RL: Softball Dynasty

[primelord]

Game 4: Tuesday Night League

We were short handed tonight so two of the guys who play on my Sunday team filled in. We were playing the same team from week 2. This team showed us last time they can hit low line drives and hit for power if they want to. We were goiing to have to be very tight on defense in this one.

Things started off fairly well. We got up 5-3 after the first two innings and we were playing very solid defense. The otehr team was doing us some favors too. It looked like they were trying to hit the long ball from the beginning and several of their better hitters popped up early and often. Unfortunately after the first couple of innings we had a real tough time hitting their pitcher. He was throwing balls very deep and the ump was calling some awful deep strikes. We had 3 straight innings where we went 1-2-3 with fly outs to the OF. Not good.

Along the way the otehr team tied the game up, but we were really holding their offense down. We went into the top of the 7th tied at 5. We got the bats going a bit in the 7th and ended up putting up 4 runs. With the way our D was playing things were looking good for our first win of the season.

The otehr team came out in the bottom of the 7th with a clear purpose. Don;t swing until you have been thrown a strike. Unfortunately this tactic worked well and we quickly found ourselves with the bases loaded and no one out. A base hit scored two runs and the score was 9-7. A double by the next batter sent two more runners home and suddenly the game is tied with only one out and they have the winning run in scoring position.

After walking the next batter our 2B (my bat crazy buddy) made a great snare of short line drive and fired over to 3B to get the lead runner. He was kicking himself after the play for not trying to turn two, but that play ended up being a pivotal one. With 1st and 2nd and two outs the otehr teams clean up hitter laced a hard line drive into left center field. Our LC (who also plays for my Sunday team) came up firing as the runner on second headed for hoime. He threw a perfect one hop bullet to the catcher and nailed the runner at home by 3 steps. To extra innings we go.

In the 8th we quickly put up 3 runs on them, but again ran into a case of the pop ups and couldn't tack on anymore despite having multiple people on with no outs. In the bottom half of the innign things started off well. The SS made a great play in the hole and fired ove to first and we nabbed the runner by a step. The second batter took a strike and then pulled the second pitch left of the 3B bag to foul out. We had two outs and we were up by 3. Unfortunately the otehr team found their hitting stroke. They laced together a series of hits and suddenly it was tied up again. With the bases loaded and two outs we got the final batter to pop out to the picther and the game was called a tie. In this league if the tie ends up affecting the standings they play an extra game to break the tie after the fact.

SO we got our first non loss of the season. MY performance at the plate was a bit of a mixed review. In my first at bat a took a hiigh deep strike and on the second pitch tomahawked a very high pitch into left center for a single that drove in a run. In my next at bat I hit a screaming line drive, but it was right at the left center fielder and I was retired. I contributed to the pop up brigade when I flew out to left in my 3rd at bat. I drover in two runs with a double right down the line in my fourth at bat.

My fifth and final at bat is the one I really have an issue with. I came up with two outs int he top of the 8th and we had runners on first and 3rd. I noticed that left field was playing me exceptionally deep and I decided I was going to try to rope a line drive right in front of him. The first pitch I saw was considerably high and inside. I recognized it as a ball and even was going to let it go, but at the last minute I remembered my tomahawk hit in the 1st and decided I was going to try to do that again. Unfortunately I got under the ball. I hit vert hard and it was very deep, but given where the left fielder was playign he easily settled under it and I finished the day 2 for 5.

Tuesday Team Record: 0-3-1
Batting Average: .516 (16/31)

[Poli]

4 for 5 today for me.

Ground out to 2nd. I netted a RBI.

Looper to right for a base hit.

Line drive to center for a hit.

Another line drive to center for a hit.

Final at bat: Leading off the inning, I hit a guesstimated 300 foot shot to right field...guessed 300 due to the 280 sign at the fence. It went a ways over it.

Man, did that feel good. My final at bat here at this base and I crushed the ball.

For the year I was 6 for 7. 1 run, 2 RBIs, 1 HR.


Edit: It netted me an invitation to their tournament team and town league team. Too bad I'm heading to Africa.

[primelord]

Should be an interesting game pair of games today. Our pitcher has a broken wrist, our backup pitycher has been vomiting all night, Coug sent me a message that he is sick, and two of our other very good player are in Europe. So as I am getting ready to head out to the fields we have 8 guys. MIght get ugly.

