The bowling team has been doing well in the first round. We came into the final week, the position round, in second place and down just three points. We’d be playing the first place team, so we had an excellent chance to finish the round in first. With seven points possible per night (two per game and one for total pin count), we needed just 5 to force an extra game or make the playoffs straight away.

Unfortunately, we had trouble fielding a full team. One regular was already traveling for work when another got asked to go a on a short notice trip as well. None of our subs were available and our roster is technically full. We really didn’t have any good options to field a full team, so we bowled with four. That means the fifth man automatically gets a calculated score of his average minus ten pins.

The whole night was pretty frustrating. Bowling without a full team seems to throw everything off just enough that nothing goes quite as you’d like it. We lost the first game by a wide margin – 94 pins. But we came back and took a commanding lead in game two (over 100 pins at times), only to watch it slip. We still won by 28 pins, but we didn’t make up as much of the differential as we would have liked. We also won game three, but only by 41 which wasn’t enough to get us into an extra game. We fell 25 pins short even though we won two games out of three. That slim a margin over three games…so close.

It seems mother nature has flipped a switch and shorts weather is abruptly over. Lower temperatures mean it’s time for me to think about changing sports. Bowling started up last week and runs for 31 straight weeks. Fall softball has a few games left, so it’s busy. Add that to sabbatical planning, and I’ve got plenty to do after work.

My bowling average last year wound up at 176. It wasn’t quite the same improvement I’d seen in previous years, but it was solid enough. I haven’t bowled much since April, so I knew I probably wouldn’t have a great start. Last week’s scores were even worse than I was expecting, with an abysmal session average of 133. Our newest team member, Ben, grabbed the 4th highest average in the league, but that was the lone bright spot as the team lost all seven points for the night. It wasn’t exactly the start I was looking for, but it did set my bar nice and low for this week.

On the softball side of things, we were absolutely crushed in our first game back on 8/26 which was a little disheartening. After a rain out and two weeks without playing, I wasn’t sure what to expect for game two. The other team jumped out to a small lead early in the game, but we played pretty solid defense and kept them close. No one really hit the ball hard, and our usual best hitters were putting up lazy flies and dribbling grounders left and right. Still, we were able to eke out enough hits to stay in the game. In the sixth we were finally able to take a 7-6 lead. I played second base that night, so I was pretty pumped when I was able to make the turn for a 6-4-3 double play to end the game and cap off our first fall win.

Apparently the momentum didn’t stop there. Both the team and I performed much better at bowling this week. I had a 181 session average, the team won all seven points for the night, and Ben moved up to the top average in the league. My overall average jumped from 133 to 157.

I’ve been pensively looking forward to tonight’s softball game. On one hand, some of the guys on the other team were on the team I played with my first year in Madison. It was not a very good softball year for me, so I’ve been anxious for any opportunities to show I’m a better player than I was then. On the other hand, I knew that their team was pretty solid on both offense and defense, so we’d have to play well to stay with them.

The game turned out to be a pretty good one all around. Both teams scored a run in the first inning, but from there no one was making great contact with the ball on either side. For them, their major power (a few of the guys I know) couldn’t get the ball out of the infield. For us, our guys lower in the batting order really came through while some of the rest of us still couldn’t find the gaps. The seventh inning started with us trailing 5-6; we were able to hold the line after a popup, a line drive, a single, and another popup. I led off the seventh with an awkward single that caused the shortstop to rush his throw, pulling the first basemen down the line toward me, and causing our feet to get tangled. I barely touched the base as I crashed and burned, but the call was safe so I felt fine except for the dust in my eyes and mouth. Unfortunately, my role in the inning ended there as our next batter got me doubled off of second on a fielder’s choice. This is where the middle and bottom of our order took control to bring around the tying run to score. Still with one out, we had the winning run at third base in one of our faster players. Our next hitter (already two for three), knocked one into shallow left and they appeared to have it played perfectly. Personally, I couldn’t decide whether our third base coach should send the runner, so while I would normally be yelling instructions, I kept quiet. I guess it was a good time to gamble (the game was already tied after all). After a split second of hesitation, the runner took off, the throw came in wide, and we won the game on a walk off sac fly.

Between two sports, that’s a three game winning streak in my book. Now I just have to get everything under control at work so I can forget all about everything for two weeks while we cruise around Italy. I can’t wait!

The car told me it was -14 outside when I drove to work this morning, and it will remain well below zero until sometime tomorrow with a low tonight in the -20s. Amber got the day off because Verona schools finally took notice of the ridiculous wind chills.

Luckily, I’ve got a few things to remind me of warmer weather to come. A week or two ago, we finalized a trip to Charleston, SC in early April. Amber’s brother and his wife welcomed a baby girl late last year, and we haven’t seen her yet. It should be a fun trip; the only downside is that we’ll miss out on our free tickets to the Brewer’s home opener…

Last week we bought tickets to 9 Brewers games for the upcoming season, including games against the Cubs (2), Mets, Cardinals, and Phillies, among others. Our seats are the same for each game – second level, first base side, about even with home plate. It’s something we really wanted to do last year, but didn’t feel like we could afford it with the down payment on the house looming. With the 9-pack purchase we got a 10th game (the home opener) for free, but it’s the same day we’ll be coming back from Charleston. We already have 3 people interested in buying the tickets, so I have to come up with a fair way to decide who gets them. Other than that, we’re excited!

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.