Softball and 4-Wheelers

Hey, how ya doin'? Been a while, huh?

O.K., so softball and 4-wheelers, two of my favorite activities with my kids, and will be for a while to come, especially if Brayden gets into them. I could be going to the dunes with him until I'm in my mid fifties, and that's just 'til he graduates. Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On with the show, though. We have started our official softball season and played our first two games. We are 2-0 so far. We started by playing Alvord's finest in the 10 and under division. They played hard, but we beat them 16-5, and it would have been 16-1 if I hadn't put all of my younger girls in the infield in the last inning, I just felt bad for them. My pitcher, I have 3 good ones, but in this game it was Haley, was out of sight. Haley is our tallest girl, and she has developed a meanstreak and I love it. Last year she was so quite that you really didn't know she was there, now she is very competitive. She actually argued the one run that Alvord scored in the 3rd inning, because she just doesn't want to give up any runs. She struck out 9 of the 12 batters she faced in 4 innings, and she has a nasty little smile (smirk) on her face when she is in her windup. We have faced pitchers like her in the past, and the girls were intimidated. So, after what we went through in our Denton tournament last year, I think this year we could have a chance to at least win a game, maybe two. Before the game, I told all of the girls that they needed to swing the bat more, they do really good in practice, but in our scrimages they just stood there for the most part. All of them can hit, they just have to be willing to hit, and hit they did. We probably had more hits in this game that we did most of last year. I was very impressed and game everyone on the team a game ball.

In our second game, we played one of the hated Bridgeport teams, in Bridgeport. These games are pretty impressive from a fan turnout point of view. This game was on Friday, but on Monday, I worked the concession stand for a 12 and under game between Bridgeport and Decatur. I thought the football tesms were playing, it was intense, so I was kind of worried about our game in Bridgeport on Friday. I don't understand the Bridgeport-Decatur rivalry, because I'm not from here, but it is very intense, I actually thought I might get to see a Mommy fight at the 12 and under game.

So, off to Bridgeport we go. Again, we hit the ball very well, anyone who saw a game last year knows that there are a lot of walks in our league, because it is the first year of kid-pitch. Not now, we got a bunch of girls back, and if you put a ball over the plate, there is a good chance it will get hit. We scored our 6 runs in the visitor half of the first inning, then on defense, we struggled. Pitcher #2 did not have a good inning at all, she recorded no outs and walked in most of their 6 runs. So when we came up to bat again, the Bridgeport coaches were yelling at their players, especially their pitcher. Saying things like, "You gotta do better than that" , "Oh my god, you're not even close" , "What were you thinking!?" and on and on and on. So I pulled Jaclyn over to the side and said, "Do you hear how their coaches are treating the other girls?" She said "Yeah" And I said, "I really like beating people like that, but I will need your help a little." to which Jac-Jac replied, "Me too, I'll help you a LOT" Cool, now back to the game. We had knocked in two runs in the inning, with only 3 batters, then walked the bases loaded. Jessica was at the plate when she hit a pop up that was caught by their pitcher. The place went wild, and my girls could not hear me screaming at the top of my lungs to "Go BACK." Now the girl on third heard my assistant coach, but the runners on first and second did not. Gabrielle, on third, tagged up and scored, but Kendall on second and Letty on first did not and were finally tagged out, but not before Gabby crossed the plate. So we ended up scoring 3 runs in the inning, for a 9-6 lead. Also, time had expired, so we would not be batting again. As it stood, a fluke triple play, taking about 45 seconds to complete could lose us the game.

But, out went Jaclyn with another assurance to her coach "Don't worry, I got it." I wish I could have taken her word for it, but after her first inning, I did have my doubts, I love the girl, but I just had a bad feeling. So she proceded to strike out the first girl she faced, whew, no problem, right? Then a walk and a hit later, she struck out another. So two outs, runners on second and third, she gave up a hit to score 2, to make it 9-8. Then she walked two, so bases loaded, two outs, tying run on third, SHE STRUCK OUT THE NEXT GIRL. You're damned right she did, on three pitches, no less. As she walked over to me on the sideline, all smiles, she says "Told ya, I got it." To which I replied, "You sure do, Jac-Jac, you sure do." I am unsure if the other team knows they lost, in the melee of the triple play, I don't think they scored the run that Gabby scored, but I'll deal with that if it comes up. Basically our word against theirs, someone else can decide if it matters.