[primelord]

Games 7 and 8: Sunday Afternoon League

So we went into these games very short handed. We were missing 4 of our best players and our regular pitcher was out with his broken wrist. We ended up having a buddy of mine fill in and our 10th was a guy we picked up at the game just looking for a team that needed players. I showed up early and saw the end of the games in front of us. The first place team split there two game set so if we won both games today we would be tied for first heading into our match up with them next week.

The team we were playing had not won a game all year so despite the fact we were short handed I was confident we could still take both games. In the first game both teams were trading runs early. They scored 3 in the first and we followed up with 4 in the bottom of the first. They got another 3 in the second and we had 3 of our own in the bottom of the inning. They were hitting better than I had expected. They had multiple guys who were real punch and judy type of hitters that really weren't much of a threat, but mixed in were a few guys with some real pop. We went into the 4th tied at 8. In the top of the 4th we had a disasterous defensive inning. One of the real strengths of our SS is that he has a good strong accurate in arm. In this inning he alone threw 3 balls out of play on throws to first. We also had a ball thrown out of play by the pitcher and from the OF. In told we gave up 6 runs in the inning and they were all unearned. We closed the gap to 14-10 going into the top of the 7th. This whole time I was fairly certain we would come back and win, but in the top of the 7th the otehr team loaded the bases and with two outs one of their bottom of the order guys hit a grand slam. That kind of drained the life out of us. We went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 7th and lost 18-10. Very frustrating.

We started off very cold at the plate in the second game. The irnoy is only the LC could field his position well on the otehr team and we were drilling the ball to him all day. I decided to implement an OF rover in the 2nd game. They had been pulling almost everything and beating us with a lot of short line drives. The defensive switch worked very well. We have a very good RF so when the other team tried to take advantage of the huge gap in right they were hitting lame ducks that he had no trouble reeling in. Our bats finally woke up in the bottom of the 5th and we scored 4 runs in each of the last 3 innings to win the game 12-3. A very frustrating day because if we had been full strength we would have absolutely crushed these guys. As it was it could have been worse I guess. The split keeps us one game out of first so we can still take first place with two wins next week.

Unfortunaately I had a fairly miserable day at the plate. In my first at bat I took a flat pitch that was well under the 4 foot requirement, but it hit the mat and the ump called it a strike. That kind of threw me off my focus and I swung at a bad outside pitch that I grounded back to the pitcher that turned into a double play. In my second at bat I was ready for the flat pitch and hit a hard line drive into center that I stretched into a double when the throw went in to third base. I hit the ball very hard in my 3rd at bat, but I got under it a bit. The left fielder caught the ball about 3 steps from the fence. I crushed it, but in the end it was just a long fly out. IN my final at bat of the game I took two very inside picthes to start the at bat. The 3rd pitch was again inside, but looked to be a strike and I turned on it. I hit a hard line drive, but pulled it well foul of the 3B bag. With two strikes I was going to protect the plate. Again the next pitxh came well inside I was concerned about pulling it foul again so I tried make an inside out swign and ended up fouling it straight back for a strike out. Fantastic!

The second game was a bit more the same. I really drove the ball my first time up, but I hit the left center fielder dead in the chest. Not content with just one of those I did the exact same thing in my second at bat. Both times I hit nice hard line drives, but they were right at him. In my 3rd at bat I got on top of a pitch and the ball fairly had, but right on the ground at the SS. He scooped it up and threw me out with no porblems. In my final at bat I finally got anotehr hit as I hit a hard ground ball inbetween 3rd and SS. SO I finished a very uninspiring 2 for 8 for the day. Other than the strikeout and the ground ball back to the pitcher I hit the ball well every time up. I just unfortunately hit them at people today. I guess that is the way it goes sometimes.

Sunday Team Record: 5-3
Batting Average: .462 (18/39)

[WSUCougar]

Sorry to hear of the team's woes, Rick, but at least we salvaged a split. I know I didn't give you enough time to react to my absence - it won't happen that way again, I promise.

Now if I can only get healthy...

[SFL Cat]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Sorry to hear of the team's woes, Rick, but at least we salvaged a split. I know I didn't give you enough time to react to my absence - it won't happen that way again, I promise.

Now if I can only get healthy...

Slacker...put in an IV the night before and get your a$$ to the field on gameday.

[WSUCougar]

I'm not quite dead. Feeling better, actually. Should be good to go by Sunday.

