Alisha's Little Corner of the World: Snow Pitch

I was asked to play in a softball tournament on March 6th, and I accepted 'cuz the guy who asked knows that I am always there to help out when they need more girls to play. Don't get the tone wrong here. I do like to play softball, it's just that it's not my strong point. Mostly in the hitting area. I can throw and catch fairly decently, but for some reason I get all flustered when I'm up to bat and usually end up striking out or getting thrown out at first. However, it should be noted that I can actually hit a fair distance when there's no pressure. A few of us went out to practice a couple of days before the tournament and I was hitting farther than I've ever hit before!

But I'm not done whining yet. So the name of this tournament is the "Snow Pitch." I'm not entirely sure who decided that playing softball this early in the year would be a good idea, but there we were anyways. There are a few potential problems with holding a softball tournament in Southern Alberta this early in the year. First, you could be playing in the white stuff (hence the name of the tournament). Enough said. Second, you could have gorgeous weather like we did this year. "But wait," you may say to yourself, "Why would good weather be a problem?" I will enlighten you. Softball is played on a diamond which consists of grass in the outfield and shale/dirt in the infield. So, when the weather gets nice, the ground starts to thaw. This in turn causes the shale/dirt infield to turn into MUD. Add to this the fact that the people organizing said tournament decided that we should play with balls filled with foam (or something weird) so that they didn't fly as far when hit (mine pretty much went the same distance as usual, but the guys on our team who usually hit really far were getting super frustrated), and also the fact that the mats we were using were about twice as wide as a regular mat (the mat determines whether it's a ball or a strike when you don't have an umpire to call it; anything that hits the mat is a strike) and you have yourself one super challenging day.

I think we ended up getting 4th. We tied our first game, won our second, lost our third, and I'm not sure about the 4th game (by that point both teams were getting pretty tipsy and no one was really into the game anymore). But we all had fun. Jay brought Paxton down for the day to cheer me on, and his Mom and Auntie Kizzy showed up for a while as well. And now for some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Auntie Kizzy watching the game while Jay's Mom feeds Paxton

Me throwing the ball back to the pitcher

Action Shot: Me hiting the ball

I made it to first!

Jay with the kangaroo wrap on

Kim holding Paxton during our last game

The team decided we should rotate positions each inning during our last game. That's how I ended up in field. Not my best position, but I did stop a ball and keep the runner at first.