Playing Extra Innings

After getting up I went on a call just before I had to be at practice. It took almost all the time I had to get ready for practice and get there. I had only about ten minutes from the time we returned from the call to get to the house, changed, and to the city playfields.

The practice took two hours total. I did some hitting. It went okay. Nothing too great, but I wasn’t getting many real pitches to hit.

Later on the men’s team was playing at the Valley Road Playfields. The first game was a FFT win. The second game was started early because the team we were playing also had a FFT win their first game.

Our sticks were dead. We couldn’t hit the ball to save our lives. We had three hits through the first three or four innings. We were able to hold the other team with some of the best defense I have seen on the team — ever!

One play that involved me was while I was playing first, Ryan was on second. I moved to my right to make a play on the ball. Ryan was moving to his left to make a play on the ball. I got to the ball and looked towards first. Mike was pitching and did not move to cover first. I had no real chance at running back. Ryan just kept moving. I tossed him the ball. He kept running to first base and made the out just before the batter got there.

It was tied two to two going into the bottom of the sixth inning which is the last inning in IM’s. The umps said we could be allowed to play extra innings. So we went into the seventh both teams scoreless. Finally in the eighth inning our team caught some fire and we scored eight runs.

They got two quick hits and then we held them scoreless and we won the game. Afterwards Ryan, Brandon, and I went to Cougar Country for dinner and then I was off to the fire department for rig checks. I ran the engine pump test and that was all there was to do.

The other guys had finished everything else.

Better Weather for Softball

This afternoon the weather was not snowy and it was a lot better for softball. It was a little on the wet side still. I worked the WSU Baseball game first. The Cougs had a big first inning with seven runs, but then let the game slip away.

Later I was on my way to the Valley Road Playfields for some softball. The first game was coed. It was a FFT because not enough women showed up. That is part of the reason why I hate running the coed team. But as a returning championship team I had to put it together again.

Then it was off to our men’s games. The first game my hitting woes continued. I have been having a hard time seeing the ball or something. I am swinging and missing when I shouldn’t. Then there is the whole not making good contact on the other times I am hitting it. We won the game pretty easily. Dave pitched a one-hit shutout.

The second game was against a better team. We battled after being down by eleven runs. We got two back and then battled some more. We had an eight run inning getting us closer. But they were still scoring runs.

We were having some issues with the field umpire hesitating on calls and making a blatantly bad call. That took us out of three innings. We still came close. We put the winning run to the plate with two guys on. But when the batter hit the ball, the umpire didn’t see the play at first. He hesitated on the play. Didn’t know what happened and called our guy out for the final out of the game. That was madding. We were not very happy about it. We ended up losing that game.

Ryan came over to my place. We watched the Sunday night Fox shows and ate some pizza.

Softball Season is Starting!

With the snow and all we were playing softball today. The first game was coed. I am not playing just coaching because we have too many guys. I figured I will get my play time in the men’s games.

We lost the coed game, but I didn’t really care. I didn’t even really know. It was so cold. It actually started to snow right after the coed game. I took some photos of the snow as it was falling covering the field and the team with snow.

Part of the team getting snowed on

I couldn’t hit the ball. I actually missed the ball on several swings. I couldn’t believe it. I was starting to get worried about my poor hitting. It was ugly. But the rest of the team was hitting the ball well and we went on to beat the other teams. It was pretty easy. I am not sure if we are that good or if they are that bad.

After the game Ryan, Anna, and I went to dinner. We hit some Mexican food. We hung out for a while chowing and chatting before they had to leave to go to Spokane.

Ladders Drill

Before the radio show I found a couple places I would need to go after the show. A couple guys on the team were over in Bohler Gym. During the radio show I talked about some articles I found about how banks look at every transaction looking for things to report to the government for investigation. It was interesting to read. It is how the New York Governor was discovered.

After the show I went to Bohler can got Ryan’s signatures and I also picked up some money from Josh. As I was leaving I could hear one of the football players who was in there say “drug deal?” and Josh said “Yeah.” That made me laugh.

Afterwards I went to a couple places where I had been two weeks earlier looking for donations. Neither of them are biting today. Though it did look good the day we were there.

I went home until it was time to head to the fire station for training. I started by getting some photos of two of the new guys. We took the engine down to station one for the classroom part. Then it was off to the tower. We threw ladders for the training. Practicing using the different sizes and setting them in the correct places.

Bad Beating in Poker

I decided today that I was going to play poker before I had to go to my softball meeting. Then I got a call about the autopsy that was going to happen today as well.

I went to Zeppoz and Loren was there. We were sending some texts earlier about playing. As it turned out we were on the same table. He was betting big pretty often trying to build a stack of money. I realized I would have to play fast in order to make it to the autopsy.

While waiting for the game to start I was talking about the poker hand I saw on TV on Friday night while working at the jail. Someone had pocket Aces. The other person had Ace-King. He pretty much had a five-percent chance of winning. The flop was Q-J-10. To give him a straight and the victory. That was amazing.

I found myself with pocket Aces. I raised a small amount. Loren went all-in. I called him. Everyone else folded out. Loren shows K-Q suited. I was a big favorite. The flop was J-10-9. Giving him the straight and the win. People remembered what we had talked about and thought it was strange to see it actually happen to me. I joked with Loren about popping his car tires. I wasn’t mad at all. I was just amazed that it happened just like I saw on TV.

I went a little longer. I got my money in on a good hand and someone who was at a lesser odds of beating me, in fact beat me. So I left, but the timing was good.

I went to the funeral home for the autopsy. As always that was very interesting and it showed us what caused the death in this case.