[primelord]

No worries. We are still in good shape. This is a huge week for us. We take two from the 1st place team and we are virtually a lock to finish in first. If we split we are going to need some help.

[primelord]

FYI. The Tuesday team had another bye week this week, which is why there was no Tuesday update.

[Poli]

I got an inning in on the base here...it was just a pickup game and I showed up way late (was at the rifle range all day).

[primelord]

Game 5: Tuesday Night League

We got rained out this past Sunday. So this was the next game up for me. We had not yet played the team we were facing tonight, but had heardthey were tied with us for last so we were optimistic about our chances.

We only had 9 guys to start the 1st inning as the 10th was running late. It didn't matter though, we set them down 1-2-3. After getting a look at the other team's pitcher my eyes lit up a bit. Everything he was throwing was flat and over the middle of the plate. I love me some flat pitches.

We started off strong in the first inning and got out to a quick 4-0 lead. They battled back a bit in the top of the 2nd and made it 4-3. We scored two more in the bottom half to make it 6-3, but they cored 3 in the top of 3rd to tie it.

From there though we took control of the game on both sides of the ball. The defense locked them down and we scored 10 more runs over the next 3 innings and the game was called 16-6 in the bottom of the 5th. A guy throwing flat pitches like that is just going to get killed every time. I am not sure why they don't have someone else pitch.

So the team had a good night offensively, but I was virtually the only one to not contribute. I had another awful night at the plate. In my first at bat I caught the ball on the handle and hit a weak grounder to 3rd. My second at bat I had a perfect flat pitch right over the heart of the plate and I got under it and flyed out to left. I got my only hit of the game on a weak grounder that went up the middle and just managed to get through. I came up in the bottom of the 5th with a man on 2nd and no one out and one more run won the game for us. I figured I could redeem myself by going 2 for 4 and driving in the clinching run. I let the first pitch go and I thought it was awfully deep, but it was called a strike. The second pitch was a ball inside and I ended up swinging at the 3rd pitch that was way inside I couldn't keep it fair as it hooked left of the 3B bag and I fouled out.

I am really in a funk these last few games. I came out of my last funk by consistently hitting at the cages through the week and I haven't been doing that lately. I need to pick that up again. We have two games against the "cupcake" team on Sunday. I am hoping I can regain my form a bit then.

Tuesday Team Record: 1-3-1
Batting Average: .442 (19/43)

[WSUCougar]

Rain outs suck, by the way. I've truly hated them since Little League. What a complete and utter downer, to be "up" for playing ball and then watching the day get washed out. UGH

[primelord]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Rain outs suck, by the way. I've truly hated them since Little League. What a complete and utter downer, to be "up" for playing ball and then watching the day get washed out. UGH

Without question. It really worked out for the best since Stan and Brian were going to be gone for the game. It helps to be fully loaded when going against the first place team, but I was ready to play on Sunday. Hopefully the rains hold off this weekend. The weather was fantastic last night. I would take that on Sunday for sure.

[Poli]

Looks like I may have softball after all. A woman's husband got back from there just a month before she was told she was going to Djibouti. He said they now had softball out there.

Glad I brought my stuff.

[primelord]

Games 9 and 10: Sunday Afternoon League

Well the weather reports on Friday and Saturday strongly suggested we would not get our games in this weekend. The softball gods smiled on us though and the weather held out and was actually quite nice. This was our second matchup with the last place team. They are 1-7 on the season. With their lone win coming against us.

We were fully loaded this week though and I didn't think we would have much trouble with these guys. We started off game 1 pretty slowly. Neither team scored in the first inning, but the other team took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. That was the only time they led in the game however. There really wasn't many remarkable things in this game. We turned 3 double plays in this game none of which were your traditional DP. The best of the 3 was a groundball to me at 2B. I gave an under hand toss to the SS and he threw the ball past our 1st baseman. The ball was on it's way out of play when it hit the other teams first base coach in the ankle. The runner, assuming the ball was out of play, was slowly jogging to 2B. Our 1B picked the ball up and we got the guy in a run down and tagged him for the DP.

We hit pretty well in that second game. Played good defense and Graham pitched very well in his first full game pitching in a long time. They never were a threat to us in this game. It was called in the 5th 12-2.

The second game actually ended up being a far closer game. It was still very obvious that we were the better team, but we had trouble stringing enough hits together to go on a real scoring run. They also hit much better in the second game. Unfortunately I am a little fuzzy on exactly how the scoring went.

