and championship saturday

just getting to play on championships saturday in the nagaaa world series is special... alas, the day went as expected and expectations were low... starting with my screw-up, i was way too bloated from pigging out at ruth cris the night before (eating too much meat, pasta, and carbs way too late and getting just five hours sleep)... i misjudged how dehydrated i was and had trouble with the worst field (again) as the ball was slippery and ad to that, the luck of the draw with the ump gave us one of the worst umpires in the tournament so my not perfect pitching was compounded by poor ball-strike calls... we all hit terribly, though i walked twice and went 1 for 2 (fielder's choice as our lead off was hobbled because he had not eaten in 2 days and didn't tell anyone and is 54 years old, a former drug addict, and a constant smoker)... and then, our best player (by far) had to leave friday so we had to play with nine players which mean poor outfield coverage (where most of their runs scored) and an automatic out for the tenth batter spot (and since we had an almost automatic out in the ninth batter spot because she was an older woman who was burnt out), our chances were slim to begin with... so we lost 4-11 to the team who eventually finished third...

the frustration was i should have been better prepared but i kind of zoned trying not to think about the fact that we were down our best player and had practically no chance of winning... i should have pitched better and we should have had a full team for championship saturday, but we had what we had and finishing seventh is pretty amazing considering the hodge podge of just ten players who never practiced together with an average age over 40 and multiple injuries going into the tournament... excuses excuses, but all real obstacles we did not need to put in front of us if the coach was better organized...

yay anyway :)