Softball Times Two

I've really got to get back in the habit of posting........

Anyway, two softball games since we last spoke. In the first, it looked like it was going to be another long night. We were the visiting team and actually put up five runs in the first, which made us feel pretty good. That is, until the other team scored 15 in the bottom of the inning. Ugh. It wasn't that they were a team that didn't belong in Division 4--they were probably better than us, but not by all that much--but nothing seemed to go right.

However, we were able to score a couple in the second, then, with the score 23-7 going into the fourth, piled on another seven by batting around to make it at least respectable. It wasn't one of those games we left saying, "Why was that team here?" but more like, "Hey, good game."

Personally, in that game, I went 2-3. First time up, I got a solid single and scored on Kevin's inside-the-park home run. The next AB, I reached for a pitch and wound up grounding to the middle infield. The batter in front of me was forced, but I was called safe at first to avoid the double play. (Was I safe? I really didn't think so but it was very close.) The last time up was a similar situation, as there were two on with two outs in the fourth. I hit another grounder that I was sure was the game ender, but instead of going to second to force the runner, they tried to go to first and the ball got away. I wound up on second and scored on another hit by Kevin.

Yesterday was the polar opposite of that game, however. We thought we were going to get a forfeit, but the other team wound up playing with 8 players, the minimum you need. While they looked young and good, we thought that hopefully having some holes in the fielding would help us keep pace. No such luck.

We didn't even score until the top of the third. By that time, they were a good 13 or so runs ahead of us. One guy hit one out of the park, which ought to be a tell that the team isn't really D4 material. It really looked like they were going to reach the 20 run lead after three innings mercy rule, but we limited them to 5-6 runs over the next few innings and the game was called after our at-bat in the fifth due to the 12-after-5 rule.

Being that I was working out of town and not sure if I'd make it in time, I started the game on the bench and came in to catch the last couple of innings. I had two foul balls that I wish I could have caught. One was straight back and reflexively I stuck out my bare hand. It bounced off of it, though, and I wasn't able to get the out. Later, a long foul went in front of the other dugout. I was almost under it but not able to get it in the glove. No at-bats in that game, as the last out was made with me on deck.

I really hope one of these years they'll get the team assignments right. It's one thing to lose to a team that is made up of young, inexperienced guys or a team of young and old mixed. It's another to lose to a team that should be at least two divisions ahead of us. There's not much sportsmanship there, really.

Two more games next week and we should start to see teams we've seen before. That's not necessarily a good thing.