A few things of note. One of our OFs made one of the most ridiculous catches I have ever seen in softball. The other teams best hitter hit a towering shot into RF. The wind was blowing in a bit in and from LF to RF. So balls hit to RC were really hooking and wrecking havoc with the right center fielders all day. So Nick initally broke towards LF and saw it was hooking back towards right. He was on a dead run right at the fence and laid full out to catch it right at the top of his glove. It's hard to accurately describe, but it was an unreal catch. There were also two runners on with two outs on that play so that catch saved a few runs.

Overall we played a very solid game. The fcat we just couldn't string together a ton of hits is what really kept us from pulling away in this one. We got an 11-5 lead about halfway through the game and from there it was essentially over. They amde a bit of run late, but when the dust cleared we won 12-9.

I had a pretty solid day at the plate. In my first at bat I took only my 3rd walk of the season. I got some crap from the ump and from the other team because the ball I took for ball 4 missed the carpet by centimeters. The problem was the picth started off way inside and the wind brought it back. At the point I would have made contact with it I almost certainly would have pulled it foul so I really had to take and hope for the best. It worked out. I only got one more at bat in the first game and I laced a hard single into left center. 1 for 1 in game 1.

My first at bat in game 2 was my only really bad at bat. I swung at the first pitch which was inside and short of the plate and I hit a weak fly ball to LF. In my next at bat I hit a hard line drive into LC that netted me a double and 2 RBIs. My 3rd at bat of the game I hit the ball hard, but I hit it right at the left center fielder. In my final at bat I again hit a hard line drive into left center for a single. So 2 for 4 for game 2 and 3 for 5 on the day.

A couple interesting notes about my first at bat. After I got the single our next hitter hit a line drive into RC. I saw the RC bobble the ball so I started for 3B. I get about 1/3 of the way there and I see the 3B coach frantically yelling for me not to run. Now to call me slow is a big understatement. So at that point I am figuring I am dead. However my only chance is to keep going and hope the throw is bad, so I put my head down and ran. As I come into the base I see the 3B leap in there air and he brought the TAG down right on my head. This is exactly how our pitcher broke his wrist. I thought for sure I was destined for the same fate, but I kept my feet and the 3B dropped the ball on the tag so I was safe. The very next pitch there is a ground ball to 3B. Instead of just running on contact I take a few steps towards home and wait to see what happens. The 3B bobbles the ball and for some reason I decide to go. I was thrown out fairly easily. Not my best moments on the base paths.

So we are in great shape to win our division. Going into the last week we will be at worst 1 game out and will be playing the 1st place team. If they lost both of their games we will be 1 game up. We again should have everyone for that game so I am very optimistic about our chances. Huge week for us.

Sunday Team Record: 7-3
Batting Average: .458 (22/48)

[primelord]

Game 6: Tuesday Night League

This was the first time we had faced our opponents, but I over heard a few of them before the game saying they hoped they would score more than 4 runs this game so I was hopeful for our chances. Unlike the last few weeks we actually had 11 players to start the game and we were even short my buddy who got me on the team.

We were the home team and the first inning went well. They got a few men on base, but we were able to get 3 outs without a score. We got on the board first in the bottom of the inning with two quick runs. The defense broke down a bit in the 2nd (I say it was because I was on the bench that inning ) and they scored 4 runs.

The score remained 4-2 until the top of the 4th. We gave up another run and they had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs. I was playign 1B and the batter hit a short flair over my head towards right field. I turned with the intention of making a basket catch over my shoulder. I misjudged my line though and the ball was off to my left. So in a last ditch effort I threw my arm out blindly to the left and I'll be damned if the ball didn't fall into my glove. I got a lot of compliments for that play, but really it was dumb luck. I had lost sight of it and only had a general idea of where it might be and things just worked out. It's better to be lucky than good. That catch saved two runs.

We scored two runs in the bottom of that inning to close the gap to 5-3 and momentum seemed to be in our favor. After that though we stalled out a bit. Our opponents put up 4 runs in the 6th and despite chipping away a bit in the bottom of the 6th, we couldn't mount enough of a come back and dropped the game 9-5. This team is really just a few players away from being very competitive in this league. They have a few very soft spots both in the field and in the lineup, but still are able to keep most games close. A few upgrades or a few players improving next season and I think they will have a shot to win that league.

