Softball

As you can see by the time stamp, I'm not sleeping like I should be. I slept for a little bit, then was wide awake. I hate lying in bed trying to sleep, when you know its not going to happen. So I decided to get up and try to trick my brain into being sleepy again. I thought I'd write about the end of my softball season.

This was my second summer to play church league softball with Adaton. We got knocked out of the tournament tonight. The softball/baseball format is probably on the bottom of my skill sets. I'm just not that good at it. I played a couple of years of little league and still get harassed by those who remember my habit of 'hoping for a walk', but usually striking out. Playing home run derby in the back yard, I had no problem. Doing the same thing on the field; I haven't been able to connect. So I switched to soccer year round and church basketball growing up, and enjoyed those much more.

Anyways, my last at-bat for the season tonight I struck out looking. The ultimate no-no in baseball, and even worse in slow-pitch softball. I typically swing at the first pitch just to avoid that possibility. These pitches looked very much outside to me, but the ump saw it differently. Such a long walk back to the dugout after you strikeout. You almost want to just go ahead and walk to your car. I see how hitters can get in slumps more so than other sports. You have so long to analyze your failure in between at-bats it can get in your head. Soccer, basketball, football, etc. the action is much more continuous, so if you make a mistake you can shake it off quickly. You can also do little things in those sports, passing, defending, blocking, etc., to build your confidence back up, where as in baseball its all or nothing on hitting. What baseball lacks in 'endurance' associated with those other sports, it makes up for in head games.

We ended up losing by one run, which doesn't help one's feeling of blowing it. Brian Regan has a pretty good bit on striking out in softball which helps me to laugh at my own inability.

Maybe I can get to sleep now.