night.

I don't really remember how the play got set up. One of their batters hit it to the outfield, I believe, and I think he (or another runner) was rounding third when the ball was thrown in. It went over my head, but bounced back to me. I grabbed it and lunged across the plate as the batter tried to score.

Now, from all points of view, we should have gotten the call. First off, the throw had made the umpire duck out of the way as well, so I don't know that he was back in position by time the play was made. Second, we are down by 12-15 runs at the time--you'd think if anyone was going to get the benefit of the doubt, it'd be us, if only to get the game over with.

But lastly, after the batter had already gone to the dugout, I'm still splayed across the plate. Still on the ground, I lift my head, look back at the ump, and said, "He couldn't have touched it. I'm laying across it."

The ump said, "He was there."

Not that I expected him to change the call, of course. And I guess it was slightly possible that the batter had touched the edge of the plate before I got there, but I'm not quite sure how. It wouldn't have changed the game any, but I'd have felt better if we'd gotten the out there.

And after all that, I didn't get a chance to bat, being stranded on deck when the game was over.

We've got another game coming up Friday. Hopefully our competition will be actual D4 level instead of a team looking to pile up the runs.