It was the
mid-80’s and I was on vacation in Marco Island with my family. The typical daily routine of shopping,
swimming and eating (and being with my family) was making me weary. Like most 16-year-old kids, the only thing I
wanted to do was be with my friends back home.
My family had
recently upgraded to a new and larger condo on the island. One day we were on our typical morning shopping
excursion for new home furnishings, groceries, as well as beach supplies.
Beachworks was
our final stop. It was just that, a beach
store with all the works. Unlike the furniture
and grocery stores that were filled with geriatrics, Beachworks had teenagers in
their customer base.
While perusing
the store for gear, I saw a pretty girl across the store and decided to change
my dreadful daily routine.
Walking over to
her, I stepped up to the plate and swung for the fences by asking her out on a
date that night. She saw my feathered follicles
parted perfectly and gave me an enthusiastic yes. We talked a bit more, she asked for my phone
number and said that she would give me a call in the early evening.
Triumphantly, I bounced
out of that store. I did it. I put myself in a vulnerable position and
succeeded.
All day, I could
not wait to get her call. Late in the
afternoon, I stationed myself next to the phone so I would not miss her
call. The minutes ticked by as I waited
for that old school phone to jangle.
My excitement was
fading as the minutes turned into hours.
It was no longer early evening.
It was past 7:00pm and squarely into nighttime.
It was at that
time that my mom asked, “What phone number did you give her?” I told my mom I gave the girl the same number
we had for years. Then, she shared the dreadful
news, “We had to change our phone number when we moved.”
I gave the girl
the wrong number.
That put me into
an unreasonable, teenage, angry funk.
How does this
relate to softball you ask?
Well, we had the
wrong number last night against the first place team. Old School had 4 and we had 3.
First Inning
With stellar
defense we held them to one run on three hits.
We got two quick
outs and then Fort and Martini had back to back singles. Strong Coffey came to plate and crushed a hit
to score Fort. JD and Joker each singled
scoring Martini.
Cougars up 3-1.
Second Inning
Old School
pushed a lone run across the plate.
Baby Kale nailed
a single but we left him on base.
Cougars still up
3-2.
Third Inning
Our opponent eked
out another run on two hits.
We went down
1-2-3.
Tied up 3-3.
Fourth Inning
We put them down
1-2-3 on three hard shots back to Martini on the mound.
We scattered the
ball but still went down 1-2-3
Tied up 3-3.
Fifth Inning
We did it again. Got them 1-2-3.
They did it
again too. Got us 1-2-3.
Still tied up
3-3.
Sixth Inning
Their first
batter got on base. Then, Martini called
JD in from the outfield to play short center and told the entire field we were
going to turn a double play (fast forward to 33:33 on the game video). Martini pitched the ball and the batter hit a
hard grounder to Martini who threw it to JD at second base who threw it to Li’l
Rads at first base for the double play. It
was just spectacular!
Baby Kale and
Jimmy got hits but we did not score.
Still tied up
3-3.
Seventh Inning
Again we put
them down 1-2-3.
Again we went
down 1-2-3.
Still tied up
3-3.
Eighth Inning
Last night was
the longest day of the year, so we were playing extra innings in the longest
game of the year.
They put a
mighty fright into us with three hits but thanks to a double play and tough
defense, no runs crossed the plate.
In our half of
the frame, Strong Coffey and Joker both got hits but we couldn’t get them home.
Still all square
at 3.
Ninth Inning
Three hits and
one run for them to take the lead 4-3.
We made two
quick outs but Jimmy and Boom did not give up and both pummeled the ball for
hits. We had the tying and winning runs
on second and third. Your truly, Captain Cougar, came
to the plate to get the number right but, once again, suffered a disconnected line for the
final out of the game.
That put me into
an unreasonable, teenage, angry funk.
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It only lasted
for a bit though because I had a good talk with Charley as we walked together from
the field after the game. We had a
heart-to-heart about resilience and persistence after suffering defeat. Like Diddy said in our text exchange after the
game “It’s not too often that we get a chance to actually live out the exact
lesson we’re trying to teach our kids.”
Sports are not
just a numbers game.
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Game Video
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Game Pictures
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Meg and Phil put on another great celebration! We partied for Philthy's birthday - his number is 55!
Meg and Phil put on another great celebration! We partied for Philthy's birthday - his number is 55!