I got out of there just before I had to be at Cougar Country for the softball team signups. No one else was there when I got there. I ate slowly and just as I was getting ready to go I saw Heidi show up. So I got a pop and hung out while she ate her dinner. She signed the form and we spent time talking about various things with Rhonda at the table with us.

Round One Down

I had to go to the softball meeting for IM softball today. When the was done I went to My Office. I watched the Cougar game on TV. It was a great game in the second half for the Cougs. It was tied going into to the break. But then the Cougs went out there and started to really kick some butt.

After the game was done guys came down to meet up with me to sign the roster and pay for the team. I still have several other people to sign the roster. Many others also have to pay me still.

Made some Team Logos

I spent some time working on logos for the teams’ shirts and hat. It took some time to figure out what to make. We are using pretty much Cougar colors plus black. I came up with a couple of ideas and printed them out to show Kelly. I find that once you put an idea on paper it is easier for someone to say they like it or don’t. They are more easily able to give ideas of how to make it to their liking.

I met up with Kelly and he liked where I was going and we looked through a bunch of fonts and told me what one we wanted to use.

Highrise Training

I spent time today with Kelly going to some of the businesses where I know people. We were asking for donations for our softball team. I was able to help secure over four hundred bucks, plus we got a couple good leads for more money.

We had high rise training for the fire department. I was the engineer for the training then I worked Rescue the rest of the evening. We got one call around two o’clock in the morning. It has been pretty quiet so far this Spring Break.

Looking Hard for the New Car

I spent a fair amount of time today going around to different car lots looking at what they had to offer in terms of a new car. Well a new-to-me car. I looked at some high end Ford Explorers and F-One-Fifties. Then I was off to test drive a Jeep Cherokee. But that car had nearly two-hundred thousand miles.

I had time to get to Pullman after looking at the cars to meet up for the softball meeting. We were talking about the tournament team and signing up for the upcoming tournament that we are planning on playing in.

Right now we are planning on playing in six tournaments. The hope is to get into a invitational tournament.

We also talked about using the My Office team to travel to one or two of the local tournaments.

I got to be on Rescue

Went swimming today at around ten o’clock. I had gotten up a couple hours earlier. I heard Colfax get toned to an echo response. Shortly after Steptoe got on scene they cancelled the ambulance and called for Paul-Sixty-Four. I called Whitman and let him know that if he needed help I would be willing to do what I could for him. He did say he probably didn’t need the help now, but he was thinking about getting me to cover the afternoon for him. I told him that I was doing the Cougar Basketball game and working for the fire department. Besides you are not getting two calls in one day anyway.

While swimming I was able to get the length of the pool once without breathing at all. That was pretty cool. I am going to have to work on that so it is not so hard in the future.

After the swimming I got cleaned up and headed to Beasley for the women’s basketball game. I called for KStew to come over because he was working for the police. I wanted to talk to him about softball. Specifically I was going to ask him to help me with the team. He said he would do so. We talked softball for about an hour. Heston came by like he said he would. He also plays softball with us.

KStew left and within a few minutes of leaving he called me. He said “speaking of the coroner” they just got sent to another call. I was pretty shocked. I tired to listen to the county to figure out what was going on.

After the women lost the game I went to the station to put the equipment away and went to the Deuce. While I was there a call came in. I stood by for that call. I was there for almost an hour because of the call.

I went home for dinner. Then back to the station. I was watching the Cougs. They were playing Arizona State. It was a very close game. It came down to the final shot taken and missed by ASU. So the Cougs won. That made me feel better.

I was on Rescue tonight. We went to the hospital to change out the linen from the Beasley first aid room with new stuff. We also dropped off some more boxes of gloves.

We only had a couple of calls and they were not much of anything. I made the guys wash Rescue with me after the calls. At first they didn’t want to. I said we were going to wash Rescue. They said I outrank them, so they helped wash it. They figured we would have a lot of calls and just wanted to wash it once at the end of the night.

We were supposed to get a lot of snow tonight, instead it rained. But tomorrow we are supposed to get something like seven inches of snow. I will believe that when I see it.

Met the New CEO

I met the CEO of the new company. I am a little more worried about everything. I need to write a skills sheet. I am not sure if it is only going to be used like the CEO said, or whether he will be using it against us when it comes to negotiating wages.

I started out the day by picking up my quad from Renton Honda.

We went out to lunch and met up with Chris. We went to the Crossroads Mall. Because the new CEO was in the office and because we had to do some things I ended up not leaving too early.

The trip to Pullman wasn’t bad at all. While I was driving Mitzel called me about giving the softball team over to me! I have waited for this opportunity for a long time. It has gone from JT to Mitz and now me.

I contacted KStew about playing on the team. He said he would think about it. He is planning on possibly putting a team together again. I let him know that there is room on the team for him and Jake as well as some others.

Looking Back on the Last Year

Jan – Joining the CISD Team – I started the evening off going to Colfax for a CISD team meeting. They were looking for new members, so I thought I would see what it is about. Now it seems that I am on the team and they are looking at having a training class come in soon to get the new people trained.

Feb – How Many Really Know? – When I got home I wrote back and forth with Matt and Monte about the call from yesterday. I told Matt that I was not offended and that he could not offend me. I asked both to keep the information secret. I also asked Monte how Tom knew about it. It was Tom who told Monte. Monte said he heard about it several years about and it was a non-issue to him. I was surprised to hear that Tom has known about it for three or four years. Monte said “remember it is a small world”.

Mar – The Start of What was to Date my Best Softball Year – Then there was another play where I had to go hard to my right, more or less a dive and scoop a ball. When I came up with it I looked down at home where someone was running, but I did not think I would be able to make the play, so I held on it the ball. We were playing A Bunch of Old Guys, which use to be Don’t Care. We lost to them by three runs. It sucked.

