One for the Gipper

My softball team lost again last night. We've been playing four weeks and we've lost three games. And before you go telling me that 1-3 isn't THAT bad, the only reason we didn't lose last week is we were rained out. (Hey, we take our victories non-loses where we can get them.)

I'm personally getting better; back when I was a teen, the last time I played baseball with any regularity, I was fat but I could play ball. I wasn't much good at other sports, but I could move faster (in short distances) than most people would have though, I had pretty good hand-eye coordination, and a decent arm. But other than a pick-up game here and there when I was in the Army, I haven't played since then.

And it showed! The damage I've done to my right shoulder over the years really makes itself known when I throw. Running is a dicey affair, as between my hips, knees and ankles I don't know that something isn't going to give out. I played the outfield the first game, but I was too slow to chase down the ball, and then I couldn't get it back to the infield with any kind of pep or accuracy. I did better at second base the next game, but I made a lot of mistakes out of lack of confidence and muscle memory.

But last night I was at second again, and I did much better. I made some good stops and throws (they still hurt like hell) and caught a screaming line drive that came right at me. (The last game when that happened, I let out a pathetic "eep!" and ole'd the ball right on by me.) My knees still hurt when I run, but I got a good hit when I was at bat and drove in two runs. And that's with me feeling like crap and achy trying to shake off whatever bug that's chasing me.

So I'm starting to get something back, but as a team we suck. And we won't get any better because there isn't a collective will to have any kind of practice. In the four weeks we've been playing and three weeks before the season even started, we've had a total of two practices. Our "coach" didn't have any kind of plan, so we just randomly hit and chased the ball, clumsily, and called it a day. And it's not really his fault; he just doesn't have the "coach" personality to make people work hard to get better. (And no, neither do I.)

It's supposed to just be for fun, and I doubt we'd really be all that much better if we practiced at least the once a week I keep lobbying for. I don't mind the losing, even losing ugly (we haven't made it past the fourth inning yet because we keep getting the slaughter rule, which says if you're down 15 runs at the end of the fourth the game is called.) But I am competitive enough to want to see some improvement. For now, I'll have to be content with my own self improvement.