Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Wearing it all week

It was a long baseball game Sunday. We actually paid to have it filmed, so we’ll get a DVD of the game at some point, which will be good. We were delayed to start, and it was hot, but we got off to a good start. We played well, and had the lead until the bottom of the last inning.

I didn’t have a great game, but the team played well. I was at third almost the whole game, taking an inning off when another guy wanted to play there. For most of the game I didn’t see a ball at all, not touching a game ball except for throws to the pitcher and a toss down after one strikeout. At the plate I saw the first pitcher well, but topped a low ball for a hard grounder to second (out) and popped one high to first (out). The last time I was facing a new pitcher that mixed a lot of slow curves with some fast ones. I was looking curve and he never threw one. A good pitch inside that I let go, one outside that I didn’t reach, a ball, and then a high inside one that felt like a strike and I didn’t catch up to. 0-3, and didn’t get up again.

We played against a couple former players from our team, and one is a big guy. 6-2, 240ish, he’s a lot bigger than me, and I definitely played behind the bag for him. He grounded twice to short, then ripped a low grounder between third and short that neither of us reached. Then he came up again.

Bases loaded, I stepped back and he ripped a bouncing grounder to third. Glad I was back, and I stayed down since we were on turf and I worried about the ball sliding. I stayed down a little long and it bounced a little higher. I ended up catching it with my forearm, trapping it against my body. I grabbed it, ran towards third and tagged the runner coming from second. A good play, but I had the dusty imprint of the ball and stitches on my inner forearm. I talked with him later and he said I’d be thinking about him all week.

He’s right as I keep bumping the forearm and it’s sore. No bruise to see, but definitely sore as he hit that ball hard.

We led the game by 2-3 runs most of the time, but walked the bases loaded in the last inning and walked in a run. Then there was a grounder to short where we caught the runner at home. Then a hit that tied the game, and we were playing right. A grounder to me that I fielded and threw home for the out, but I was trying to be sure I made the catch and throw, and was slower than I could have been. No time to throw to first.

Last guy rips one between third and short. We couldn’t reach it and a walk-off hit defeated us. Tough loss for some guys on the team, but we played well and it was fun.

No comments: