The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

THINGS I'VE LEARNED THAT I'M NO GOOD AT
(BY EXPERIENCE)


- College.
- Time management.
- Crowdsurfing.
- Talking to strangers in social settings.
- Pitching softball.

Guess which one was added to the list tonight?

In an effort to become more active outside of work, I signed up to play on a team in my company's softball league. Rain forced the delay of our season opener by one week, giving our team a bit of extra practice time. Maybe we needed a bit more.

In a managerial decision that could only be referred to as "curious," it was decided that I would be the backup pitcher for our team if our regular guy couldn't go. I found out this afternoon that he would get the start, but leave to go to another game. During the rest of the day at work, I looked for as many pitching tips as I could find on "teh Interwebs." On the way home, I called a softball-playing friend of mine for advice. But, before I knew it, I ended up taking the ball in the 3rd inning, down 2-1.

I don't remember much else after the first pitch, other than a lot of balls and a lot of deep hits to left. While the other team (the league champs from last year) was pouring it on, I remember one woman who decided to talk a bit of smack to me when I was given a call by the ump. I don't remember exactly what she said, but I wasn't a happy camper when I heard it. So, even though it was my first time on the rubber, I did the only thing I could do.

I threw at her head. (Okay, I didn't actually hit her, but I had to make a point somehow.)

The top of the 3rd ended with the score 8-1 (I think), and our side to bat. Adding insult to injury, the manager decided to replace my bat with the DH's. We went 1-2-3, and headed to the 4th. Again, for whatever reason, the skipper sent me back out to pitch.

I did get a pretty sweet fielding play. On a groundball towards the first base side, I ran down the ball. When I got it in my glove, I fell and rolled a couple of times. I ended upright, saw I was a few feet from the 1st baseman, and tossed the ball to her for the out. Some more charity calls from the ump came before the top of the 4th ended, ∞ - 1. Our team put up two more runs before we were mercy ruled.

I didn't stick around to hang out with the rest of my team, or even to drink the beer that I had brought. Guess I wanted to escape the scene of the crime as quickly as possible.

I'm hoping this is one of those life moments that I can end up laughing at in the future. If nothing else, I'm REALLY hoping our pitcher has no conflicts the rest of the season.

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1 Comments:

  • That catch/roll was AWESOME btw! I was impressed. As for the pitching... er, I wouldn't quit your day job.

    Thanks again for the invite! :)

    By Blogger Thatgirl7278, at 4:29 PM  

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