Wait 'Til Next Year

Hello again. Sorry for posting so late in the day. I'm swallowed in depression right now as we inexplicably lost in our radio league championship softball game last night 8-7 in 9 innings (we normally play seven...so obviously, we went extras). It was our strangest game of the season too (of course, we pick the championship game for our weirdest performance of the year).

We were the home team due to our higher seed in the tournament, so we took the field first. They scored three runs in the inning without hitting the ball square one time (I know that I probably sound like Hawk right now, but it's the truth). We walked two batters, made two errors, and they had two bloop hits that fell in between second base and the right fielder. Not a good way to start the ball game, but we were the best hitting team in that league during the regular season/playoffs so there was NO doubt in my mind that we would bounce right back with some runs of our own...and that's exactly what we did.

We answered right back with three runs in the bottom half of the first to tie the ball game back up (not to mention, we were actually hitting line drives all over the field compared to their duck snorts). All right. Back to zero-zero. When we took the field in the 2nd inning tied up, I just knew that we were going to start putting zeros on the board defensively, and guess what? They went scoreless for the next four straight innings. We were lock down in the field. Now, holding a team to four straight scoreless innings in a baseball game is good, but it's not that big of a deal. Holding a team scoreless for four straight innings in 16" softball, is pretty unheard of. Especially when you do it against the caliber of team that would be playing in a championship game.

So, I'm sure that you're thinking...How could you lose the ball game when you were tied at 3-3 and then held them scoreless for four straight innings? Well, I'll tell you how. They held US scoreless for four straight innings as well! We couldn't believe it. They made ZERO errors in the field, and made some spectacular plays too. Not to mention, we stopped hitting with runners in scoring position (not unlike your Chicago Cubs...I wasn't going to mention them today, but what can you do?), and had some base running blunders as well. We had a base runner get hit in the leg by a ground ball between 2nd and 3rd that cost us two runs, and I got thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on a single to left field. So there you have it. A championship game in a 16" softball league is tied at 3-3 heading into the top of the 6th of Seven innings.

All of a sudden, we completely imploded. Our infield (which had been making great plays all game long) started booting the ball around the field and our pitcher started walking their girls (I know that it sounds sexist, but anyone that's ever played co-ed 16" softball knows that a girl is an easy out 100% of the time. You CAN'T walk them). So they ended up breaking the 3-3 tie with a four run 6th inning, and seemingly blowing the game wide open in the process as we had just six outs left to work with.

In the bottom of the sixth, we loaded the bases with nobody out. We scored one run on an RBI ground out. Then I scored from third on a sacrifice fly cutting the lead to 7-5. That ended our scoring in that inning as we wasted a golden opportunity by only scoring two runs with the sacks packed and zero outs (White Sox style). We came back and shut them down 1-2-3 in the top of the 7th, and headed into the bottom of the inning needing two to tie, three to win. Our first batter ended up grounding out, but then the next two hitters reached base and we were able to tie the ball game on another RBI ground out sending this championship game into extras.

Again (for the sixth inning of this nine inning ball game) we shut them out in the 8th and took the field with our 6th-7th-8th hitters (all solid players) and a chance to win the championship in the bottom half. We'd come back from a 3 run deficit, and then again from a four run deficit. Now all we needed to do was scratch across ONE tally, and the trophy/money was OURS. FINALLY, it was OUR year in this league. Our lead off hitter smoked a line drive into the right field gap that I thought was at minimum a double, possibly even a triple. Then, out of nowhere (to our surprise/dismay) their right fielder makes a running/leaping catch robbing us of extra bases and probably the championship. Our next batter singled, but then we followed with two soft fly outs to end the inning. We were deflated.

In the ninth, their lead off hitter hit a sharp ground ball to our shortstop who made a nice play to field it, but rushed the throw and ended up over throwing the first baseman. This lead off error ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly and gave them the lead 8-7 heading into the bottom of the 9th. We had our 9th-10th-1st batters due up but they just couldn't get it done. We quietly went down 1-2-3 in the ninth, and The Mix celebrated with OUR trophy as we just watched from the dugout.

I know that it's just a stupid recreational softball league, and that the money would basically just cover our costs/uniforms/etc., but it still hurt losing this game. We were extremely confident coming in (having won seven games in a row, INCLUDING one against The Mix), and just couldn't imagine being held down for six of the nine innings offensively like we were (especially since we scored 22 runs the week before!) In yesterday's entry I mentioned that we were similar to the 2007 Colorado Rockies as we got off to a slow start, and then turned it on, running the gauntlet on the rest of the league and into the championship game...I had NO idea that we were running into the Red Sox.

Hit me up on facebook, www.myspace.com/theskyfall or in the comments section of this blog. Right now I'm listening to "Fleeting Porch" by Drag the River. Good rock band out of Colorado. Drinks of Choice: MHL.

Peace the F.
Webby