One of my very first posts on my blog was about softball; hard to believe that’s been two years ago. But yesterday night we started up the church softball season for another year. It was a beautiful night; the day was hot (at least, hot for April in Iowa) - it got close to 90 degrees in the afternoon. But by evening the breeze was blowing and the temps had cooled; what a great night for softball!

The first game of the year is always a bit of an adventure, seeing who will show up and how the team will fill out. To be sure, we have some regulars in their places; Nate at shortstop, Becky pitching, me at third, Shaun in left. But there’s always a new guy or two you pick up who really help you out. This year it looks like we’ve got two of them: Joel out in center field, and Nick at first. (It does this infielder’s heart good to have a tall, left-handed first-baseman to throw to.)

Last night we played against one of the teams from New Covenant. It was the typical back-and-forth game; we were behind by a few runs, but then made a comeback as time was running out; I had a two-out, two-run single to tie up the game. It wasn’t all heroics for me, though - I failed to tag up and advance on a base running play the inning before that would’ve given us another run. :-( Oh well, one game at a time.

After playing the 6:00 game, I umped the 7:00 game. I actually really enjoy umping softball games, and it’s something that I’ve improved on quite a bit over the past few years. It drives me nuts, though, that even in our C-league church league softball there are guys who will yell at the ump during the game for calls they don’t like. Come on, guys. It’s just a game. It’s not worth it. (I know, I know - I better get used to it if I want to keep umping games. :-))

The church softball season runs through July and into early August. It definitely gives me something to look forward to on Monday nights.