2012-366 Day 281 – Softball Doubleheader

Whew, I’m almost too tired to write about this one. Definitely sore and tired. On the bright side, my arm held up fairly well after a day at third base and several throws across the diamond, and my leg behaved pretty well too. In fact, if it was going to break whatever was giving me a problem behind my knee, I figure it would have had to have gone out on the play where I tried to stop rounding first and my foot slid off the bag and planted awkwardly as I tried to move back towards the bag. So we’ll say it’s fine.

Both games were crazy and ended in walk-off fashion. The first game started quite auspiciously as our defense went 1-2-3 through the top of their order, and then Joe led off the bottom of the inning with a home run. I singled, but was forced at second and we went quietly after that. The second inning featured a defensive apocalypse on my part, having a grounder kick off the heel of my glove, throwing the ball away on a throw to first, knocking down a ball I thought was foul and having it called fair, and nearly getting hit in the groin with a ground ball. Between that inning and the one inning I played at third the first week (I played first base last week due to my injured arm), I was feeling pretty down about a position that I’ve always felt I was pretty good at. I knew I couldn’t stay that bad, however, and convinced myself that I had worked out the kinks. A well-timed snag of a line drive the next inning, being more aggressive fielding the ball (rather than letting it come into me and potentially eating me up), and taking an extra half second to throw to first did solve a lot of my problems, and I didn’t have any more issues over that game and the next one.

The apocalypse left a six run mark, however, and we were suddenly chasing a big deficit. Things weren’t looking well in the bottom half of the second, as two quick outs sandwiched a single. Suddenly, however, our bats came to life and nine straight hits and a walk generated one of the greatest two out rallies I’ve ever seen. Eight runs put us back in the lead by a score of 9-6. Thus a back and forth game continued until the start of the seventh and final inning with a 12-12 tie. Our opponents got first crack as the visitor and had a pretty good shot, as they had the top of the lineup coming up and they had been doing most of the damage all day. The bases were loaded with two outs, but we managed to keep them off the board. Three straight singles in the bottom of the inning pushed across the winning run, and we took the first game 13-12.

A little bit of rest and we were back out for game two. We were the visitors this time and picked up where we left off, pushing four runs across in the first inning. Our hitting had some ups and downs this game, with four run scoring innings coupled with three innings that didn’t see more than four batters. Our defense was hot and cold too, although we did have one highlight where an excellent relay on a shot to right center by their fastest guy with a perfect throw from our shortstop meant that I got to tag out my first runner at third by a good five feet. We entered the bottom of the seventh with a three run lead but couldn’t close the door, perhaps fatigue played a bit into it, but the sun certainly did as the left fielder couldn’t see the ball and a line drive which should have been the final out instead fell and allowed the winning runs to score. Seeing as we had every opportunity to win the game, I shouldn’t be to upset (and I think I’m finally there) that a fluke cost it for us. I look forward to seeing this team again in the playoffs, should we face each other, as we’re due for the brakes to go our way.

The league itself is very tightly packed except for one undefeated team (the second one we played today, so they really should have one loss). We have the late game again next week, which means we’ll be dealing with the sun again, hopefully we have a bit bigger cushion and won’t have to worry about it.

Weight: 226 Loss: 14 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 307 miles
Softball Stats: Game 3 – 3/4 (.750), 1 R, 2 RBI Game 4 – 3/4 (.750), 1 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI Season – 12/15 (.800), 3 2B, 8 R, 5 RBI
Fitocracy Level: 26 ID: disciplev1