Exhaustion after four softball games. Won all four to secure second place and a berth to the World Series in August (I don't know how I will pay for it, but I don't want to think about that now). The first two were regular season games and we run ruled both with scores of 13-2 and 14-4. They two other teams tied with us won their games so we had a three way playoff for second place, the world series berth on the line. These were the two teams who beat us, our only loses this year, in the first two weeks when we were not settled in positions or players. We won 11 straight after the second week to finished 12-2. Two other teams finished 12-2 and one team finished 13-1. So we had a single game elimination playoff.
The first team was a team of good hitters and they came back to beat us by one run in the second week of the season. They won the toss so they got the home team advantage. Though they had a couple of ringers that had to move up to the C division (and their coach was booted off the ratings committe for allowing those obviously C players to play the first five weeks... one move from a 9 to a 14 rating. A 14 rating would be a B player, so the coach was very unethical to keep him playing in D). Anyway, I was able to shut them down so we won in four innings 21-2.
The second team beat us handily in the first week of the season. They are an excellent team, but we had five new players and no idea where they should play. Three of those five never played ball before and all five had to play that day. (I must have written about it back then... and checking entries to provide a link for your convenience because you want to know everything, right?... I didn't write about those games at all. Which is a wow. An oh wow, even. It shows how unsettled and blah I was during those weeks {that was the week of the move}, but that's then and now, much better).
So game two of the playoff was for all the marbles. They won the toss so again, they had the home team advantage. We started slow because they have a good defense, but I was able to shut down their hitters most of the time. We had an eleven run lead (14-3) in the fifth but then came back in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to nine (14-5) forcing another inning. We pushed the lead to eleven again (16-5) in the sixth and we held them off in the bottom of the inning so we won 16-6. That put us in sole possession of second place with a 14-2 record and secured the world series berth (only two teams go).
We can take solace in the fact that we beat the #1 team 7-1 in seven innings and they were the home team. That was their only loss for the season. (and we've beaten them the last four times we played them and beat them last year in a playoff for first place). I felt great because IO pitched lights out and hit very well all day. I think I had three or four doubles (and could have pushed at least two for triples but we did not need the runs). I knocked in at least eight runs, maybe more. I'd love to see the stats for those games.
After the games I headed home to shower, sit for a few minutes, then headed out to the end of season awards dinner. I was starved, so I ate a big plate of broiled chicken, pulled pork, macaroni and cheese (two kinds) and assorted toppings like extra cheeses and bacon and odds and ends. I hung out with the team and softball friends for a bit, cheered the awards, got my T-Shirt (Softball is not big on prizes lol). Not being into alcohol anymore (never really loved it), I headed home early.
I wandered Facebook for a bit, played Ruzzle for a bit, then went to bed.
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