Kickball trouble
Last night our team, Matt's Rats, played our fifth game. We finally won a game, but no one enjoyed the game and the win was bitter sweet at best. The team we were playing was previously known for being a bunch of jerks, so we weren't in a good position when we started.
The first few innings went quickly with few, if anyone getting on base. My first kick was a line drive to the third baseman who caught it in the air. My second attempt was where it all went wrong.
I had a good low kick towards the third baseman who fielded the ball after a brief fumbling, but he was a good thrower and I was going to have to run at maximum speed if I was going to beat the throw to first. I put my head down and sprinted as quickly as I could. I followed the chalk line until I saw the bag, looked up and realized that the first baseman, a petite woman weighing maybe 100lbs, was standing fully on first base. I had barely enough time to get my hands up before I ran into her, totally flattening her and launching her at least a foot from the bag. Everyone was pissed. They were looking like they wanted to start a fight, yelling that I should have run for the orange side of the double wide first base bag (to the right of the line I was running down). I was apologetic. This sort of thing happens in one form or another in basically every game (in fact it happened to our team a few innings later where a runner to second took out our shortstop as he went to back up second base).
After that their team got a bit riled up and was able to tie the score, 2 to 2. We likewise got riled up, but mainly wanted to shake off the event. The next inning I made all three outs, a suitable response, though it didn't make me feel any better. My team tried to console me and told me to shake it off. I tried as best I could.
An inning or two later, a guy tried for a double and was thrown out at second (I was playing second base). I had a foot on the base when the ball came to me, but since it wasn't a force, I had to reach around and tag him (easier said than done with an 8" rubber ball). The ump called him out, but people began to shout that it wasn't a force and that he was safe. He had slid into second, but was currently touching it, so I touched his shoulder with the ball and said "You're out now for sure." He then put his hand on the bag and I removed the ball. He was complaining that he was safe, and removed his hand from the bag, which he was still sitting next to, so I tagged him again on the shoulder. Whereupon he hit me with the back of his fist in my groin (I was standing, he was sitting). Appalled I asked the ump if he had seen it. He had, and said he was appalled too and the guy was out. I was expecting something more along the lines of ejected, but no such luck. Once again my teammates consoled me and told me to shake it off.
There were some more calls that were more in our team's favor than theirs, all of which I either agreed with or didn't see (during one of which they convinced the umps, after about 5 minutes, to reverse their call, putting a man on 3rd). One of the suspect calls was a force at second where I had my foot on the third base side of the bag, giving the runner a clear path to the bag, which the team argued I wasn't touching, but they were clearly wrong; the runner even agreed that he was out.
At the end of the long night, we won 4 to 2, but no one was happy about the win (except a few members of the team that played them the week before). My neck was beginning to stiffen up, most likely as a result of crashing into the woman at first base, and I was in a fairly foul mood. Half of the team went to Matt's bar (our sponsor) in Saint Paul for beer and burgers. They told me that things like this seem to happen every week, though this was obviously the first time for me, and I shouldn't worry about it.
Next week we have a bye (and I'd be in California anyway). Hopefully this will give us time to get back in the spirit of kickball -- having fun.
The first few innings went quickly with few, if anyone getting on base. My first kick was a line drive to the third baseman who caught it in the air. My second attempt was where it all went wrong.
I had a good low kick towards the third baseman who fielded the ball after a brief fumbling, but he was a good thrower and I was going to have to run at maximum speed if I was going to beat the throw to first. I put my head down and sprinted as quickly as I could. I followed the chalk line until I saw the bag, looked up and realized that the first baseman, a petite woman weighing maybe 100lbs, was standing fully on first base. I had barely enough time to get my hands up before I ran into her, totally flattening her and launching her at least a foot from the bag. Everyone was pissed. They were looking like they wanted to start a fight, yelling that I should have run for the orange side of the double wide first base bag (to the right of the line I was running down). I was apologetic. This sort of thing happens in one form or another in basically every game (in fact it happened to our team a few innings later where a runner to second took out our shortstop as he went to back up second base).
After that their team got a bit riled up and was able to tie the score, 2 to 2. We likewise got riled up, but mainly wanted to shake off the event. The next inning I made all three outs, a suitable response, though it didn't make me feel any better. My team tried to console me and told me to shake it off. I tried as best I could.
An inning or two later, a guy tried for a double and was thrown out at second (I was playing second base). I had a foot on the base when the ball came to me, but since it wasn't a force, I had to reach around and tag him (easier said than done with an 8" rubber ball). The ump called him out, but people began to shout that it wasn't a force and that he was safe. He had slid into second, but was currently touching it, so I touched his shoulder with the ball and said "You're out now for sure." He then put his hand on the bag and I removed the ball. He was complaining that he was safe, and removed his hand from the bag, which he was still sitting next to, so I tagged him again on the shoulder. Whereupon he hit me with the back of his fist in my groin (I was standing, he was sitting). Appalled I asked the ump if he had seen it. He had, and said he was appalled too and the guy was out. I was expecting something more along the lines of ejected, but no such luck. Once again my teammates consoled me and told me to shake it off.
There were some more calls that were more in our team's favor than theirs, all of which I either agreed with or didn't see (during one of which they convinced the umps, after about 5 minutes, to reverse their call, putting a man on 3rd). One of the suspect calls was a force at second where I had my foot on the third base side of the bag, giving the runner a clear path to the bag, which the team argued I wasn't touching, but they were clearly wrong; the runner even agreed that he was out.
At the end of the long night, we won 4 to 2, but no one was happy about the win (except a few members of the team that played them the week before). My neck was beginning to stiffen up, most likely as a result of crashing into the woman at first base, and I was in a fairly foul mood. Half of the team went to Matt's bar (our sponsor) in Saint Paul for beer and burgers. They told me that things like this seem to happen every week, though this was obviously the first time for me, and I shouldn't worry about it.
Next week we have a bye (and I'd be in California anyway). Hopefully this will give us time to get back in the spirit of kickball -- having fun.
posted by Mark at 12:47 PM
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