Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

    By the time you read this I probably won't be
able to walk!  It's not a new disease. It's an old
one. It's called "Softball!"
    OK. Maybe it's more of an addiction than a
disease.
     Somebody talked me into coming out for a
Church League game when I was about 16. I
wasn't sure I'd like it...until I came to bat and
hit a home run! I was hooked!
     I turned to pitching back then and threw a
three hit shutout in a playoff game. I've been
a pitcher ever since even though my 'Fast Pitch
Days' are long gone.
     Dave Kuharchik invited me to play with his
WBRE team in a tournament at PNC Field
yesterday.
    Of course we weren't allowed to use the
regular field. That had two make shift fields
set up on the outfield grass. Guess they didn't
want any of our star players tearing up the
infield.
    It was 'Double elimination.' That means you
get to lose twice!   I guess nobody told us we
weren't suppose to.
    We should have seen the writing on the wall
(or scoreboard) when we saw some of the guys
on the first team we played. How they got the
day off from their Major League spots I'll
never know.
   The guys on the second team weren't quite as
big and our 12 to 1 lead in the second inning
had us feeling pretty confident. When the
game ended, however, we still had the 12
and they had 13. We had been doubly
eliminated.
   That's not to say we didn't make an
impression! Kuharchik had a mammoth home run!
Joe Garrison shined at the plate and in the
field as did 28's Jeremy Deebel!
   Jason Cohen swung a mighty bat and was
able to catch all of my pitches that managed to
get by the opposing batters. (Guess he wasn't
all that busy behind the plate!)
   I can't mention everybody's name...I don't
know them!  Seems we bought...ah..brought...
a couple extra players too!
   Since the games were limited to a half hour
and we had extra players I only got up to bat once.
But I made the most of it and....well...I...that is..
..you see..I walked. (Told you I had a "good eye!")
   OK. So we weren't the Yankees. Maybe
more like the "Bad News Bears."
   And yes.....they did hit me an my alternate
pretty hard.
    But consider this.....in the year when
Derek Jeter got his 3,000 hit....I continued a
pitching streak that included at least one
Softball game every year for the past 52
years!
   Take that Roger Clemens!
   Now...where's that liniment?
   Hope your batting average is high, your
ERA low, and that all your NEWS is good!