The reason that I am pushing the girls to do so well this time around, is that we have a seeded Wise county tournament at the end of the year, and the only other really strong team that I know about is also from Decatur. They beat us in the scrimmage a couple of weekends ago, and the girls did not like it at all. The other team is good, but prissy, all made up and ready to go out at 10 years old. Most of my kids look like they just left gym class, walked to the game and got in a fight on the way, just like I like 'em. Scrappers, almost every one of them. So we talked about it before the first game, and we decided to "Just win, baby." Hey, they're on board with it, so fine by me, let's do it. If they want to be competitive and have fun winning, instead of just showing up and having fun, cool, but there may be a game when we just don't have it, and they understand that and are ready to deal with it then.

One of the girls has an older sister that plays for the Decatur Lady Eagles softball team, which is leading district right now, and the rest know them and want to be them one day. So, I guess they are starting now. Should be fun. By the way, our regular season game against the other good Decatur team is tommorrow at 6:00. I'll let you know how it goes, hopefully well, but if not, that's OK too.

I know it's too long already, but let's face it, if you were actually busy right now, you wouldn't be surfing the internet. So read on, there is an accident ahead.

Sunday, Matthew and I went to Rocky Ridge, north of Decatur to ride our 4-wheelers. We rode and rode and rode for about 3 and a half hours. Lots of fun, a couple of drag races, and one big hill climb later, Matthew asked if we could go back over to the jumps again, because it was "Cool". So, off we went, over hills, through the woods, around the lake to get to the jumps. Well over by the jumps, there is an elevated road, maybe 3 feet tall. We were going down the road, and had to turn off of it to get to his smaller jumps. Now keep in mind that Matthew was jumping this road also, earlier in the day. I turned off of it and cruised over to park and watch him on the jumps, turned around to find him, because he is a good little rider and never strays far until we get to where we are going. But he was not close, so I thought he may have followed George, a good friend that used to work with me, a different direction. As I turned to look a different direction, I noticed some "dumbass" who had wrecked his 4-wheeler and it had him pinned to the ground, face first. THEN, it hit me, "OH SHIT, that's Matthew". All I could imagine in the 10 second blast over to him was broken legs, arms, and possibly gas dripping on him since his 4-wheeler was upside down on top of him. I got there about the same time as George, and we flipped the 4-wheeler off of him, and in typical Matthew style, he popped up, and started telling a story. I believe he was doing this not to cry in front of George and I, but he couldn't quite hold it. He is very hard headed, but in this instance, I actually needed him to cry, just a little to know it is OK to do so. He said, "I'm OK dad, I'm OK, thanks for getting that thing off of me. Man, as I turned off of that hill, the wheels turned the other way and I flipped." I said, "OK Matthew, stop, where does it hurt?" He said, "Well, my arms and legs are OK, I think, but my head hurts around my eyes, glad I didn't have my old helmet on." Yeah, me too, the helmet he wrecked in at the dunes was a cheap piece of shit that Polaris gave us when we bought out 4-wheelers. I said, "Matt, if you are OK, we can keep on riding, you didn't do anything wrong, these things happen. Do you want to keep going?" Of course he did, but he said we shouldn't tell mom, she shouldn't worry. No, I'm not informing her for the first time here, she busted us on our way to eat Greek food, which gives you bad GAS, by the way. I think I asked Matthew, "How's your head?" or something like that, and instantly knew I had given it away. So Angie says, "I was wondering about that mark around his right eye." DAMN!!! Oh well, off we went to eat Greek food, the appetisers were great, we had Hummus dip, Babba ganouj dip, tibbouli salad and Dolmas (rice stuffed in grape leaves), but my entree sucked.

Sorry it's so long, but if you are still reading, I was right, you didn't have anything to do anyway.

See ya then, sooner, like tommorrow,

Jim