I had my best hitting day in a long time in this league. My first at bat was not a good one though. I came up with one out and men on 1st and 2nd. I got a belt high pitch right over the center of the plate and took a viscious swing. Unfortunately I hit on top of the ball and actually just barely skinned it and sent an amazingly weak grounder to short. If there is an upside to that hit, I hit it so softly that they couldn't turn two one me and only got the out at second. So I started off 0-1.


After my last few performances in this league I was feeling pretty down about that at bat. However my defensive play in 4th energized me a bit and I decided to stop worrying about it. I am certainly not the best hitter in softball, but I know I can hit so I decided to just go out there and do that. In my second at bat after taking a ball I hit the next pitch absolutely on the screws and sent a screamer into left that drove in a run. In my 3rd at bat I didn't hit the ball quite as well, but I still roped a hard line drive into left, that again drove in a run. Both at bats felt very good to me and did wonders for my confidence. I suspect I will start having better results in this league. SO for the game I finished 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs.

Tuesday Team Record: 1-4-1
Batting Average: .471 (24/51)

[primelord]

Just looking at my average between the two leagues:

Tuesday Night: .409
Sunday Afternoon: .517

So I am really not hitting THAT poorly in the Tuesday night league. Although it took the 2 for 3 tonight to bump me over .400. However I have hit far better on Sundays. I am pretty impressed with the .517 when you consider included in that is an 0/5 game. Since the first weekend I have hit .625 in that league.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by primelord

So balls hit to RC were really hooking and wrecking havoc with the right center fielders all day.

:o *cough*

And that was indeed one helluva catch. It reminded me of a soccer goalie saving a penalty kick diving to his left.

Big games tomorrow!

[primelord]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

Big games tomorrow!

Big games indeed! I just got off the phone with the softball director and he confirmed for me that we are currently tied for 1st place at 7-3 with Gaffneys.

So here are how the tie breakers work. The first tie breaker is head to head, but we split with them in our first meeting so obviously if we finish tied after tomorrow we can't use that tie breaker. The second tie breaker is margin of victory in the head to head games. Well we beat them in our first game 23-6 and they beat us 20-3 so currently the margin of victory is tied as well. The 3rd tie breaker is total runs scored. Here is where we are screwed. They currently have 141 runs scored and we have 108. So if it falls to that tie breaker we are done.

So the key is if we lose a game tomorrow it needs to be by less than the one we win

[Logan]

Just out of curiousity (getting into this thread for the first time)...how did you introduce WSU to your friends/teammates? "This is my internet friend?"

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Logan

Just out of curiousity (getting into this thread for the first time)...how did you introduce WSU to your friends/teammates? "This is my internet friend?"

Honestly most of them didn't ask. Everyone on the team has a tie to me in some way so it isn't strange for me to bring new people to the team. Still I just introduced him as my friend (which he is). I think a few asked how we knew each other and I told them. No big deal really.

[primelord]

Games 11 and 12: Sunday Afternoon League

So today was the big day. We found ourselves tied at the top of the standings and we were playing the other first place team. We had two situations in which we could win our division. The obvious one was if we won both of our games. However if we split with them today it would go to tie breakers. The first tie breaker is heads up play, but we split ouyr first meeting with them so that would still be tied. The second tie breaker was margin of victory in the heads up matches. After our first matchup we were tied in margin of victory. So today if we split we would need to beath them by more then they beat us. If we still remain tied the 3rd tie breaker was total runs scored and they had a large lead on us there.

So we go into game 1 excited and ready to put a major beating on this team and essentially wrap things up from the get go. We start off as the home team and manage to get them out 1-2-3 and things are going well for us. In the bottom of the inning we got a run across and we took the field in the top of the 2nd up 1-0. Things began to fall apart for us from there.

One thing that is for certain is this team can hit. All but maybe two guys can consistently make hard contact with the ball. In general they don't beat you much with the deep ball. They hit lots of low hard line drives into the short outfield and play a lot of station to station ball. They got into the full swing of things in the next few innings. Overall we didn't play horribly on defense although we had a few miscues, but they were placing the ball very well. Things were looking bleak as we went into the bottom of the 5th down 11-1.

So we needed at least one run to keep on playing. More importantly we needed a few runs to try and keep the margin of victory close. In the 5th inning we finally got the bats going. Most of the guys in the lineup hit that inning and we put 4 runs up to cut the lead to 11-5. We were back in the game. This team is capable of putting up some big numbers in an inning so 6 runs down was not looking at all out of reach.

