Well, I don't advocate smoking whatsoever, it sure would be nice if we received some proverbial "cigars" just once! For the last 24 hrs, we've been particpating in a whirlwind of sports activities. I am now starting to understand what the Sports Parent (TM) feels like having to shuttle kids from practice to practice, games to games. And that's only with one child competing! Ok, two if you count me. It all started with a late afternoon softball for Ariel last night.
They were playing the other team from our town, the one they scrimmaged against several weeks ago. I must say one thing - our team sure doesn't look like the one that was at the scrimmage who lost that day by ten runs easily. I thought we were the superior team, having better hitters and better players, but because we gave up a 5 run inning, we ended up fighting to an 8-8 tie. And when I said fight, I meant it. We were down 8-6 in the last inning with last up at bats. We managed to tie the game but couldn't bring in our winning run who was stranded on third base.
Ariel had a pretty good game again, never striking out and getting on base several times. However, her play at third base was a learning experience, one that showed tremendous improvement between yesterday and today.
This morning I led off the festivities by competing in our league Division C singles tournament. Out of the 20 some-odd players who competed in Divison C, only 6 of us showed up for the singles tournament, all of whom I had beaten during the regular season except one. And wouldn't you know it, he was the one I lost to in four games. Bah. Unexpectedly, he also lost to one of the other players, but that meant he & I were tied in wins-losses, and since he beat me head-to-head, that meant he was the winner overall. I didn't feel like I was playing all that well today anyway. So I probably deserved how I finished.
From the table tennis tourney, we rushed home for a quick bite to eat before we had to be at Ariel's softball game in the early afternoon. Another game where we were clearly the dominant team, but because we let one inning get away from us, we had to settle for a 7-7 tie. We actually went into the final inning with a 7-4 lead but couldn't quite play good enough defense to keep them from scoring three runs, all of which came on a home run helped by two overthrow errors. Plus it seemed like our good hitters who normally made it on base hit into an easy out down the first baseline time and time again. Ariel showed much improvement playing 3rd base today, that's for sure. And the two girls on our team who have had problems hitting the ball actually hit the ball today. Next game is scheduled for Tuesday night. And while the pitching is being done by machine right now, they start with live pitching in just a couple of weeks. Ariel and one of the other girls on the team will be meeting with a pitching coach Monday afternoon to take some lessons. Apparently this coach has coached one of the high school girls from North Little Rock to be one of the top-10 fastpitch pitchers in the nation.
After the game, we came home for some rest before having to head back to North Little Rock for the table tennis league end of season awards banquet. It was held as usual at a Thai restaurant, owned by one of the table tennis players. Lots & lots of yummy Thai buffet food. :) While I expected the 2nd place trophy from the singles tournament today, I did get an award I wasn't expecting. Apparently, I had the highest offensive point average (10.71 points per game) for the season for my division (i.e. I averaged the most number of points scored per game) and won a 1st place ribbon for that. Even better, I set the club record for highest average ever since they started keeping statistics 10 years ago. How's that for some unexpected good news?
We came home and ended up playing some more table tennis in the garage as both the kids and Jen were excited about it. With this sore throat that I have, plus all the activity everyone participated in today, we should all sleep rather soundly tonight.
Now perhaps the problem is that I keep playing for that proverbial "cigar." Perhaps that is why we keep coming close with a loss, two ties, and a 2nd place finish instead of wins all around. I think I need to find something other than a cigar to play for. Either that or take up horseshoes or hand grenades where "close" actually matters.
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