Apr – My First Shift Patrolling with the Marine Patrol – Then we went to the boat. We went through some things about the boat and then we were underway. We made a couple stops of people who were breaking the wake zones. I saw him do an inspection. Then on the next stop I did the inspection. We spent some time driving along the shore line of Medina, Hunts Point, and we were working our way to Yarrow Point.

May – A Police Officers’ Funeral – At about 10:00 AM the procession started. It was long enough that as my vehicle was pulling into the parking of the Kibbie Dome the last cars were leaving Tidyman’s. Along the route people were standing on the sides of the streets and police officers on Motorcycles where blocking intersections. There were people who had their hand over their heart, American Flags, signs of support, and cub scout troops along the way.

Jun – An Incredibly Fun Softball Tournament in Waitsburg – 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.

Jul – Final Men’s Game is a FFT – Tonight the records were supposed to fall, however, when the other team could not come up with enough players to fill the team, we would end up getting a FFT. That sucked because Michael B, Bill, and I were all up for records to be broken. I needed one walk to tie Skyler. That was my goal. I did not want to beat the record because it has been around for so long.

Aug – Ryan Gamble Get Married – Once that was done we were back at the hotel, the time was counting down for the wedding to start. People started to file into the Davenport hotel. The wedding started and it lasted around thirty minutes total. I was the best man and stood next to Ryan. It was neat to see the whole thing.

Sept – Bought a Lightly Used Truck – By this time in the day I realized that I did want to get the truck, but only if I got it for twenty-one-five. A while later the sales manager called back and said I could get it for twenty-one-seven, plus a full tank of fuel. I said I would do it.

Oct – Introducing the Next Coroner of Whitman County? – Pete said he was happy to hear that I would like to do it. He said he plans on not running in twenty-twelve. So that would be when I would need to run. By then some of the other guys would be a lot more trained and may want to run as well. So I figured I would talk to Pete right away and have him start to groom me to be the next coroner.

Nov – A Night of Arson’s in Pullman – On our arrival to the scene I could see a five inch across Spring Street. We parked in such a way to protect the hose. We walked up to the scene. While walking up the road a man asked us if the smoke coming from his garage was a normal amount. Because he was a neighbor of the fire, he figured some of the smoke was from the fire. But it was pouring out, and I could tell it was not from the other fire.

Dec – Ankle Operation Part Two – I walked into a room with a table for me to lay on. I got up there and the anaesthesiologist started to prepare me to go under. Before I knew it I was asleep. Later I woke up not feeling well. I was being wheeled out to the recovery room. I heard one of the nurses talking to someone else, saying “you’ll have to break it to him.” I still don’t know what they meant by that.

It is always hard to put this list together. There was the day at the jail when I found out that Poff and Capt, as well as everyone else, has known about me for years. Or November when the boys made their first trip to Pullman to see Cougar Football and Basketball. There are many other examples. As usual. If I were to do this another day I am sure some of these choices would be different, but some of them would be the same for sure.

Most of today I responded on calls at the station. But most of the time no one was showing up to go with me. So I stood by on most of them. One of the calls Gecas showed up and we went on the call.

We also got a couple calls during the evening hours. I couldn’t find my pager. I looked around the house for it, I looked around the station, I checked my truck as well. I couldn’t find it. I am a little worried that I lost it on the call I went on with Gecas.

I worked on getting my E-mail inbox cleaned out. It took a while to go through all the messages. I really should go through everything again and reorganize it some more. But I am probably not going to.

Playing on a Tournament Team

I got a phone call from Jake. I told him that I was thinking about him today. I was thinking about the messages I would send to various people for Christmas. Jake said that he is with Kelly. They are talking about a tournament team. Kelly wanted me to send him a face shot because he is working on getting corporate sponsorship.

They are talking about only playing on a tournament team. I am thinking about seeing if they are interested in playing on the My Office team. If so I will let Mitz know they are available. They would both be a good addition to the team.

Champions!!!

Started out this morning going to Pete’s Bar and Grill with Ryan to meet up with Moe and Russell. But only Moe was there. Russell was going to come after half time. We had some chow and watched the Seahawks. They were struggling against the Steelers. At half time Moe got Russell and came back to watch the game with us.

After the game was done, we went to the Emerald to get some lunch. Moe and the girl with him had to head back to the West side so they left from there. Ryan and I took Russell back to his place.

Ryan and I watched some more football before getting ready to play some softball. We had our championship game in both Co-ed and Men’s. The first game was co-ed. We had a good turn out with some of our best women. We went out there and easily went on to a victory. After scoring runs and playing good defense we just did not have to look back. When the game was done we were champions. We did not scream and yell with lots of cheering because it wasn’t even a close game.

We went to Smith Gym to get our t-shirts and a photo for the website. We had less than an hour to get there and back in time for the men’s game. We had twelve guys, but I batted ten. It was a hard fought game. A see-saw battle back and forth with the scored going back and forth. In the final inning we were down by a couple runs. We started to get a rally going. We had one guy on, Bruce at the plate, and Phil on deck. We were down by three. Bruce hit a hard linedrive going over the second baseman, but he made a leap and came down with it for the third out. What could have been.

But those guys hit the crud out of the ball. The bat they had was hot, even the bad hitters were crushing it to the fence or over it. The final score was twenty-two to twenty-five. It sucked to not win the game. We had a very good chance to do it, but came up short. Number two again. Waiting for our first number one with Mens.

When the game was done Ryan and I went to Cougar Country before he had to head back to Spokane. I went home and started to do my packing for my trip to Bellevue tomorrow. I am watching the pets all week.

A Bunch of Do or Die Softball

I got Heston to come out and play with us for softball tonight because I knew we were going to be short of guys. We had a double header for men’s, assuming we won the first game. Plus we had a co-ed game.

