Play Ball!

Ever since high school I've wanted to play in a slow-pitch softball league. I've played a few church games over those years, but haven't played very well overall. One time I actually had a group of friends form a team, but we didn't win the lottery to get a spot in the league we wanted to join.

My office sponsors a co-ed team each year, so I signed up (after deliberating about it for a day).

Last week would have been our first game, but it was rained out. We played the first game this past Thursday night.

It was a lot of fun for me. I got to play first base, which allows me to be involved in defensive play while minimizing my weaknesses. Our team was designated the home team for the game, so we took the field first. The first batter hit a ground ball to the pitcher, and I recorded the first out of the game by catching the soft throw cleanly (That first successful play, no matter how routine, helped steady my nerves). Over the course of the first three innings I caught a few throws, but missed scooping one very low throw.

In our half of the first we sent every batter to the plate. I was hitting tenth (last) after assuring everyone at work that I didn't know how well I'd hit. I fouled off the first pitch. Then one member of my team shouted that I should keep my head down (i.e. "keep your eye on the ball"). This worked and I hit a deep drive to right-center field on the next pitch. The outfielder made a sliding catch at the fence, however, for the third out.

In my second at-bat there were runners on first and second base. I hit another fly ball to right-center field, albeit shallower than my first. Still, the fielder again had to slide to make the play, and both runners advanced.

The came the fourth inning. Our opponent had scored several times to make the score even or nearly even (I had no idea at the time). One of their batters hit a pop up to my side of the field. It was going over my shoulder and headed into foul ground, so I tried to make a play. I should have caught it, but it glanced off my glove. Then the other team's "coach" started arguing (like he'd seen it done on TV) with the umpire that I had knocked the ball foul. The umpire ruled, I feel correctly, that the ball was foul the whole time.

The trouble was that the batter got a hit on the next pitch. His team rallied for an additional three or four runs - helped out because I couldn't scoop a low throw and because another throw was far out of my reach.

Our games have a one-hour time limit. Our team came up to bat trailing by three runs. This would be our last at-bat, though we had only played four innings. After getting one man on, our third baseman (a close co-worker of mine) hit a massive home run over the left field fence - this was the first over-the-fence home run of the game, though I believe there was one inside-the-park homer earlier.

Our team kept fighting, and with the helped of a dropped fly ball we evened the score and had a man on third with one out. I was on-deck.

In the co-ed league, if you walk a man and he is followed by a woman, the woman may also walk. Since the current hitter and I were both male, the other team elected to walk him and pitch to me.

Their reasoning was that if I hit a ground ball they could perhaps make a double play and preserve the tie.

I stepped into the batter's box. I stepped out again as the opposing pitcher discussed the defensive strategy with his infielders. I stepped back in. In our league each hitter starts with one ball ball and one strike. The first pitch looked to be inside, so I took it for a ball. The next pitch was also inside, but I swung anyway and missed badly - strike two. Again, I was reminded to keep my head down. The third pitch came, I focused on making contact, and I hit a line drive to center field for a single, driving in the winning run! I can't explain how exciting this was for me!

I am one to over-analyze things, as you have already guessed by reading this dreadfully over-detailed post. Still, I couldn't get to sleep until about 2 A.M. because I kept thinking about the game. I feel better now, and I have steeled myself for the fact that I won't always do so well in future games. Nevertheless, I feel a lot less pressure and stress. I know I can play without embarrassing myself badly, so I just need to relax and "stay within myself" and I will be fine.