My softball team from last year didn’t end up coming together again. Most of the guys found new teams, and I ended up on one with the Pharmacy guys from work, most of whom I don’t know. I tried to organize a few practices, but only a few people showed. Needless to say, it didn’t surprise me when we weren’t that great defensively. After losing our first 3 games, we really needed a win to keep the season from becoming monotonous.
Enter today with questionable weather and exactly 10 players available. It rained off and on from late morning to mid afternoon, but MSCR posted on their website that all games were still on and would play by umpire’s decision if there was more rain. So of course it started raining steadily about 6:30pm with no signs of stopping. I ate dinner, got dressed and started heading toward the field. On the way I got a text from one of my friends on the team saying there’s no way we were playing tonight. However, as I drove up to the park, the lights were on and the previous game was underway. Another guy who was already there said our game was still on. I called a few people to make sure they were still coming, and we started warming up in the steady rain.
Now the question became whether each team would have enough players. The max for the field is 10 (more can bat) and you can play with as few as 8, though it’s pretty tough. As game time drew nearer, all 10 of our guys showed up but they only had 7. Since everyone was already out there soaking wet, we didn’t really want to win via forfeit, so we sent one of our guys to their team and had a legal game.
Turns out, the field wasn’t as bad as it could have been because the infield was comprised mostly of sand. The rain actually stopped for a while during the game and when it did start again it was lighter than before. We actually played pretty solid defense for the first time all season and our offense was doing a good job of finding the holes (they played with 3 infielders and 3 outfielders). We had a big lead going into the 6th, but then they started finding the gaps as well and put up enough runs to take the lead in the top of the 7th (final inning). They were up one going into the bottom of the inning, so we needed 2 runs to win the game. Through a series of hits (including one by our slowest runner), we managed to load the bases and then pitcher walked in the tying run.
So now there’s 2 outs, bases loaded. The game is tied. Who’s up? That would be me. Cliche I know, but it’s true. I’d already had a pretty good night with a single and a double. I’d been able to pick a spot and hit it in my previous at bats, so I figured why not look for the biggest opening and see if I could hit it. Their shortstop was playing just to the left side of second and the first baseman was shaded toward second, but not far from his regular spot which left a big gap at second – bingo. Surprisingly enough, I hit the spot perfectly for a seeing eye single that brought home our slowest runner and won the game. Walk off, baby. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