It started off with the men’s game. Mike pitched well and we all hit really well. We were building a lead each inning and we were not looking back. On defense we were killing them as well.

The game was supposed to go six innings no matter what, however after four innings the other team gave up. They honestly did not have a chance, but it was possible assuming we had a collapse and they went to town. But we walked away with a victory and only one more game to play before the finals.

In that game, it was on the same field. We again had no difficulty beating the other team. We went out there we good defense and good hitting. It was simple to beat them.

We went to the co-ed game and it was the semi-finals. We won this game we were in the championship. But we had one of the worst teams we fielded all season. We were playing against a bad team, but it was going to be a game. We only had one real outfielder. I was going to rely on Peter a lot for the game. We ended up using on girl who was wearing designer boots to play.

Dan and Denise had been there since the start of the men’s games. They also bailed me out every game this season, so I felt like we had to play them. We put Dan at first, Ryan at short, and Bruce in the outfield, with Erik pitching.

We scored a couple runs, but then the batting went to hell. They had a couple good innings and we up on us by four runs. We got one back in the fourth inning. We had to take Dan out of the game because we had to move our positions around. We got Ryan at first and Bruce in the infield. We put Taj in the outfield. That helped the defense and that did not allow them any more runs.

We went out in the fifth inning and got a rally started, but it fizzled without any runs scoring. Even one run would have helped. So it was into the sixth inning. Ryan put me in for him. We started to hit and make things happen. I was on first. Peter hit a pop-up that the shortstop camped under for the third out. But he dropped the ball. That allowed Peter to get on base. He was the tying run. Jackie got a big hit scoring Peter and I. Now we were tied. We tacked on three runs. Up by three we went into the bottom of the sixth inning. They were not in their best spot in their line up.

We were able to make good plays and ended up coming from behind to beat them. It felt so good, but after the win we did not celebrate because we knew how lucky we were to win the game.

Ryan and I picked up Russell and took him to the casino. We hung out with Russell for a little bit, but he had to work, so Ryan and I got some pizza and went to my place to eat it.

Another Co-ed Victory

Tonight we were playing against Kevin’s softball team. I was excited to play them. We were going to have an extra woman, but only five guys. I had to call Nick to be there because we were short on guys.

I played shortstop again. I had one fun play where I had to go right, make a back handed stop, then fire the ball across to first base for the out. It was fun. We went on to beat Kevin’s team by eight runs, but we only got three innings to hit.

One of my hits was right now the right field line and Kevin missed it, he was playing first base. I also had a play where people were running. The runner on second was going to third. I was going to second. But turns out the guy on third did not go. So the runner from second went back. Then I saw that and started to go back to first. The throw was made. I slid in and was safe. Kevin said I was out, but that is the way Kevin saw it. I knew I was safe.

After the game I was on call. We got a couple calls for fire alarms around the midnight hour. Andrew is the only one who has noticed that I have a new truck so far, but when he said something I sort of played dumb for a minute. Then someone said something to Andrew and the topic never went back to my truck.

Spokane Transfer

I got a call this morning from Reiber asking if I want to do a transfer to Spokane. I got ready to go to Spokane and went to the station. Then it was off to Spokane. Because of when we needed to get the patient there we ended up having to go code for part of it. We dropped of the patient and then had lunch at Shari’s.

We got a call about a second transfer. But I had softball so I could not do it. We got the ambulance fueled and back in service. I went home and got some computer work completed.

I also was working on getting people set up for softball. I had to work hard to find people for playing. It was less than thirty minutes before the game and I wasn’t sure about having enough women. I went to the field and waited for people to show up.

Denise called someone she worked with two minutes before game time. I also found someone on the free agent list. The other team gave us ten minutes. I wasn’t expecting that. But just as the ten minutes were up we were going to have to forfeit when we saw the person we were waiting for. We were going to get started when some of the women had nose rings they would not take out.

But two women did take them out. That allowed us to have four women. We played with five guys, so we were going to have an automatic out each time at the end of the order.

I was playing first base and Eric pitched. They were no match for us. We quickly started to score runs and did not look back. Even with some women who didn’t really know how to play we were scoring runs. We also were holding them to no runs.

It was the final inning they got one run on an over throw at third base. We went on to win that game.

I went straight to the fire station to do the hose testing we had to do. We were supposed to get through everything except for the five inch hose. But we got everything else done so quickly we went on to the five inch. We were still done by nine-thirty.

We had one length of five inch hose fully charged and could not get the cap off. So we ended up having to put a hole in the hose to get the pressure out. Then we recoupled the hose and it was retested and put back in service.

Playoffs Day One

The plan was to include spending time on my garage. But instead I was on the phone with Russell. He invited me to go to coffee with Jason. I accepted the invite. Russell told me that Nick and he broke up. That was a surprise to me. They have been together for a bunch of years. In gay years, it has been like twenty years.

Due to the trip to Cafe Moro I decided I only had time to wash my truck. I got it washed up and then went to get Russell. He noticed that I washed my truck. Then he quickly noticed it looked longer. Once he got in, he knew it was a different truck.

We met Jason down at Cafe Moro. I got a hot cocoa and they got some coffee. I told them the story about buying my truck. When we were done they it was off to Blockbuster to get a movie to watch.

We got Wild Hogs and watched it at Jason’s on his projection TV. It was a pretty funny movie. We were done around four in the afternoon. I took Russell home and went home myself.

I got ready for softball tonight. We had a men’s game in the first round of the playoffs. We were playing the Bash Brothers. We hit the ball well. I was pitching because Dave was out of town. I was enjoying pitching. During the first batter my first three pitches were balls, then I came back with a good pitch. After that I did very well pitching. They were not very patient. No one walked and many people hit some pretty awful pitches.

