Random thoughts about a random game

It was hot. Too hot. I tried to hydrate pre-game, but did not do a good enough job. Oh, well. Come game time, it was still sizzling. This week I was set up at first base and, since Casey wasn't there, I would play the full game. In the first inning I came up with Betsy on first, I was hitting second. I think this entire season, in 5 games + 4 tournament games, I have gotten out 3 or four times total...and 2 of those were in the pre-season tournament. During the 5 games of the season I only made out twice, so I was feeling pretty confident. Sure enough, the first pitch was exactly what I wanted, waist high and towards the outer part of the plate.
Historically, that is the type of pitch I jump all over and drive. At this stage of my life I am probably not going yard, but it is going deep to right field, yielding me a double or triple and RBI. This time, as I started my swing, the ump yelled "illegal"...and, contrary to my teaching, I started thinking "should I swing or hold up?" Naturally, I ended up popping out weakly to first. So embarrassing.
At least I made up for it in the second inning when they lined a shot that might have gotten by some of our team, but I picked it off for the out. Later, a slow roller was hit that normally the second baseman would handle. I started towards the bag, realized the second baseman wasn't moving, dove back to my right, stopped it, rolled over and from my stomach backhanded it to first to get the out. Woo-hoo, my defense is strong today!
And so it continued. Twice throws threatened to pull me off the bag and to catch the ball while still making the out, I ended up lowering the boom on people. Now, in my own defense, they were illegal in crossing the white bag (in slow-pitch, there are TWO first bases, and the outside orange one is what the runner MUST use if thee is a play)...but I am not the type of person who plays dirty or who is willing to hurt another person over a garbage league softball game, so I still felt bad. But I also made both plays.
Well, as it turned out, we were down 8 - 6 after two...and after three...and after four...time was growing short. Then we got a couple quick outs against their better hitters, but something happened...their weaker hitters started getting just that little bit of luck...balls just a bit off line from normal...and the next hing you know, with two outs they have runners on first and second with the top of their line-up at the plate. He drilled it into the gap in left center. Being baseball smart, I instantly went to back up the play at home plate, but the girl there deferred to me. Our left-center fielder is a top notch player (for our team) and came up firing. Inexplicably, the girl running from second decided to head home. James threw it in to Kyle, and I was yelling "Kyle, home, hard". He turned and threw a bullet. I swear that ball moved a foot he had so much spin on it, and it beat her by a solid two steps, allowing me to tag her well in front of the plate and end the inning, keeping them from scoring.
In the top of the next inning I came up with 2 outs and 2 on, still down by two. Badly embarrassed by my first two at-bats, I elected just to take the first pitch he gave me and, instead of placing it as I usually do, i was just going to drive it hard. And I did...over the left fielders head, giving me a triple and us the tie. Emy batted next and she hit an insdie the park home run, giving us a 2 run lead. James then bounced one out for a ground rule double, and Betsy then grounded out to end the inning. In the bottom half of the inning, we shut them down again, then time was called and we won the game 10-8 when we should have lost it.
I felt pretty good in that on a day when my bat was...well...pathetic, I still had a key hit and managed to make 5 or so plays that made a huge difference in keeping us close. And we won in crunch time, so overall it was a grand success. And in a game where I have to rely on others to do things instead of doing it all myself as I typically do, that is pretty cool.