Well, the lots of softball games I could have played turned into only three.  Two losses Friday and we were done, and one loss tonight.  0 for 3.   Darn.

Tonight was typical, for Sundays.  Everybody else loads up for the league tournament, bringing out ringers to strengthen their tournament team.  But we were missing 4 players and filled in with spare parts, and lost 10-9.     I'm done with that, as far as putting our own team in the league.   Next year I plan on latching on with another team and just showing up and playing.  I'll be much happier doing that than making 20  phone calls and sending 30 text messages every weekend trying to get enough players.  I'll let someone else worry about that.

Friday night was rough.  Incredibly rough.  I have no idea how many games I've played at third base in my life, but our 2nd game Friday night was by far the most difficult I've ever had at 3rd base.
We lost our 1st game by a lot.  We just had one of those games where we didn't look ready to play.  We didn't hit, didn't field, and got blown out.
We then had to play the loser's bracket final, and I got beat up at 3rd base.  I've never had anything even close to an experience like that.   I came out of it with only one massive bruise on my chest, but if I'd been a little quicker I could have had more.  Most of the balls hit at me I just didn't have time to get in the way enough to get hit.  I certainly wouldn't have fielded them. I made a couple of very nice plays for outs, barely saw a few balls as they zipped under my glove or by my ear or over my head, and took a few off my arms and wrists and one off my chest.    Nothing easy at all, and with the ones under my glove or right next to me that I didn't field, it didn't bother me at all that I missed them.  They were that hard.
Three comments from three different teammates after the game, all of whom are good defensive players:
 1)"I thought about asking you if you wanted to switch positions with me, just to give you a break, but I didn't want to go over there."
2) "Hell, if Kevin couldn't get a glove on it I didn't see any point in putting anyone else over there."
3) "I felt sorry for him but I wasn't going to volunteer."

Still, in the bottom of the 7th we were only down 23-20, bases loaded and nobody out, and I was at bat.   I'd hit the ball good all night and I was confident.   I'd also been hitting nice low line drives into right field  and between 1st and 2nd base all night (and for the last couple weeks), and the right fielder (Brian Brohm, incidentally) was playing deep.  I felt sure I could drop one in front of him and be on 1st base as the winning run.   
And what happened?  Well, I hit it hard.  A nice line drive, easily over the head of a normal first baseman.  When I hit it I thought it was perfect.  But their first baseman (who had drilled me in the chest earlier) was about 6'6" tall, and he snagged it for an out.  And our base runner on 2nd was about twenty feet off the bag as the throw came over and he got doubled up, so there were 2 outs suddenly and the rally was all but over. We lost.
I'm still a bit bothered by that bit of base running.  There's really no excuse for getting doubled up on a line drive when we needed the runner on base BEHIND him to score to just tie the game.  But that's how it goes.  It happens to everybody at some point, but that was a bad time to make that mistake.

Lots of Softball on a Sore Toe

Lots of softball on a sore toe?  Sounds like a disgusting sandwich.  Maybe softball on a soretoe bun.

Anyway, I smashed my right big toe pretty good last Tuesday night.  How?  Cornhole injury, of course.  It's a dangerous game.   Actually, I was playing in our cornhole league tournament and there was a smelly garbage can nearby.  It had rained the night before, so rainwater made it very heavy and the garbage was pungent.  I was dragging it away so we couldn't smell it and I bounced or slammed onto my foot.  Ouch. Smashed right onto my toenail, and the toe bled a lot.

I cleaned it decently while my teammate and opponents waited patiently, then came back and finished up the last two games of our best-of-three match.  We won.  Then we advanced to the next round, lost 2 games quickly, played again and won 2 straight, then again and lost 2 straight, so we were eliminated.    I could use the fact that I had to play 8 games on a smashed toe as an excuse, but the 4 games we won Tuesday were more than we won in all of July.

I kept my injury clean, I thought, and even bathed it Betadine a couple of times, but by Friday I could tell it was infected.  The two softball games I played Friday night were fun- big, big wins both!-  but painful.  
Saturday afternoon I went to an immediate care center. The doctor said 'yep, that's infected' and I received a tetanus shot and a prescription for antibiotics.   I don't like tetanus shots.

Two more softball games Sunday-both wins again!-   another win Monday night,  two more wins last night! ( Lots of exclamation marks because it's a lot of wins.)   All painful at times but fun, and even with all that softball my toe seems to be improving.  
I tried to keep it wrapped as instructed, but seriously, have you ever tried to wrap a bandage around your toe and then put on shoes?  I think it was doing more harm than good.   Cleaning 3 times a day should take care of it, anyway, and it is getting better.

The weekend lineup is more tournament games.  Minimum 3 games, maximum 7 on Friday and Sunday combined.   Friday we are in the winner's bracket final so we'll play at least 2, and could play as many as 3.   Sunday we're still alive but would have to win 4 straight without a loss.

I'm especially looking forward to Friday night.  Our team has 5 current or former Yogis, and the team we play first has the same number.  The 10 of us have all played a lot of ball together and like each other, so I think it will be a lot of fun.  It's cool that both teams made it to the winner's bracket final. 

Therefore, this 80 degree weekend will see no golf from me.  I could play Saturday but I think I'll skip it with the hope of wearing myself out with softball winning streaks.