It ain't over 'til....

...well, I'm not sure.

Softball playoffs started last night. Top seed, 11-1 DataEase versus fourth seed 5-7 Urban Roots. We get there, and again the town of Trumbull has neglected to care for the field. A good 2 inches of rainwater pooled up in the right-handed batter's box, plus another inch or so just in front of second base. So, as was the case a couple of weeks ago when we played this team in the regular season, one of their guys scurried over to his parents' house to get two shovels and a rake so that we could groom the field and make it playable. If nothing else, it would be good and soft for sliding into 2nd base, rather than dried-out hard dirt.

We went down 5-0 in the first inning. We shoulda gotten out of it unscathed, as the LARGE woman on their team who plays 3rd base decided to try to score on a ball that bounced away from the first basewoman on our team. I don't remember who threw it to home, but the ball went over the catcher's head, and so she was safe. A similar play two batters later -- the pitcher getting in the way in front of the catcher, and the shortstop overthrew both of them amidst the confusion. Just awful.

Anyways, we got it back to 5-2 in the bottom of the first after a RBI singles for me and the woman behind me, but then I was stranded at third. We got single runs in the next couple of innings, gave up one more to have it be 6-4, and then tied it in the 6th, I believe. We play 7 innings, so at that point, all we had to do was "win a one-inning game". In the 7th we had a runner at third with one out....kind of a slap hitter up with a fly-ball hitting woman after him. I was coaching third and I sent the runner on contact. It was a grounder to shortstop, they threw home and their pitcher actually grabbed the ball instead of the catcher (like our team, we trust the guy pitcher to catch it cleanly, rather than the woman catcher) and made a swipe tag about 7-10 feet in front of home. I don't care if I got yelled at for sending him, I think it was the right play. Anyways, the woman up next did fly out to left, end of the 7th.

Eighth inning, I lead off after we hold them. There was no way I was putting one over their heads, they were very deep in right field (almost to a one-ton blocking sled that the high school's football team left waaaaaay out there that was too heavy to move, but also too deep to really be a problem getting in the way). I hit a line drive on one hop deep to the second basewoman....and beat the throw by almost a full step. Now I'm excited, because I'm one of our fastest runners. But I start hearing my team say I was out. Honestly, I'm like, "no I'm not" and I return to first base ready for the next hitter. The other team starts yelling at me, and finally the old coot umpire makes an out call. WHAT?! Needless to say, we had the bases loaded with TWO outs later in the inning (and I'd have scored before THAT to win the game if I'd been called correctly safe), and the next guy up hits a screaming liner that their left fielder jumped up to catch just above his head.

Ninth inning, they get the bases loaded with 2 outs, but I catch a liner in the gap to end the threat. Our left fielder starts jumping up and down all excited for the catch, but I'm still pissed about the out call at first. I go back to coach third again -- even though I got the guy thrown out at the plate in the 7th, I'm very good at making sure the runners hear me. With one out, that same guy hits a single to right and runs to second as they bobble it. I yelled at him to come to third, but I think he peeked back and thought not to. (I thought maybe he'd been afraid to trust me, but I found out later he had trouble in the soft dirt in front of second, which slowed him down.) Why is this important? Because we get another short single, so it's first and third with one out. Next guy pops up to the shortstop, 2 outs. Then the woman who I said always hits fly balls (as in the 7th) hits one to left....the left fielder breaks back at first, but then scurries forward and dives. And did NOT catch it. The umpire didn't say anything, which is what he's supposed to do -- you yell "foul" if it's foul, but otherwise just point inside the foul line for a fair ball. The left fielder had trapped the ball and then held it up to make it look like he caught it....and the old coot bought his story.

At this point, the woman who coaches our team is screaming at the umpire, who answered with something like, "what do you want, I can't see out there?" as it was getting quite dark. This was returned with, "if you can't see, then call the game!" and the always mature, "okay, it's called!" followed that.

So now I think we're supposed to play next Thursday, resume the game in the top of the 10th inning. I'm sure the other semifinal is finished, so we have to work out all the logistics of where will we play...
a) Do we finish on the same field? If so, there might not be time to get in the second game against the winner from the other semifinal.
b) Do we play on a field with lights? Do we resume the game on a different field? OR, do we finish our game on the same field, and then the winners drive across town to the field with lights?

In any event, we were supposed to play the championship game on Tuesday, but now there's talk that we'll play next Thursday instead (which will just push the season later into the year, after school starts up, and daylight hours get shorter and shorter)....On the bright side, we may not have to reschedule my fantasy football draft after all (previously scheduled for 8 pm on the internet Tuesday night).

I know this....if we hold them in the 10th, I'm going to chop a slow roller at their large 3rd basewoman and dare her to bend over to pick it up and throw it across the diamond to throw me out. Oh right, I wonder if we'll have the same umpire, too.

Stats for the season:

28 for 39, 20 runs scored, 22 RBI (.718 average, 4 HR)
3 for 4 in the all-star game with a triple
1 for 4 (really 2, except for that damned call!) so far in the playoffs -- I hit a hard liner that was caught, and then had a bad at bat where I grounded out...the dreaded "thinking at the plate instead of just swinging" problem.

Let's compare that to my men's league team: 22 for 44, 7 runs scored, 7 RBI (and considering 2 were HR -- that means I only scored 5 runs on my 20 other hits....and that's while hitting 3rd in the order)....God, that team was so bad.