I played softball tonight for the first time in two years. Some buddies from up in Mason needed an extra for a game tonight so I pulled out the softball pants and dusted off the glove. Kelly and Kaelyn tagged along which was awesome. I've never been a great hitter, but I usually have a great glove and can use my speed to make up for everything else. I popped out my first time up when I had to chase a ball outside on a 0-2 count. The last two at bats I ran out a couple of balls for singles. And I ended up pinch-running for this one guy throughout the night which worked out rather well for our team, scoring twice.
The first fly ball hit to me in the outfield is what messed with me. Two years is a long time not to field a fly ball and it showed. A guy hits a can 'o' corn my way and I'm tracking it decently. But I didn't play the breeze at all so I let it sail just over my extended glove. It was rather embarrassing; I'll be thinking about that for a few weeks. I did get a chance of redemption later proving, to these guys who didn't know me, that I could actually catch a fly ball.
There were some cool moments as we got to see some old friends. And Kaelyn was a blast.
I've taught her to say "baseball" and she was saying it over and over again on our drive up there. And she enjoyed playing with a softball by the bench all night, until one time I took the field and she burst out in tears.
But the best part was earlier today when Kaelyn looked at Kelly's Reds shirt and said, "baseball?" We've never really taught her anything about the Reds, so I guess she picked up on it as we leave the FoxSports game on the television: The Reds "wishbone C" = baseball. Much to the chagrin of her Braves-loving grandfather, this girl bleeds Red . . . figuratively and literally.
It twas a very good night.