Softball Game Evening

I departed the office earlier than usual but really I am not sure what “usual” would be!! There are days where I have “typical” office hours and days where I have “atypical” hours. I do have flexibility in my position and the people I work for understand there is life outside of the office. There is no need to set “boundaries” with my bosses and as long as I am doing what I am supposed to be doing along with adding some type of “value” to the company I can depart the office when the need arises. The need arose last night as my daughter had a softball game. The weeks have entered the “rhythm” stage where both my son and daughter have one game and one practice during the week and the weekend there are games as well for them. The days during the week vary and it seems the premiere days are Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for the games and practices.

Last night posed a bit of a challenge because along with my daughter having a softball game I also had the Monday evening Gamblers Anonymous speaker’s meeting. This meeting meets every other second and fourth Monday of the month and when there is a fifth Monday. Thankfully last night was the only time where the two schedules conflicted. My daughter does have another game (next week) on a Monday but that is not a scheduled Speaker’s meeting.

I departed the office and headed over to my daughter’s game where she was the starting pitcher. As I have chronicled before her team isn’t having the best season but daughter is starting to shine. She is coming into her own as a pitcher and is clearly the leader on the team. It does help that she is the one of the oldest players on the team and the fact that this is her fourth season playing softball. It was so cool driving up to the field and seeing my daughter making her warm-up pitches on the mound as the game was about to commence. She gave me one of her big beautiful smiles as I approached the field and it was clear to me she was enjoying herself.

My daughter did pitch well but since she isn’t the fastest pitcher in the league in terms of ball speed the hitters do hit the ball. Also; there are no such things as “routine” outs at this level and every hit ball is an adventure along with every non-hit ball. In the Major Leagues a player is doing very well if they make 7 outs in 10 at bats but in this league if a player hits the ball the chances of that player making it to first base is at least 9 out of 10. Additionally; coupled with the fact that the girls are allowed to steal bases a runner who makes it to first is virtually guaranteed to make it to third base on the ensuing pitches. It does make for a long inning but thankfully there are rules that prohibit the score from getting out of hand. The team who is leading is only allowed to score four runs in an inning and if a team is trailing that team is only allowed to take the lead by four runs. Most times the four runs come before the requisite three outs and yes, my daughter did give up the four runs.

I did notice a big advancement in my daughter’s pitching ability and her confidence is starting to show. Last season she was a wreck when one of her coaches took her out of the game in the middle of an inning but this season she has much more determination. This determination can cut both ways because she is her own worst critic. My wife and I don’t have to put on any pressure on our daughter because she has that covered herself!

Yes, she is determined to do well but when things don’t go so well she does have a tendency to get down on herself. This is getting a little better this season and I really do believe that by the end of the season she is going to be a very good pitcher. My daughter does have the hitting down and her slow start at the plate has heated up. She reached base in both of her plate appearances and scored two runs. She is more comfortable batting and is quite the hitter in spite of her limited size. It is apparent that my daughter is most likely going to be petite her whole life but at some point she will hit that growth spurt so it will be interesting to see how this equates to her already strong batting.

My daughter’s team did lose the game and the score escapes me. Her team will certainly lose more games than they win and they are still searching for that first victory. There are so many girls on her team that haven’t played softball before this season and many of these girls need so much more practice and instruction. She does have good coaches who do care about teaching the game and I think that learning the game along with having fun is essential for the girls to continue playing softball. My daughter is learning and is having fun. I also believe that winning and losing is superfluous to the girls and is more of a concern to the coaches and some parents. These are 8, 9, 10, and 11 year old girls who really could care less about the outcome but I guess at some point this all changes. They are learning and hopefully by the end of the year the learning will pay off for the girls.