Softball

I thought seriously about not playing softball this year because I figured it was just going to be too tough to keep everything in balance schedule wise. As much as I enjoy playing, I was thinking that making the mad dash to get the kids, meet Meredith at home and then scream to the fields as fast as I could to be in time for the games might not be worth the hassel.

Tonight was our first game and the first race to get there by 6:20. I got out of work and got the kids, locked them down in the car and cruised home. Once we got in, I got Cooper a snack and Cosmo started screaming like crazy. Turns out he had crapped himself silently then freaked. After getting him changed I looked at the clock...5:35. Mere called and said she was just leaving. It takes about 15 minutes to get home from the mall depending on the lights. I got my stuff all ready and changed and Mere got home at 5:55. I hopped in the car after she took a minute to get settled and arrived at the fields at 6:10. Just in time.

This year, thanks to Derek Loupin's place of employment, we got sponsored and got free shirts so there were no league fees to have to come up with. The last 4 years, most of the team was Unicel employees and trying to get everything paid for was apparently almost impossible. We did get shirts that we used for two years but this year we will be under the name Select Physical Therapy. They provided the money and gave us shirts so its pretty sweet. Matt Saucier was also able to score Verizon Wireless gear bags, hats and jackets.

We lost the game but it was a great night. I don't know what the final score was, just that we lost by one in the 7th inning. It was good to see that some faces have moved on, some have returned and a couple new ones have joined but essentially we have had the same core guys for the past four years. The league is a little different this year. The biggest change is that in this league, the ball and strike count works a little different. Last year there must have been a lot of rookie pitchers causing longer games because people did a lot of walking instead of swinging at shit pitches. This year, when you come up to bat, you automatically start with a 1-1 count. Its obviously early in the season but I think I like it as it seems to make the game run a little quicker. The other noticable change is that we are not using a standard Red or Blue dot softball. I think the league must have noticed too many home runs or injuries or something as we are now using a yellow ball with less kick off the bat. All in all, it was fun and I'm glad I'm playing this year. I went 4-4 at the bat with three crummy infield singles and one infield triple on errors.