The Final Game of the Season

Well, the intramural softball season is officially over for me. Last night was the first game of the tournament, and we lost 13-7, but the interesting thing is that the other team scored 11 of their 13 runs in the first inning, and if that hadn't happened I think we would have easily won the game. The first inning was our only bad inning, and after that we pretty much shut them down for the rest of the game.

I played catcher this time around, which was a little rough on my legs by the time we were done. I'm not used to doing so much squatting and then standing up over and over. My thighs are pretty sore today, but not as sore as they were last night, that's for sure. I had the chance to make a couple of plays after the batter popped the ball up for an easy out, which made me feel good, and I got on base a couple of times to help the team.

Overall, the six games we played were a lot of fun, and I had a good time. I think I'll do it again next time that softball comes around as it seems to be a sport I can play without messing myself up too badly. It would have been nice to win that game yesterday and advance for one more, but it was a blast while it lasted.

Softball Game, Winning Style

Friday, I had my last "regular season" softball game for intramurals, and this time things finally all went the way they were supposed to for the team. I'm not sure of the final score, but I do know that we had well over 20 runs for the game, and that I had to bat not once, but twice in the first inning, which was pretty cool considering we had an 11 man batting order.

I made it to base with each of my at-bats, including a nice line drive into center field to start the game off. I played second base for most of the game, and made a play or two, but for the most part we didn't have to do a whole lot of fielding because Matt Heywood as the pitcher kept things pretty under control, especially with a handful of strikeouts, something you don't see a whole lot of in slow pitch softball games.

We would up in the lowest division for tournament play, which means we are in a 12 team single elimination bracket. Our first game is at 6:00 tonight, but that is also conflicting with the ward temple trip, so we'll see how things go and if we have enough players or not.

Softball Game #4

We now have just 1 game remaining in the "regular season" for intramural softball and our record is 1-3, with the only win coming from a forfeit to start the season. Granted, two of the losses were pretty close, and at least one of them never should have happened. Looks like we won't have to worry about getting bumped up to a higher division for the tournament next week. That would be a good thing.

On Tuesday night I had another softball game, and this time things didn't go so well. I was the pitcher for the last game and we didn't do all that bad, but this time I couldn't manage to throw a decent pitch for the life of me, and in the third inning, after being on the mound for something like 17 straight batters, Matt Smith finally had the smarts to get me out of there and put Jared Barrett in to replace me.

Our team can score runs pretty easily, or at least I think we can. We have lots of innings where we can put anywhere from 3-6 runs across the plate, but when it comes time to play defense we just don't seem to make all the right connections. All of us hesitate on our throws just a little bit, and all of us bobble the ball a smidgen when we are catching a pop fly. The end result is a lot of extra base runners and a lot of runs for the other teams. I will admit that I got a little bit upset during this last game because not only were we fielding a bit weak, but I was having a tough time pitching, and the home plate umpire was all sorts of inconsistent, but we won't go into the details on that here.

The next game is tomorrow after we help the Smith's move a few things, and who knows what position I'll be playing. Probably something on the sidelines if last game was any indication.

Softball, Slow Pitch Style

Tonight was the third game of the season for the ward softball team, and luckily after a long gap between the last game and this one my shoulder had a chance to get itself back into standard operating procedure. After we walked in something like 10 different runners last time the guy who had been pitching decided he wasn't doing it anymore, so the job fell to me.

I made it through the first inning with a couple of ground outs and a fly ball, and the second inning wasn't too bad either. They scored 1 run, but I only walked 1 guy and managed to get out of the inning with a 2-1 lead. Then things went south. It seemed like they were making contact with every single pitch I threw, which was sort of frustrating.The pitches would have been strikes if they hadn't been swinging for the fences each time, and a majority of the hits they got went to the same place each time.

The problem with that was we were playing a man short and didn't have anyone who could cover that spot exclusively. If we did have someone there, the game probably would have gone quite a bit different. We lost pretty bad, but at least we didn't walk in 8 runs, so I suppose that is an improvement. Better luck next time.

Evening of a Friend and Softball

Last night Holly and I got the chance to spend some time with a good friend of ours, Shawn Saunders. I've known him since my freshman year here at BYU, and we've always been good friends. He was the only person I lived with between returning home from my mission and getting married to Holly, and living with him was a blast. Ever since we got married, Holly has wanted to make sure he was okay, and so last night he took us out to dinner and Holly grilled him about his family, work, friends, health, car, love interests, you name it, she asked him about it. And guess what? Shawn didn't care in the slightest, he was more than happy to just chat away with her for several hours. I did interject things as necessary though.