We went on to win pretty easily. I was two for three with a walk. One well hit ball to deep right field but the guy was able to track it down at catch it. We went on to win.

Ryan and I went to the KZUU meeting. It lasted about thirty-five minutes. We went to Cougar Country and got some dinner. I was trying to relax, but I knew I had a big softball game on Monday. I didn’t know if I had enough women for it. We went to Russell’s to give him a ride to work.

Russell was able to talk a little bit about his situation. Earlier in the day we talked about it. He said he was thankful to have me around to talk to about it.

Cancelled game due to FFT

I had fire training tonight, it is extrication training, but I found out it is mainly classroom training. I was going to be running one of the groups. But I also found out that I was going to be needed for softball at ten o’clock pm. I got out of training early to go to the softball fields.

But when I got there the game was cancelled because the other team did not have enough guys. I was disappointed because I was hoping to get some softball action in. I figured that I got my uniform on and got to Moscow, now I want to play. Originally with training and getting up early in the morning I wasn’t going to play. But they needed me to play.

Another New Position the Season

I was working on my shelves when Erik called me about coming to My Office to watch the Seahawks game. We were once again struggling to find some women to play with us, but we did end up getting some who would play. We had five on the nose. Yet again, nothing too great, but we would go on to win. In one game we won by one run. The other game it was a much different story. He just crushed the other team.

In one of the games I started at short stop. That was fun to do. I made a couple plays and no errors.

So far this year playing softball for my various teams I have been at first, second, third, short, pitcher, catcher, and right-center field. I just need three more positions to round out the season.

We went on to play men’s. I wanted to win both to make sure we were not in the rec bracket. We went one and one. We had a bad second game where we did not hit the ball until the fourth inning. But we had the trying run on third base. With our best hitter, Jared, coming to the plate. But he hit a long flyout. We lost by one run.

After the games Ryan came over and we had some pizza and pop while watching some TV.

Getting a Start at Third Base

I did the final work on my shelf in the garage today. Now that it was done I started to put some boxes up on the upper shelf. I was able to get a space on the floor cleaned up, but I still have a way to go. A lot of the things still out are tools. I think that what needs to happen is this weekend I will pull everything out of the garage and onto the driveway. Then put things away as I bring them in.

We had early softball games today. One sign summer is over is the fact that by the middle of the game it was dark and cold. But I got the start at third base today. That was pretty fun. I made a couple throwing plays to first for outs. Plus I made an out at my bag. But I also had an error when the ball got under my mitt. That sucked.

I hit the ball well getting a double in my first at bat. Then in my next at bat I had a ton of space in right field. The first pitch was inside, I was looking for one outside. It was a strike all the same. The next pitch was lower than I wanted and strike two was quickly called. One guy from my team said “Can you see that yellow thing?” In reference to the ball and the fact I watched two decent pitched go by.

The next pitch I expected a really bad pitch because I had no balls. Typically a pitcher will throw something bad on that count and hope you go for it. But I am always ready incase it is a good pitch. The ball was coming in a little high, but I knew it would be called a strike. So I swung at it. There were two people on base.

Everyone on my bench area started cheering and making noise. At first I thought I hit a high fly ball that was warning track power, at best. But instead it flew out of the park in center field. The pitcher came out towards second as I was rounding it and gave me a high five.

When I got back to the bench people were joking about how I let the good pitches go by and hit the high one. It felt good to belt out the homerun. The rest of the night went well. I got another double.

When I got home I took a super fast shower and went to the Deuce to catch up with the other guys. We were going to do a fire drill at Rogers and Orton. The drill and safety talk afterwards took about thirty minutes. We went to the top of Rogers hall to see the cable system that runs the elevators there. Most of them are hydraulic systems. This one actually is run by cables.

Dropping the Ball In Softball

We didn’t have a ton of calls, but they were all spaced out. I got home about a quarter of six. I waited until six before going to bed. Then I had three hours to sleep before getting to the station for reserve testing.

We got to the tower to set up the course and work people through it. That only took about two and a half hours. I didn’t go to bed I started to try to get people set up for playing softball, but many of them were gone or going out of town. I only got two women and three guys there. I dropped the ball on it. So we had to FFT the co-ed games.

The men’s teams was oh and two. We needed to win some of the games. We went out there like a well oiled machine and started to beat up on the other teams. One game we scored twenty runs and just crushed the other team. In the other game it was twelve to six. But I was two for three with a triple and four RBI. That was a good game.

Ryan and I got something to eat together and chatted for a while before he had to run off.

Good night at the plate

Though I am one of the best hitters on the team I always end up hitting last for the order of guys. I am not sure why. Maybe it is prejudice that causes me to hit low. People who put batting line ups together do have a difficult job. No one wants to hit last, me included. But at the same time, if you do not hit well, then you will be hitting last.

Typically you want someone who is both very fast and has a high on base average (OBA) to hit lead off. Following that another faster person with a high OBA. For me once I get to my third, fourth, and fifth batters I want people who both have power, meaning a high slugging percentage, and good batting average. My number four hitter is usually the guy with the most power. The goal is to get the bases loaded or runners in scoring position, then your number four hits them all in. I have my number five hitter have power as well because he can do additional clean up if necessary.

My number six batter in softball usually is slower but has a high batting average. After that it is sort of up in the air. I will have slow and fast guys hitting around each other. It is not the best situation to do that because the slow guys will keep the fast guys from getting extra bases, but when I am at the bottom of the order I make the assumption that they will only be getting one hit a game.

So in my situation on this team is that I have a good stick with some power. I should probably hit around number five or six. But I am hitting last. Behind people who are not getting on base. With my batting average and speed I should be scoring a lot of RBI. But I don’t.