We held them scoreless in the 6th, but failed to score anymore runs of our own in the bottom half. In the top half of the 7th our opponents put 3 more runs across and had a fairly commanding 8 run lead. If we couldn;t win this game we at least needed to try and get that score a little closer going into game 2. It wasn't meant to be as we went 1-2-3 and dropped game 13-5. So we needed to beat a team that had scored 40 more runs than us in the previous 5 weeks by 9 runs in the second game. We weren't ready to toss in the towel, but that is a pretty hefty task.

Game 2 started off in a very similar fashion to game 1. We were retired quickly in the top of the first without scoring any runs and our opponents were retired just as quickly. So it was 0-0 after 1. We had another hitting outburst in the 2nd. Two of our best hitters had really been struggling the last couple of weeks and they both got going in this inning. When the top of the 2nd was over we had scored 4 more runs and were feeling pretty good about our chances. We were even more jazzed as we hald our opponents to no runs in the bottom half as well. 4-0 after 2.

That score remained the same until the top of the 5th. We had another big inning with contributions from our usual big bats and took a commanding 9-0 lead in the game. We were playing very well on defense and the other team had just been unable to make any real head way even when they would get a runner or two on. We had the lead we needed and just had to hold on for 3 more innings.

The bottom of the 5th started out very well for us. We quickly retired the first two hitters. However aftera two out walk the next batter got a base hit into left. The LF came up and threw ahead of the lead runner into 3B, but unfortunately threw it over the 3B head and out of play. The runner on second scored on the two base error. We retired the next guy and the lead was 9-1.

After failing to score in the top of the 6th we had a very big defensive stand in the bottom half of the inning after they got two runners on with 1 out. We went into the top of the 7th needing at least 1 run if we were going to win this thing. Another bout of very timely hitting netted us 4 runs in the top of the 7th and we were in fantastic shape going into the bottom of the 7th up 13-1. As long as they didn't score 4 runs we would win our division.

The leadoff batter walked which is never a good thing, but the second batter grounded to 3B and we got a force at 2B for out number 1. The second batter grounded back to the pitcher and again we get a force at 2B for out number 2. So they are down to their final out. The next batter hits a sky high pop up in very shallow left center field. I immediately hear our LC call for the ball, but from my view it didn't look like he could get there. He came tearing in on the ball and made a sliding catch on his knees to secure the victory. Cue the music. We are the champions!

I didn't play exceptionally well in the field, but I had a very solid day at the plate. The pitcher we were facing was throwing a lot of balls inside and short. That meant I was going to be hitting a lot of balls at 3B. In my first at bat I did exactly that and hit a fiarly hard groun ball right down the line that shot under the 3B glove. My 2nd at bat was by far the worst of the day. I hit a weak groundball to SS that ended up getting Coug forced out at 2B. I did manage to go from 1st to 3rd on a hit from our next batter and score a run. So I didn't get a hit, but I did at least contribute. My 3rd at bat I hit a very nice hard line drive, but it was right at the 3B chest and he caught it easily. My final at bat of the game I hit a hard groundball again at the 3B and he couldn;t handle it and it went into the OF. I was very proud of myself for stretching that into 2 as the 3B chased the ball down in the shallow OF. So I finished game 1 2 for 4.

I got off to a good start in game 2. In my first at bat I hit another screaming gound ball right down the line for a single. My 2nd at bat came in the inning where we stretched it to 9-0. I was up with 1 out and men on 2nd and 3rd. No matter what I wanted to ensure we got at least 1 guy home so I was determined not to hit a ball right back at the pitcher or a hard ground ball to 3B. So I decided I was going to massively over swing. When I swing as hard as I can 1 of two things happen. About 15% of the time I hit a huge fly ball that goes either in the LC gap or over the LF head. The other 85% of the time I fly out to LF. That would be good enough in this situation. So the pitch came in and I took a mighty cut and flew out to LF. I accomplished my goal though and the runner easily tagged and scored from 3B. So a sacrafice for me. In my final at bat I hit a nice hard ground ball between 3B and SS and I finished the game 2 for 2. I had 2 or 3 RBIs on the day and 3 runs scored so overall it was a very good day for me. Most importantly though the team got the win it needed and we take home our first division championship in this league.

So we have next Sunday off because of the 4th of July weekend and we start back up from scratch in the 2nd session the following Sunday. The top 3 teams should all remain int his division, but I would expect that the other team that finished 1-11 (again they're only win coming against us) will be moved to the lower division and the best team from that division will be moved up. I think we have an excellent shot of winning another divison in the upcoming session.

