When I run, the wind stops

With a knock on the window of my truck it was time to get up and get into my softball uniform. I went into my tent that was set up to use as a changing room and got on the uniform. I grabbed a granola bar and some pop. I was very amazed that my ankle was not causing me a great deal of pain this morning after having allowed it so much time to rest and get tight. But I was able to move around with very little pain to show for it.

We headed out to the field for our eight o’clock in the morning game. The field we were on had a strong wind from right field. I was playing catcher. For the first little bit Jake worked on learning the wind so he could put the ball in the strike zone. Then he was grooving them in. We were making good defensive plays. We also played well offensively. We consistently hit the ball well through out the first game.

Just like with any video game, as you move level to level the competition gets harder. That was the case today. We then faced the team that beat us in the first game to put us in the loser bracket, Ameritile. We went out there and really kicked some butt. Ameritile had just come from the other field having scored thirty-eight runs. We did not let that scare us, as we went on to hold them scoreless for the first three or four innings. In fact Jake was pitching a one hitter behind solid defense. In the fifth inning they started to hit the ball and scored a couple runs against us, but the mercy rule kicked in ending that game.

Following that we had to face the Pounders, which was a team that had beating Palouse Tavern in another tournament by ten-running them. They also chose to be the away team. They wanted to go out and set the pace and put the other team in the hole early on. They scored several runs quickly, but our defense really turned it on, and we started to turn some double plays. Jake’s pitching was really good as we now had played two games with the wind and knew how to play with it, that was our home field advantage. While playing the Pounders their catcher was joking about my speed. Then when I got to first base after a base hit, he yelled out to me when I run the wind stops. It happened to be a lull in the wind and people laughed.

We had a lead on these guys going into the seventh inning. They had the first at bats. They strung a couple hits together and cleared the bases scoring several runs. They were one run from tying up the game. That runner was on second base. The ball came in to left-center. Kenny came charging the ball, I could see the guy round the bag at third. Kenny let loose with the ball, and it was a strike coming in to me at catcher. I got ready for the play at the plate to end the game. I caught the ball, and kept my mind on where the baserunner was. Then I turned and made the tag. He was out and the game was done. It was a fun ending to the game.

After three straight game we were moving to a different field. The next field over had two undefeated teams playing each other. We were playing the losing team for the right to play in the championship game. Those two team that had just played had a see-saw battle with the runs. They both scored into the twenties. With the Donks down, they went into the final inning and put together a rally, scoring the winning run on a nice single. So we had to play a team with these bright orange shirts.

They looked like they had several homerun hitters. Turns out they did. Defensively we were solid, on offense we couldn’t get anything going. It was zero to zero for a couple innings which surprised me. Then we broke it open with a four spot. They went up and loaded the bases for a grand-slam homerun. That tied the scored. We then scored two runs. And we would continue to tack on runs for the rest of the game. Finally we had a nine run lead going into the seventh inning. The first guy to the plate hit a homerun. Then the next couple guys we some basehits. Then another guy hits a homerun, and finally a couple batters later, another guy hits a homerun. That was three disallowed homeruns for outs in the seventh inning to end their day. We were in the championship game.

We had played four games straight without a break. We were going to game five. I could see by now, the sun had come out and the energy level of everyone was draining. It was to keep the energy level we had early on. The outfielders were tired. The infielders were tired. Peoples’ arms were hurting. We were thirsty. But we were hungry for a championship.

The Donks were a local team. They were undefeated, for us to win, we would have to beat them twice in a row. They were undefeated for a reason. But we ignored that and went out to play some softball. We did our part with the sticks making a lot of good basehits and scoring some runs. But on defense I could see the hours of play was wearing people down. Matt didn’t get to a ball that normally he would have gotten to. The outfield was just a bit slower on some plays. The infield has a couple of uncharacteristic errors. That coupled with an out call at home that ended our inning, plus an out that was never called because the umpire said our outfielder dropped the ball caused us some hardships.

But we had an eight run lead going into the seventh inning. They were the home team because they were undefeated. In the bottom of the seventh all we had to do was to get three outs and go to the second game. But they started to hit the ball. I knew our team was hurting when after the inning the jumping back slaps that Kelly and some of the other would do turned into just back slaps. The jumping was over with. In my second to last at bat, there were two outs and I was on first base. My quads were sore and I did not want to run. But I brought up my positive mental attitude by thinking about the fact that I want this. That I had gone this far and I just have to do it.

Physically I was sore, but mentally I was building back up. It paid off as during my last at bat, I hit a ball well, and went the guy bobbled it for a second I ran for second base. But now the task was defense. But it was not to be. We could not make the outs we needed, like I said one out was taken away from us. But they still hit the ball well enough to score nine runs and beat us. We ended up second place for the tournament. I hope that in the future I will get invited back to other tournaments with Kelly.

We went back to camp, cleaned up the area, and said our goodbyes to everyone. It was a neat tournament. We had an average age of the outfield of twenty-one, and the infield’s average age was about thirty-six. With two of the players over fifty. I learned to be a lot more aggressive on the basepath. I stretched several hits into doubles because of a bobble, where in the past I would not have. I also scored from second on single because I ran hard and was aggressive about running. It was also said that I had the highest batting average for the team. One of the guys, George, said that it was good playing with me. He said I was a real professional. That is from a guy who had played for the twins back in his prime.

I got on the road and went home. It was home, showered and ready to be on call for the fire department. We did not get any calls from seven o’clock on. It was very quiet. I was very tired as well. I actually went to bed around nine-thirty in the evening.