Also, one thing that goes into line ups are the intangibles. Sometimes when a batting order is hot, you don’t mess with it. The last thing I want to do is to move someone and have them have a different mindset going into the batters box. I have noticed over the last year that when I am hitting dead-last I bat terribly. I am actually batting second to last on this team, but last in terms of guys, as it is a co-ed team. I think this year so far when I am hitting dead-last I am about five for twenty or something horrible like that.

Anyway, tonight at the plate I hit the ball very well. I was on every time except for once. I had a double and a triple as well. We went on to lose the game. It was a close one. We were actually in a big hole to start with, but chipped away coming back to take the lead in the middle innings. But the other team started to hit well and retook the lead. Then in the final inning added four runs to be up by six. We went out there deflated and our hitting showed it. We ended up losing.

I went over to Russell’s place. We had some breakfast for dinner stuff. It was very yummy. We sat round chatting and chowing for a while before the majority of the group had to head off.

Yay! More Softball

I went to the fire station to go on the Martin Stadium tour only to find out it was cancelled until this evening. I was hanging out there until a call came in. I stood by and Bien showed up. So we were going to go en route, but got cancelled. So we were writing our time in the books when another call came out. We went on that one. But there was no transport so we went back in server.

After I got home, I was working on a database change. Ricky was waiting for me to finish it up. I got it done and checked in about three minutes before a call for a car accident went out. Bien and I went on that call.

When we were done with that it was nearly five-thirty. The guys took the rig to training and I went home to get ready for softball. We had a co-ed game in Moscow. I ended up playing EH for the whole game.

I got a couple at bats. I started with a solid double. Then I got a solid single. My hitting was good. We were not scoring and we were playing good defense. So the score was three to two in the sixth inning. That is when I got my single to get on base. There was one hitter in front of me. We both scored and one more scored behind us. We were up five to three. That is how the score ended.

I got home and I was on Rescue for the rest of the night. I made a late dinner and ate that. I worked on some stuff for work. It was sort of slow going. We kept getting called out. About every hour and a half we were toned out. That happened up until three-thirty in the morning. I finally got home and in bed at five in the morning.

IM Softball is Back in Action

I got up this morning in Renton having to be in Colfax at the fairgrounds by noon. I was there at eleven-thirty in the morning. Just as I was getting there I saw a guy on a horse and he was having problems. Someone was trying to control the horse and he was falling off next to a car. I was thinking I was going to have my first patient. He did not fall off, but the car got dented by the horse hitting it.

I went to the EMS booth and got my shirt for this year. I have pretty much every shirts since I started to work the fair in two-thousand. It was a pretty slow day in the EMS room as usual. We gave out a couple band aids while I was there but that was about it.

I spent most of the time I was there working on finding women to play IM softball tonight. I had no girls who were going to be there. I was on the phone with everyone I knew trying to get women. Ryan had left Spokane around two to be in Pullman by three-thirty. Shortly after two I got confirmation of the fifth girl. A couple of the women I got I didn’t even know.

They were all saying they were not any good. I told them as long as they had a pulse that was fine. We would lose the games without them. At least we would have a fighting chance.

I left my shift a little early at the urging of the people I was working with. They said it was slow so I should go play softball. I got to the field a couple innings into the first game. I was subbed in to play two innings in the outfield! I had two balls go my way and I made the catch of one and played the other one in front of me because I was unsure if I would get to it. We went on to win that game.

In game two I started. I hit a triple and an inside the park homerun. It was pretty easy. The two teams we played were very bad. We beat the second team hands down. I played in the outfield some more. We were done with that game very early.

We went to the next field where we were going to play KStew’s team. We only had nine guys because Nick and his friends did not make it. So we played short handed and it was not the game to do that. They had a couple big innings and put us away because we couldn’t hit. Kelly did have his right fielder play me in a long way. I was very shocked so I crushed it over his head and got a triple. Kelly was playing shortstop. He have me a high five as I was running to third base.

He said he should have given me more respect, but he expected me to bloop it in. If the outfielder played me in, I will just hit it over his head. Otherwise I will bloop it in. I was catching and made a play at home. The ball was thrown from Michael B to home. It bounced before the plate. It went off my inner thigh and into my mitt where I held on to it for an out.

The next game we were in a defensive battle. Peter made a diving catch in the outfield. That was the play of the game. But the other team had a big inning and scored seven runs. We put one run up in the top of the sixth inning, but it was not enough.

Ryan and I went to my place and had a pizza and pop. We watched some videos on thatvideosite.com.

Fall Co-ed Softball

I was going to meet up with Nick to have him read through some stuff I wrote for the Town Crier III. I am going to apply for a position to write for the Daily News. It is a weekly column called the Town Crier. There are thirteen people, so you end up writing four times a year. I went to Avery hall thinking the writing lab was there. But it was moved. So I got some lunch while I was up there.

I got home and Tyson was around the house from school today. I asked if he was going to go on calls. He said if they were higher level calls. I was going to head to the writing lab, but an Echo call came out. Tyson and I went on it. We ended up doing CPR. It turned out the person did not make it, so Pete had me do some coroner related stuff with it. I needed to find out if the doctor would be willing to sign off on the death. He was, so we did not take jurisdiction.

We got called from the hospital to another call. We got on scene and helped to package the patient then we were cleared.

I got home and ended up spending over an hour on a conference call. We were estimating time on the things we need to do for the next release. Finally just after five we broke the meeting and said we would continue it tomorrow.

I sat around waiting for the softball game. I was looking forward to playing. The game was at ten o’clock in Moscow. I was the starting second baseman. I missed one ball I should have gotten. My first at bat was ugly as well. But then after that I did a little better. I felt a little more at ease up to hit, but I still did not feel one hundred percent.

