Another Disappointing Result

The softball team got back on the field tonight, exactly two weeks after the doubleheader that was our last effort and playing one of the same teams. Of course, since it is us and softball, the weather had to come into play, as it's rained quite a bit this week here. However, it held off today (at least, until the very end of the game when a shower started) and the field was in pretty good shape when we got there this evening.

We were the visiting team and put up a couple of runs after two were out, but the other team quickly matched that. I came up in the top of the second for my first at-bat, but grounded out to the left side of the infield in a routine play.

The other team stretched it out to 6-2 before I came up again. I told Richard, who was leading off in front of me, that he better hit a double because I was going to ground out. Unfortunately, he just hit a single, so my grounder to the third baseman forced him at second, though I was able to beat it out and stay out of the double play.

Next up was Gary, who walked. This was good, because I was still breathing hard and I didn't have to run to second. Next up was Brian, who hit a pretty solid ball to the outfield. I took off for third, but because the other team fielded it well (and Kevin reads this blog and knows that I'd collapse between third and home) I held up at third. Finally Chris came up and drove in both me and Gary, bringing the score to 6-4.

That was as close as it would get, however. They had a big inning and finally ran it out to 13-4 before stirring up some unintentional controversy.

The score stood at 13-4 with one out in the bottom of the fifth and the opponents had runners on first and third. Due to the mercy rule, the next run that scored for them would end the game. So when their batter lined one up the middle, we figured the game was over. Ah, were we wrong.

That's because the runner on first yelled at the runner on third to stay put as he went to second. This was a little confusing to me, not to mention that it seemed a bit on the jerk side of things to kinda rub things in. In fact, Kevin thought so as well, and told the ump we'd walk the guy coming to the plate.

However, what had happened was that the batter on deck was an older coach that had been inserted into the game late and hadn't had an at-bat, so they were trying to guarantee he'd get one. The guy at the plate was supposed to strike out so that the coach could hit.

Once they made that clear, the batter went through the motions and struck out. The coach then lined the ball up the middle, but Jason was able to make a nice play on it and flip it to Kevin covering home for the out.

That meant we got another at-bat. Now, if this was a movie, we'd have scored 10 runs and won the game. Guess what. Not a movie.

I did get the last at-bat, finally being able to flare one over the infield. However, even though it seemed like it was a night where all the flares dropped and all the well-hit balls were caught, my luck continued to be bad as the outfielder was able to make the play. The other team scored quickly in the sixth and that was the ball game.

So that brings me down to .222 (2/9) with three runs and three RBI this season. I don't know when I've been in such a slump. The last time up, I stood a little closer to the plate and was able to get my liner out to the outfield. I'm not likely to do well when I'm hitting ground balls, because I don't hit them hard enough to get through the infield. When I'm going well, I'm dropping them between the infield and the outfield.

The next game is Monday, but I'll miss that one due to Promise Keepers. Looking forward to the game after to see if I can finally get another hit this season!