After dinner at the Brick Oven with Shawn, I had an intramural softball game at 9:00pm for the second game of the season. We played a lot better this time around both in the field and in the batter's circle, but let it slip away from us right at the end 9-8. We had been up 8-4 at one point, but then managed to walk in 2 or 3 runs before the end of the inning. They scored on an overthrow to win the game at the last possible moment.

We shall try again on July 9th I do believe.

Weekly Wanderings #3

It's been a few days, so I thought I would catch everyone up with another edition of Weekly Wanderings about all the things that went on since Holly got home a week ago.

First, and most importantly, Holly is back in town. I'm not ashamed to admit that I missed her terribly while she was gone, and that life is pretty boring around here without her around to help occupy my time. As she has told me many times, she better not die first because I'll be a wreck if she does.

Secondly, on Thursday we went back to the baby doctor and got to hear the heart beat of the little one for the first time. Holly was starting to go through the phase of "Am I really pregnant?" so it was great to have proof that a baby really is growing inside of her "baby-maker" as Kellie puts it. The doctor had to try for a little while to find the heartbeat because I guess the baby was moving around all over the place and didn't want to be found. She was successful though, and the heart sounded like a little train engine working overtime. We go back on July 23rd for the first ultrasound and attempt at determining if the baby is a boy or girl.

Speaking of boy or girl, it has been far easier to figure out boy names, for both me and Holly, than it has for girl names. As far as a girl is concerned, Holly has always liked Jane Flanagan, but I'm on the fence with that one. I like Alanna Flanagan myself, but I haven't done a whole lot of looking through the baby name book recently, so there are probably others that I like just as well. Right now, the McKay train seems to be fading into the distance as far as boy names are concerned, but it is still a possibility. However, during sacrament meeting yesterday we came up with Jack Hansen Flanagan, which we both like a lot. Guess we'll see where we wind up in December.

Thursday was also the first intramural softball game for me. I figured that softball was a sport I could probably do alright at for the summer, so when the sign-ups were going around in Elder's Quorum I put my name down. We had a couple of decent practices to shake off the rust during the week before the game, but we still have some work to do. The other team was a bunch of single guys from a ward somewhere around here, but they didn't have enough players show up on time, so we won by forfeit. That was probably a good thing because it meant we got to play the game (for practice) without the pressure. Doing everything on the real field was a whole lot different than doing it on the tiny practice field we have at Wymount.

For the game I did alright. I was playing shortstop for most of the game, and spent a little bit of time at rover in the outfield. A crazy bobble prevented me from helping to turn a double play, but overall I did okay. There were a couple of times I probably could have made a stop, but that field was all sorts of not smooth and level. We lost the "practice game" 6-3, but kept it close until the very last at bat, so we felt pretty good about that.

Intramural Softball

After work last night I went home and took care of a couple things before picking up Joe Hardie from the Museum of Art (he offered to feed me dinner while Holly is gone, so I figured I could offer a ride home from work). We had some delicious baked potatoes and applesauce for dinner and then got changed really quick before going over to the softball field here at Wymount for a bit of practice with our team from the Elder's Quorum.

Normally, I don't feel that I can contribute a whole lot to an intramural team here at BYU because I really am not in very good physical shape, but I do play floor hockey (at least until they discontinued it) because I can play goalie and do an alright job. Football, soccer, and basketball are probably a little to intense for someone like me, but I figured I could probably hack it alright with softball this summer.

So, off I went to practice with a bunch of guys from the ward. I did alright in the fielding aspect of things, but had to have Gerald Smith remind me of a bunch of the intricate things about where to go with the ball in certain situations. It's been a long time since I played any organized baseball or softball, so I needed a lot of reminding. I got the hang of it by the end of the evening though, and even made a couple of decent plays. As a matter of fact, I came thisclose to turning a double-play, but it was not meant to be. Perhaps next time.

Anyways, I'm a little bit sore, but not as sore as I thought I would be going in, and I feel like I can contribute in the games without being a detriment next week, so we'll see how it goes. I'll have to make sure and have Holly take some pictures at the game that I can post for all to see.