Not quite in the cellar, but on the steps

Unlike the Texas Rangers, our softball team isn’t at the bottom of our division, but we’re close, being in third place out of four teams. We dropped another heartbreaker yesterday, losing by two runs.
The game found us opposite Faith Lutheran, the undefeated squad in our group, and it was certainly the best game we’ve played against them. Yet again, I believe if we would have had time for one more inning, we may have been able to stage a comeback.
Our defense was much tighter, even with some of the mental errors made. I was guilty of committing one of these; I could have turned a double play and failed to do so. I was playing at short, with a runner on first. The ball was hit to my side of second base, and I jumped on it, coming up toward the bag. I could see our second baseman moving to the base, and I thought she might get there before me, so I tossed her the ball.
She, on the other hand, figured I had everything in hand, so she was surprised to get the ball. We got the runner out at second, but her throw to first was too late. If I had just committed to making the out at second myself, we could have pulled off the double. I’ll know better next time.
As a team, we were much more patient at the plate, and that helped us with getting on base enough to keep the score close. I was two-for-three at the plate, and if I been a little more patient myself on that third at-bat, I may have gone for a thousand on the day. As it were, I did get one run in off of my second single, though my first hit, leading off the second inning, was my best of the day, a shot over the pitcher into center that dropped in front of the outfielders.
I think the fact that team was simply playing better as a unit made this loss a little easier to swallow. Again, winning more would be nice, but it’s great to get out to the ball field for an hour or so and play, sharing time with friends and neighbors. One advantage of playing the same teams over and over again is that you get to know your opposite numbers, which leads to fun and interesting on-field banter. Here’s hoping the weather is as great this coming Sunday as it was yesterday.