We were winning until the final inning. We had a six run lead. But a severely bad call at second base cost us an out that would have ended the game. That allowed them to extend their inning and make the necessary hits to come back and beat us. That really sucked.

Final City Softball Game of the Season

I asked and got permission to leave work early to get back to Pullman. We had our final softball games of the season tonight. We are in a situation of win and play, or lose and go home.

I hit the road and was trying to make time. I got to Pullman around five-twenty. I left Bellevue around one in the afternoon. So not too bad of a trip time. I got my uniform on and went to the playfields. We were playing against Kimmel. En route to the playfields I got a call from Pete about an industrial accident in Pullman. So I gave him some info about how to get to the scene and I told him I would call when I was done with softball.

We could not get a rally going. We scored in three innings and each inning we only scored one person. It was a dismal performance for us out there. I was disappointed. I was batting last and playing EH. So I didn’t get to do too much. In fact I didn’t really do a darn thing. My at bats were both outs.

After the game was done I got my coveralls on and went to the scene. It was at the end of Terre View Drive. I helped to process the scene, then I went to the funeral home where we examing the injuries and made our final determinations about what happened.

Following that I went to the Zuu to meet up with the team for Jersey Night. We started at My Office, but I was not able to be there because of the coroner’s case. But I met up with them at the Zuu. I got a burger and some pop. We sat around for hours. We played some quarters while people were trying to drink.

Then it was off to Val Halla. We were there until nearly one-thirty in the morning.

Day Two of the Tournament

We started out the day sitting on top of the standings. All we had to do was win two games and we were going to be the champs. I spent a fair amount of the day hanging at the field watching My Office play their games.

They way they were playing it looked like we would be playing against them for the championship. After they won out, we ended up playing them. But we had been sitting for a couple hours and they were already warm. We went out there and hit really poorly. We also could not field the ball as they got solid basehits.

They went on to beat us. Then we were in a pinch because Misty had to leave shortly after the second game started. We were hoping to get the game going right away, but the umpire wanted to use the break we were suppose to have. So we finally got going on the second game. Misty had to leave about three innings into the game.

Our women did not hit very well. But we finally had a decent inning and caught up to My Office in the top of the seventh inning. We tied up the game. But we were not able to make the quick outs on them. They were able to get the bases loaded. Then one of their people hit to Matt at shortstop. He made a good diving play, but the throw home and the catch were a little offline and we lost by the run that scored.

We took our second place trophy and went to Cougar Country to celebrate it and have some dinner.

Post Season Tournament

When I woke up early this morning it was time to go play some softball. I got my uniform on and headed down to the playing fields. We had a rough ending to the regular season and this was our chance to redeem ourselves. It’s the post season tournament for the Cougar Country coed softball team. This season we have been a very strong team beating most of the competition we have faced.

Our first game we went out and killed the other team. Our defense was good our offense was good. Due to the victory we had a very long wait till our next game. Some people left to get lunch some people on around the field, I hung around the field.

We were playing pretty well over all. We were in the lead in each game. I had a chance for an inside the park homerun in a game, but the third base coach didn’t tell me to go. So when I turned and looked, after I stopped of course, I saw I could have made it. Later I hit a popup behind second base. I rounded first base. I saw no one was around second so I kept going. But the pitcher ran to second. I had to slide. I did. But I was still called out. That sucked. My chapstick in my back pocket broke open making a small mess.

We ended the day undefeated for the day. We go into tomorrow and with a couple victories we will be the post-season champions.

Ryan B is Moving to Hawaii

I was the debating on going to Colfax today. Around five o’clock PM, I got a phone call from Joe who said that Ryan and his new wife were having a get together for the friends down a Pete’s Bar and Grill. I was told and Joe and Michael B we’re both going down as well as a couple other guys from the softball team. Food and beer was being served to everybody there. Ryan had bought keg and was barbecuing hamburgers and hot dogs. Joe said everyone was getting there around five-thirty.

I got down to Pete’s Bar and Grill at the time everybody was gonna get there. Michael B was already there and ordering himself a drink, Joe showed up shortly thereafter. We went out on the patio and hung out with Ryan and his new wife and his friends. Dan showed up about an hour later to be with us. I went into the bar and got him a glass of beer. We talked softball and relationships for the next couple hours.

As it was getting dark we went inside the bar and hung out some more waiting for Ryan’s wife to get the video. They had a video of their wedding ceremony from Hawaii. It took a couple hours to get it from the computer with finally was ready to be shown. We went into the restaurant portion of Pete’s Bar and Grill. The video was about 10 minutes long and it was really good. Ryan look happy to be getting married a little on the nervous side. While at the bar he been drinking most the day and was very drunk. He was passed out in the back of the car and Joe and I went to get him to watch the video.

After the video was over everyone was getting ready to go their own way. Ryan and his wife are moving to Hawaii. This is one of the last times we will the chance to see them. As each person was leaving we gave Ryan a hug and his wife of a hug.

I had a good day I was glad I did not go to Colfax. I had planned on working at the jail but this call came in shortly before I was going to leave. I had a good time hanging out with Ryan and Dan and Michael B and Joe.

I was going to have to get up early in the morning so I was not able to stay out as late as everybody else. I went home around midnight and went to bed

Records Not Broken

Tonight the records were supposed to fall, however, when the other team could not come up with enough players to fill the team, we would end up getting a FFT. That sucked because Michael B, Bill, and I were all up for records to be broken. I needed one walk to tie Skyler. That was my goal. I did not want to beat the record because it has been around for so long.

Michael B really wanted the doubles record. I was going for that one too. He needed one to break it, and I needed two. We gave Michael B so much ribbing after not getting that record. We went to My Office to hang out for a while.

