Oddness & This Week In Softball

We'll open the festivities with a piece of weirdness.

I signed on to do a meme. I usually avoid these things, as well as awards, because there are too many obligations attached. You have to link back to somebody, you have to hand it off to so-and-so many people, you have rules to follow, blah blah blah and yada yada yada. But, I decided to do this one for a simple reason: I really like the person who tasked me with it AND she asked me so sweetly I would have felt like a true cad had I said "no".

The person who asked was Barbara Shallue. She's mentioned on my sidebar already, but here's another link to her place. She's an absolute sweetheart and I like to visit her place because she almost always reminds me of things for which I should be thankful. That's a kick in the butt I definitely need every now and again.

I should explain, before we go any further (or farther, or mother, and I promise this is the last time I'll ever use that joke), that Barbara asked me to answer four or five questions then send the meme on to three others. I asked three others to participate. One of them answered in the affirmative. One of them told me "thanks, but no thanks". One didn't answer me at all.

So, since the person who said she would do it deserves better than to be ignored and tossed aside, I'll mention her here even though I am not going to do the meme per se. She is Hilary of The Smitten Image. She is a fantastic photographer. As a matter of fact, I think she's the best photographer alive. I mean that. Her stuff always draws me in, amazes me, shows detail that I never would have noticed had I come across her subjects in real life. I've been after her to publish a book of her stuff for years now. I'd buy five or six copies, at least, both as Christmas presents and for my own enjoyment.

I have now fulfilled my self-imposed obligation to those two fine ladies, even though I am not doing the meme. I feel good about that. Now on to what happened in softball this week.

SUNDAY LEAGUE

BOMBERS - 12  Courtesy Flush - 2
BOMBERS - 22  Courtesy Flush - 0

FENS LEAGUE

Hawks - 17  BOMBERS - 9
BOMBERS - 17  Drive - 11

M Street

HARP & BARD - 15  Cranberry Cafe - 1
Lincoln Tavern - 11  HARP & BARD - 8

That's a lot of ball. I'd generally go on and on about each game, but I'm just plain tired of writing.

 Me catching in The Fens last week

I expect the Sunday version of the Bombers to finish no worse than tied for first. I don't think there's any team in the league, aside from the defending champions, who can beat us. The team is really that strong this season. I fully expect to be back in the finals at season's end, and I think this is the best chance I've got this year to finally be on a championship squad. And, while I'm trying to get done with this without a lot of detail, I have to mention Brian Pacheco. He pitched both games, giving up 5 hits in 10 innings work. Wow.

The Bombers squad that plays in The Fens (the area of Boston near Fenway Park, for those who don't know) is a decent team, and certainly has a shot at the championship, but a lot depends on a number of factors that are still iffy. Most of it depends upon who shows up for any particular game. If we put our best 10 out there, we can play with anybody. We'll see what happens there. It's called the Bombers, but has only five or six guys from the Sunday team.

The Harp & Bard team is my new team at M Street. It's a dynamite line-up of hitters, at the least. Robby Costello is the main man pitching, and this is his big test in the "A" division in this very tough league (lots of players in this league travel out-of-state to play in prestigious tournaments. There are literally some world-class players, guys who have competed against the best from other countries.) Robby has more heart than anyone I know, but he's a work in progress as a top-flight pitcher, and he realizes that. We may or may not have the 1 through 9 great line-up that is needed to truly compete in such a league. I haven't seen enough of the guys to say for sure. They certainly aren't bums (like me) so I wouldn't rule out a decent run at it.

(We were originally placed in the "B" division. I can say with certainty that we would have ripped that division a new one. NOBODY in that division would have beat us, in my very humble opinion. OK, maybe one team would have given us a true run for the title. But, otherwise, we would have won most games by slaughter. So, it was the correct move to place us in the higher division, but it remains to be seen if we are good enough to take it. We'll need to play mistake free, which we did NOT do in the second game of this past week, a loss.)

My playing? I'm the #1 catcher in The Fens, the only catcher who showed for the Sunday team thus far - an assist from Pat Atton, who is more an infielder/outfielder, saved my knees in game two - and I haven't seen the field at M Street. Brad Morrill is very much the #1 there and I am for emergency use only. I hope to get into a couple of games here or there, but I have no problem whatsoever being behind Brad. He's a dynamite hitter, a fine defensive catcher, and he'll be better for Robby in the long run; able to teach him a lot.

The upcoming schedule has a game at M Street today (Thursday) which I don't expect to get into unless things get out of hand one way or another, no Sunday games due to the Memorial Day holiday, and then two games at The Fens where I will likely be the starting catcher.

Sunday stats

Fens stats

M Street website

And that's that (whatever that was.) Enjoy the weekend, remember the folks who fought and died for your freedom, and I'll be back to tell you about any pieces of writing I have published. Visit my friends Barbara and Hilary, and God bless.

Soon, with more better stuff.