[StLee]

DSL 2015
Daegu, Korea, Softball (my 7th of the league's 9th year)

I had the time and energy in the past to write entire dynasties about my time playing in a league overseas. Not happening these days.

In my 7th year, age and my unhealthy habits are catching up with me. I had a pulled hamstring that caused me to sit a few games last year before coming back for the playoff tournament and helping my team to within a couple of outs of winning the championship.

This season, I tweaked a groin, but it's only discomfort rather than all-out pain. I'm still a competitor, though, and despite being old (37) and fat, I'm tied for second in the league in triples. Not too bad, I'd say.

For my team, we lost our second-best player to an ACL tear when we played a game on artificial turf. Now we're in our last regular season game where we can finish anywhere from 1st to 7th in the 10-team league based on what we do today. Win and we get a coveted Top 4 seed. Win and get some help and we can get in the highly-coveted 1 or 2 seed bracket.

Our playoff tournament is a two-weekend tournament set up this way:

Week 1 - Top 4 teams have a bye
Gm1- #7 vs #10 - loser out, winner moves to Gm4
Gm2 - #8 vs #9 - loser out, winner moves to Gm4
Gm3 - #5 vs #6 - winner moves to Week 2, loser moves to Gm5
Gm4 - Winner Gm1 vs Winner Gm2 - loser out, winner moves to Gm 5
Gm5 - Loser Gm3 vs Winner Gm4 - winner moves to Week 2

As you can see, being in the bottom four means you have to win three just to move to the Final 6 weekend. We aren't likely to drop to the seventh-seed, but we still need to win our game today for at least a Top 4 seed.

Week 2 - Top 2 have first-round bye
Gm1 - #4 vs Second-lowest remaining seed - loser out, winner moves to Gm3
Gm2 - #3 vs Lowest remaining seed - loser out, winner moves to Gm4
Gm3 - #1 vs Gm1 winner - loser out, winner moves to Gm5
Gm4 - #2 vs Gm2 winner - loser out, winner moves to Gm5
Gm5 - Gm3 vs Gm4 winner - Winner is DSL Champs