I was disappointed because I hate getting ready to play softball only to have it cancelled. I took some photos of the guys. Michael B was upset that he was not able to get his record. He said “that is gay” in reference to the other team not being there. Then he looked at me and said no offense. So he must know, but if he does that was the first indication that he knows. Only a small number of guys actually know, and those who do never make an issue out of it.

We went down to My Office and had some food and just hung out. Some of the guys got some beer and drank. I had my typical pop. I went home and worked on the website after the bar to get it completed and uploaded.

It Ain’t Over Yet

Though softball season is getting towards the end of the season, it ain’t over yet. We have tonight and one more game on Thursday before the regular season is over. I got a call from Joe about going to the bar before the game. I decided to make my way down there.

While we were sitting around talking Michael B said that he was only one double away from tying the record. I didn’t know he had been sneaking up on my doubles record goal. So now we have a fun little competition going on.

In the game Michael B hit a double which put him in a tie for the double record. I also got a double which put me one away from tying the record. I also got one walk to come within one walk from tying the record that has been on the book for seven years. I could have gotten a second walk, but I decided against it when the pitch was close.

The team went on to win the game by tweleve runs in the sixth inning. We went back to My Office. I got some dinner and pop. We hung out there for a couple hours. Then it was off to The ZUU. Nick, Michael B, Bill, and I went there. Brandon and Peter showed up. Joe was there working.

We were there for a couple hours. I had another pitcher of pop. I went home around midnight. I had to be up and take my truck into the shop in the morning to get worked on and I wanted to make sure it was there on time.

Last Coed Regular Season Game of the Summer

After finally waking up I spent most of the day just watching some TV, doing the laundry, and dishes. I was on the phone with Chapman when a call came out for a sick person. I told him I would come down for it. I got into my uniform and away I went to the station.

We headed out to the scene. The call lasted less than an hour. Back at the station I got tied up on the computer and showing Chapman a photo. I got home in time to quickly change and race to the fields. I was just getting home when I would normally like to be at the fields.

Kelly was giving me crap about driving fast. He said if he were in his patrol car he would have pulled me over. I told him if he was in his patrol car I wouldn’t have been doing it.

The game did not turn out too well. We were playing Zeppoz and could not hit the ball very well. It was strange playing against a lot of the guys I play softball with normally. To not root them on was strange. Steve, who got tossed last week, couldn’t play. Last week someone on the team said the umpired sucked so he threw Steve out, because Steve was the acting captain.

When I did the toss today I was told if Steve steps on the field today he would be thrown again, and I would be thrown as well. So I called up Peter and he came down to play. He showed up while we were in the field and went straight to the outfield. He played very well for us making a lot of outs.

We still ended up losing the game after only scoring three runs. After the game I went to Cougar Country with the rest of the team. We ate and talked softball. We have the end of the season tournament coming up next weekend.

I got home to finish up my laundry and caught a couple TV shows before calling it a night.

Day Two of the Emerald City Classic

We had our first game at ten in the morning again. So I was up at the field at nine in the morning for warm ups. We were in the rec C-division. It is a single elimination tournament from here out. We lose we go home. Our first game was against another Seattle team.

We should have really beat them down, but we allowed them to scored eleven runs in one inning which game them a huge boost. But we battled back and ended up beating them by a couple runs. We then went to play Chicago.

They scored early and often against us. We could not get runs going. We had a play at second base where our guy was running to second. Their shortstop was in the way and they collided. The short stop was down for a minute. Then he got up. Later in the game he was hurting bad and was having a hard time breathing.

I had hit a ball to the new shortstop. He made a throw across the diamond. I ran out the ball and was safe. When I got to first I looked over and he was on the ground being helped by a couple EMT’s. Then an ambulance came and took him to the hospital. We ended up losing.

On the way to Red Robin to have some lunch with the team I had a message from my mom. She said that Hargrove quit the M’s. That was a shock with the M’s on a seven game win streak and being four games out of first place.

When we were done eating we were sitting around the table talking. I remember something I just learned about the diameter of the opening of a glass compared to its height. That it is usually quite a bit larger. So I was showing everyone. I ended up putting the glass on top of a container with the packets of sugar, plus a cell phone. I measured it out and the mouth opening was still bigger. Then the glass fell from about three inches off the table and actually broke. Everyone was laughing.

When the food was done I went to Best Buy and got some CD-R’s that do lightscribe for my new burner. I went home and watched the M’s game. It was Hargroves last game. The M’s won again.

ECC Day One

I had to get up early to be up at the softball fields by nine in the morning. Playing cards to the wee hours did not help my sleep, but that is okay. I won money at cards, and now I get to play softball.

The team is mostly the same as last season with a couple of new players. We went out and quickly lost our first game. We ended up playing five games today and only won one of them at the end of the day. We started at the field at nine in the morning. We played five games and left there at eight o’clock at night.

Our pitcher took a ball off the chin like an upper cut as the ball bounced off the ground. He went down and went to the hospital, getting himself ten stitches. I was put in for him that game, because I was sitting out at first. I got a base hit. One of the few I got today. I had some walks, but I couldn’t hit the ball today. I was hitting poorly. We also had some pretty long breaks at times between games. One break was about three hours.

After all the games a couple of us went to Seattle to get some pizza at a place close to R-Place. At first I wasn’t going to go, but as I got on the highway to head home I decided to go out. All I knew was the place had Off Broadway in its name.

It was not in the phone book so I had a hard time. I just drove around a little bit back and forth and then I found a place called Billy’s Off Broadway. It was the correct place. The pizza was good. We sat around talking about a little of this and a little of that before leaving. The others were going out to the bars, I decided then to go home.