Sunday Team Session 1 Final Record: 8-4 (1st place)
Batting Average: .491 (28/57)

[WSUCougar]

WOOT!!!

[Poli]

Right on!

[primelord]

Woot. I just found out we get team t-shirts for our division championship.

Also I will unfortunately have to miss my first softball game of the year tonight. I am on call tonight so I am tied to the house.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by primelord

Woot. I just found out we get team t-shirts for our division championship.

I hope they're not white. I look fat(ter) in white.

[Poli]

Played some baseball with the boys orphanage just outside the base. By the hype, I was expecting to have a somewhat competitive game.

Turned out the pitchers just lobbed the ball to the plate, and we made our own diamond out of the dirt...no fence, no lineups, no teams, no worries. I batted 4 times, once with 13 players in the field.

Good times.

[Dutch]

Cool!

EDIT: For the division champs and also African baseball.

[Vince]

Congratulations all!

I just joined my second softball team, and am incredibly excited about it. It's a church league, and they play double-headers every Saturday morning (so I don't have to worry about it interfering with my work schedule). There's also something nice about knowing that I will probably be one of the best players on the field at all times, if everyone is close in talent to the 20 or so people that were on the field at the practice yesterday

[Poli]

I would have provided a photo, but when I looked over the shots they took of the baseball game, there was exactly 1 photo, and I wasn't in it.

[primelord]

So I got an interesting phone call today. The softball director called me to let me know when our first games were this Sunday. He is a little behind on sending out the schedules for the new session. Our games are at 1 and 2 on Field 1!!!!! Field 1 is the top division. It seems our division championship earned us a promotion that I have mixed feelings about. There are some scary boys that play in that division.

It also doesn't help that we are losing two of our best players for the upcoming session. Still we have a lot of talent left on the team. So I guess we are going to find out what we are made of.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by primelord

So I guess we are going to find out what we are made of.

I'm about 74% french fries.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by primelord

So I got an interesting phone call today. The softball director called me to let me know when our first games were this Sunday. He is a little behind on sending out the schedules for the new session. Our games are at 1 and 2 on Field 1!!!!! Field 1 is the top division. It seems our division championship earned us a promotion that I have mixed feelings about. There are some scary boys that play in that division.

It also doesn't help that we are losing two of our best players for the upcoming session. Still we have a lot of talent left on the team. So I guess we are going to find out what we are made of.

Ouch, yeah some of those higher level guys are scary. But I've only played in E and D leagues, so you are a bit above us !

[WSUCougar]

Primelord is in Vegas playing poker, so I'll provide a quick review of our team's initial venture into the top "competitive" division.

We lost twice.

Overall, however, I don't think we were out of our league in terms of competition. We just didn't play very well and it cost us.

The first game was fairly low-scoring. The other team - which was apparently the division winners from the previous session - has a bunch of good hitters and busted a pretty big inning at one point, but defensive mistakes cost us quite a few runs. At the plate, we hit far too many meager pop-ups as a team. We had one good rally in the final inning, but I flied out to left to end the game, losing 13-8.

The second game was worse. We struggled to get anything going, our pitcher couldn't find the plate, and the other team hit some absolute BOMBS out of the park. We got mercy ruled in that one.

We'll see if we can pick it up next weekend.

[primelord]

Games 3 and 4: Sunday Afternoon League

Thank you Coug for giving an update for the games I missed due to my Vegas trip. I really hated missing those games. (Not enough to skip a trip to Vegas though )

So it has been 3 weeks since I have played softball and I actually felt quite rusty getting going this week. Things got interesting right off the bat as we only had 8 players initially show up. We only have 10 regulars this session and one was out of town and WSUCougar was noweher to be found. A guy on our team was able to get a buddy to play though on short notice and I actually ended up having one of the park grounds keepers fill in as our 10th.

I think the near 100 degree heat and massive humidity fried my brain a little because I am having trouble remembering many exact details from this game. I will just have to do my best. After going scoreless in the top of the first we took the field and I witnessed something I had never seen before in slow pitch softball. The first 3 batters on the other team all fouled out. It wasn't like they fouled out on long bombs they just pulled too much or anything. They all fouled out straight back to the catcher. I didn't think that was possible. So essentially our pitcher struck out the side.

