We played our first double header last night. Of course I find myself playing 2 games while I’ve been beaten down with some illness that I haven’t been able to shake just yet, but oh well it’s kickball and I was still fine to play. Just a little on the tired side.
Our first game has us up against Jake’s Water Ice. They had beaten us in our previous meeting, but as a team we liked our odds facing off against them. We just felt we matched up strongly against them. Defensively we held them in check and put up lots of early runs. This was the perfect scenario, we didn’t have to expend too much energy late in the game with such a cushion.
My biggest personal memories of the game was me having to dive back to 1st base to ensure I wasn’t tagged up. I really thought if I came off the bag they’d be aggressive and throw at me, and given the distance I could easily dodge and advance a bag. They didn’t, and I almost got caught off the bag. Luckily I did mange to dive back headfirst onto the bag and stayed safe.
I played the shadow the pitcher position for most of the game. It worked out against them. I had a couple of sloppy plays still in the field, but felt I redeemed myself with a solid play at the plate. With a perfect relay throw from Irena I was able to catch and spin and peg out the runner literally a half step before she touched home plate. Erasing a run that I felt was my fault from an early error I made that inning.
The entire time really played a solid overall game against Jake’s. Offensive everyone contributed a lot, and defensively we were solid again. Geoff finally didn’t reach base to break his 1.000 average, but he still continued to hit the ball hard and in great spots.
We then had a short 5 minute break, before our second game against 24/7 Bait and Tackle. I used the break to get acquainted with the port-o-potty. It’s amazing how powerful a smell can be found in this during a July heat wave. Truly amazing.
We made some minor defensive adjustments in the field. Moving me to right field and swapping our girl platoon for the game to shallow infield/2B. These guys tend to kick further, and the adjustments did work.
Both teams had a stalemate going, and it really seemed like we might have to go into extra innings with a 0-0 score. We were great in the field, we just couldn’t produce a run this game. Players were getting on base (expect myself, popping up way too much this game), but our kicks weren’t coming in bunches.
I did make a running catch in the outfield, covering a good amount of ground in the process. You know you’ve been struggling defensively when you get that many high-fives and congratulations for catching a ball.
Bait and Tackle finally managed to score 2 runs late and that was enough for them to win on this night. Even though we didn’t win this won, overall we played some solid ball. If we can hold them to 2 runs a game, I really like our odds of winning most nights.
In other news Bait and Tackle just added a guy on their roster who quite possibly will pop a ball he kicks it so hard.
Can’t wait till next week, this continues to be amazingly fun.