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Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Posted Thursday, April 24, 2008, at 9:41 PM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
Last Monday I ventured over to White River Valley to watch the undefeated Bloomfield Cardinals and the WRV Wolverines play softball. As far as an exciting game, I was not disappointed -- I cannot remember if it went 10 or 11 as the scoreboard ran out of innings after 9. Girls softball I know is exciting, especially for the parents. To me, however, there seems to be something missing -- like hitting. It just seems to be such a pitcher dominated sport. Apparently there was one hitter that Bloomfield thought could really hit the ball because in five plate appearances she saw 20 straight balls. This couldn't have been much fun for her. I'm not faulting Bloomfield because you have to play to win and she's a run waiting to happen, but I just believe it must not be fun for her to know going into a game that she'll never get a pitch to hit.
By the way, according Barry Bonds' personal historian Rusty Hash, even he never got 5 intentional walks in one game -- although he was intentionally walked with the bases loaded. I know I'm not the world's most intelligent guy, but here are some things I don't understand about softball... 1. Why do they play with a special colored ball. I asked my friend Beth Wernz why they play with that green ball and she informed me that as an art teacher I should recognize that it is optic yellow -- not green. All I know is it looks to me like a not so ripe grapefruit. I was told that the color makes it easier to see... And I didn't even know Ray Charles played. 2. What's with these little tiny players running around in the batter's box slapping at the ball? You'd swear they are well out of the box when they hit it... but they really aren't. A full swing was rarer than a $2 gallon of gas. I think there were only 2 balls that reached the outfield the entire game. It makes me think that the outfielders should be picking up unemployment checks rather than athletic letters. On the whole it was an entertaining afternoon because the kids played hard, had fun, and really worked at what they were doing. But as far as I'm concerned, I still liked the slow pitch game where everybody had to use their glove and everybody got to hit the ball... but that's just me. As I say this, I realize that these kids nor baseball players really have no place to play when they graduate due to the demise of slowpitch leagues. Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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Actually the record for receiving intentional walks in a Major League Game is 5 by Andre Dawson. It was done in a 16 inning game, but it is the record.
there may not be any slowpitch leagues here but there are plenty of tournaments almost every weekend in the area, we host one at the FOP at least once a month......
Ray Charles never did play softball because it was always played during the mushroom hunting season.
I had to laugh out loud at that one simmons. Joe, you should write blogs more often. They are always the highlight of my day . . . even if they are usually politically incorrect! :)
joe maybe you could get the heaton hogs back togehter for one more slow pitch tourney..
I still have great memories of the days of Flory Farms Center. Talk about a great softball team!
Joe better stick to golf, I don't think his back could handle softball. He's become quite a hustler at The Phil now and I doubt Garth would like Joe getting hurt before the Elks League.
CHECK OUT THE WOMENS LEAGUE IN SULLIVAN. WE ARE A GROUP OF 16 AND UP WOMEN PLAYING AND HAVING A GREAT TIME. THE OLDEST WOMAN ON MY TEAM IS 64 AND THE YOUNGEST IS 16. THIS LEAGUE HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE I GRADUATED IN 1979.
The origin of the yellow/green ball is a popular infield substance named Agrilime that resists water and prevents rainouts -- but is grayish-white in color and was far too close to the formerly white softballs. North Central's field, among many in the area, has this surface.
Infielders could not see a ground ball coming to them. It was like trying to field an 8-ball rolling on a black floor.
The brighter ball was first adopted by colleges, and has made things much easier for both hitters and fielders to see. Still wondering why baseball has not yet made the move.........
why would you want to try and mix things up with america's favorite past time????
the bright yellow or optical whatever color for softball is fine, but there is nothing wrong with the baseballs that are in use now.....
If you've ever been to a baseball game at dusk, with no or poor lighting, and baseballs that are no longer shiny new out of the box, you would understand.
They are hard to see, hard to hit, and hard to field.
If you want to see some hitters, Joe, come see our Lady Dawgs at Sectional. Cassie Parr has 2 (or is it 3) over-the-fence home runs so far this year with Megan Gambill and Ashli Scott both having 1 over-the-fence homer....so far. And, we have a couple of other girls that are just inches shy of knocking it out. We have a couple power hitters that are anxious to over-take Kelsie Manuel's Homerun Record!
Did you see the Tribue Star Valley Leaders Board last week? Check it out. Union held several spots!
There are a lot of things in sports that do not seem right. When your kids are young you sit back and scream and yell at the kids and the coaches. If you are going to coach you need to be able to TRY and put it aside because you are there for the kids. As I have become older you sit back and see things differently. So many coaches punish the kids because of their parents behavior. It's really sad because at an early age some of the coaches are causing these kids to find sports to not be fun anymore. I wish the young coaches could sit back and see out of an older parents eyes. The problem is it that it is too late to change it for some of the kids.