Best Softball Game Ever, Even Though We Lost

Yesterday I got to play all innings of a fast-pitch softball game. My team usually has extra players and since I am not as good as most, I tend to sit on the bench for half a game or so. But yesterday we had no extra players and therefore I played right field the whole game. It was the best softball game I've been in for a long time, not because we won by a landslide--in fact, we lost the game by two runs--but because our team played really well. There were mistakes in fielding, base-running, and batting. But everyone got the opportunity to make some good plays. That is, there were great catches, great hits, and good steals. And then there were almost-catches, almost-good hits, and almost-steals that were notable because they were made by some of our worst players, including me. Here is an example: I got up to bat four times. The first time I hit a fly ball that was caught by the right-fielder. The second time, I hit a ground ball that got fielded by the shortstop, but he dropped it. He recovered and threw the ball to first base, just in time to get me out. I was running really fast and had to slow down just before the first-base bag in order to hit it with my stride; this slow-down in speed probably caused me to get out. But no one was upset; I am one one fastest runners on the team, so even my 85% effort was appreciated because it was faster than everyone else's 100% effort. The third time I got up to bat, the coach gave me the sign for a bunt. I have never, ever, bunted before--not during a game, anyway. But I wasn't nervous and I did what I was told. I bunted really well, except I forgot to hit the ball to the ground. It had too much air, and was caught by the third-baseman. Thus, it was an unsuccessful bunt in two ways. I didn't get to first, and none of the base runners were able to advance because they had to tag up. Nevertheless, my team was really impressed. John said "you did really good, considering how often we ask you to bunt." That's a great attitude, and it shows my team cares about more things than just winning a game. At my fourth at bat, I hit a line drive into right field and made it handily to first base. However, the runner at third base got caught off the bag and was tagged out. Oh well!

This is my blog, and thus most stories are going to be about me. But there is one other player on the team that is perhaps worse than I am. Ryan usually plays right field when he's not sitting on the bench (like me). But this time our infield was short-handed and the coach put him at second base. He played brilliantly. He caught pop-ups and line-drives and made no fielding errors at all. I was dumbfounded at his performance. This just goes to show that people should always be given new opportunities because you never know how well they'll do until they are given the chance. I hope the coach puts Ryan at second base more often.

I'll wrap this up by mentioning that I swam yesterday, too. I swam 1,150 yards in 45 minutes, including 3x25s that were at top speed. I think I'm getting faster. Now I've got to convert those 3x25s into 3x50s.