This game brought up one of my biggest pet peeves in slow pitch softball. I absolutely can not stand a team that refuses to swing the bat. I know taking repeated walks is a perfectly valid strategy to win and you even occasionally face pitchers who miss by so much that you really have little choice. However if the picther is around the carpet get the freakin bat off your shoulders. It's slow pitch softball for crying out loud. Who the hell shows up to take a walk every at bat?

So the other team started their walk brigade in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Any time a team does this they are going to hear about it from me. They may not be breaking any rules, but I am going to let them know what pansies I think they are for doing that. I think my repeated taunts served their purpose as the other team started to get visibly pissed and they started swinging the bats. We took an early lead in game 1, but the bats went to sleep after about the 4th inning.

We held on to a lead for most of the game, but ended up giving up a big inning in I believe the bottom of the 5th that allowed the other team to take a one run lead. (At some point in here WSUCougar showed up. I blame the loss of the lead on him. ). So after failing to score in the 6th we came into the top of the 7th down by 1. Our leadoff hitter promptly doubles and it looks like we are in business. However the next two batters both make outs and fail to advance the runner so it is up to me with two outs and the tying run on second.

I scan the field and notice the left fielder is playing ridiculously deep. If I can get a ball past the 3B we are gold. So I am just looking for a nice fat inside pitch that I can line into shallow left. The first pitch I get fits that exact description and I take a mighty cut.... and hit a soft groundball to 3B. The 3B easily scoops the ball up and throws me out by 45 steps. Game over. I suck.

The one thing that was very clear to me after game 1 was that we were a much better team than our opponents. We let that one slip away, but we really should be stomping them. The 2nd game pretty much confirmed that theory for me. Nothing really spectacular happened in this game, but we were quite clearly the dominant team throughout. We played very solid defense and pretty much everyone on the team contributed offensively. Coug crushed a ball that would have been a home run, but ended up hooking just left of the foul pole.

In the end we put away a decisive 10-2 victory. The next time we play these guys I will be very surprised if we don't take both games from them.

Like I said I felt very rusty after not playing for a few weeks and it showed at the plate in the first game. Sue to rain outs and byes we had a 3 week stretch earlier in the year where we didn't play, but a buddy and I were going to the cages a lot in between so I still felt sharp. This time I hadn;t touched a softball since our division winning games.

In my first at bat I swung at a ptch that was at least 3 feet over my head. Somehow I made slight contact but no sane person would ahve ever swung at that pitch. Now with one strike I was protecting the plate and I took a hack at a short outside pitch that grounded weakly to 3B. I only reached safely on a fielders choice because I hit the ball so weakly that the 3B couldn't turn two in time. In my second at bat I put a much better swing on the ball, but I got well under it and a hit a useless fly to LF. As documented above I grounded out to 3B in my final at bat as well to go 0-3 in the first game.

Things went much better for me in game 2. I got a single on a hard line drive off the 3B's leg in my first at bat of game 2. My second at bat produced another single as I put ball through the hole between 3B and short. I did it again in my final at bat of the day with another hard ground ball through the hole for yet another single. 3 for 3 in game 2.

So on the day I finished 3 for 6, scored 3 runs and drove in a couple runs. Not too bad all told, but I am really still kicking myself for not getting in that tieing run in game 1.

Sunday Team Record Session 2: 1-3
Batting Average: .492 (31/63)

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by primelord

We only have 10 regulars this session and one was out of town and WSUCougar was nowhere to be found.

Au contraire, mon Capitan! I could be found at The Elephant Bar restaurant, consuming jambalaya for my birthday lunch. Actual comment to my wife on the ride home: "Man, I'm stuffed, but I should be good to go by game time at 3:00."

Oops.

Game time was 1:00 & 2:00.

I felt like a stuffed alligator out there. Plus Rick throws me in at my absolute worse frikkin' position: first base. What, is that my penance for being late?!? So of course I get two tough throws from our SS that inning, and miss both of them. Plus my hitting sucks. I am not contributing much right now...:o

But the jambalaya was tasty.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

I felt like a stuffed alligator out there. Plus Rick throws me in at my absolute worse frikkin' position: first base. What, is that my penance for being late?!? So of course I get two tough throws from our SS that inning, and miss both of them. Plus my hitting sucks. I am not contributing much right now...:o

How can first base be anyone's worst position?

Chris is being modest. He played fine. You hit the crap out of that ball that hooked foul.