ahem, softball, really?

well that was a roller coaster that just seemed to crash and burn... the softball tournament, that is... the morning went great mostly because the first pitcher we faced walked in at least a dozen runs and we won 27-4 (and we were casual when we gave up the runs we gave up because we had such a big lead and we slowed scoring by not taking extra bases after 25 runs or we might have had 35 or more runs)... but the second game the team did what it often does in second games, slow down and lose interest and start committing errors and we won 12-11 because i decided to walk three batters in the last inning in order to stretch the inning to five minutes and have the clock run out... if i let them hit away, they probably would have scored the winning run... that set us up as second seed for the tournament (we might have been first seed if we didn't hold back on scoring in the first game as the ties were broken by the run differential, but second seed was cool too)...

we then had a five hour wait for the first tournament game (cuz the way it works is the morning games are to set up seeding for the tournament and as second seed, we got a bye for the first round of tournament games) and some of the team decided it was time to party, but a gallon of vodka and a bottle of fruit punch did not seem to go with competitive softball as we lost the two evening games (the ones that counted) to the fifteenth and nineteenth seeded teams and are out of the tournament on the first day... but we didn't just lose, we lost big... 26-4 in the second game... we gave up thirteen runs in the first inning before we even got to bat and suddenly, all the bats went dead (though i got a hit every time i got up and had a great day at the plate) it seemed like most of the guys gave up and were very happy not to be playing anymore this weekend...

they really are not a competitive bunch, so i am now wondering why the coach is pushing the team into competitive tournaments and the competitive bracket next season... we might not win a game at the level we play... the head coaches were not even there to see the meltdown (and ironically, that is what the tournament is called) as they had their teams playing at a different location... the third coach who is an assistant coach, but he seemed to have other things to do during the 'down time' when some of the team were drinking and smoking in preparation for the actual evening tournament games... i suppose we'd like to think that adults who say they want to play competitive softball do not need supervision, but i had to call him and tell him they posted the brackets and wanted the coaches to confirm their teams were going to be there to play on time and he showed up a bit later...

anyway, i play in four other softball teams and they are all recreational and fun and i was talked into joining this sunday team because it was supposed to be a higher level of more serious competitive softball, but only a few of the team actually know the rules and fundamentals of the game and only a few seem to want to learn or take competing seriously, so i'll just consider it another recreational team and enjoy that instead of setting myself up for disappointment by expecting a more serious level of competition...

and so now it is saturday night and instead of feeling happily exhausted and going to sleep to be ready to play more games tomorrow, i'm bummed cuz i could have made other plans for tonight if i know the team wasn't actually serious and was just gonna bail, so to speak... this does allow me to practice with my other teams tomorrow though, so there's a silver lining... and it works out since i was not actually able to take the planned days off on friday and monday to rest... so suddenly, the pieces fit better as if that's how they were supposed to fit all along... and i am once again amused by the whole paint the target around where the arrow lands philosophy...

and you, how was your saturday? :)