Monday night we played our first softball games in a very weird league. This is spring softball and we are only playing for one night a week for five weeks. There are only five teams in the league, but we get to play eight games. So we have double-headers three of the five weeks. But I'm not complaining!
The fields are very nice - groomed infield, both dugouts have benches with backs and a water fountain, covered spectator seating. I was pleased that we had two umpires for the games, one for home plate and one for the field.
We won our first game and lost the second of our double-header. It was raining most of the second game. Eyeglasses and rain don't mix. "Luckily" we were out in the field most for most of the game (did I mention we were creamed?) and my catcher's mask kept most of the rain off my eyeglasses.
I was rather bummed because this league is very picky about not allowing usage of illegal equipment. The umpire inspected our bats and told me to bag mine. It's so old and well used that you can't read any label on it so you can't tell if it's a softball bat or what. So I had to use one of the newer bats that the youngsters brought.
I was also pleased that both of the teams we played were made up of nice folks who liked softball. We were all out for a fun time and some good, clean softball with exemplary sportsmanship. There were no hot heads or overly-competitive people.
DH and I have played in leagues that were not fun because of misguided players. Hey! We play recreational "C" league slow-pitch - if you're that competitive, move up to "B" or "A" league play. Play fast-pitch. Play baseball. Get over it.
Normally, I never lose my temper playing games. But there was one game where I did. The team we were playing trash-talked and mocked us the whole game. They made fun of everything we did. I found it rather annoying that the umpire didn't say a thing to them.
It was a close game. They were up to bat with two outs to go and a runner on third. They had to score two runs to win. The guy on third had heckled me while batting, telling me I was worthless and everyone knew that the worst girl players had to play catcher because they couldn't do anything else.
The batter hit the ball and our left fielder snagged it. One out. He threw the ball to me and I tagged the third base runner who was sliding head-first into home plate. I'm afraid that "lost my balance" and mashed his face heavily into the dirt while tagging him on the back of the head. The umpire called him out and we won the game.
I asked the umpire why he let them get away with all the trash-talking. He looked real sheepish and said the other team's coach was his brother-in-law and he had to keep peace in the family. Geesh.
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