Highest batting average

   I played on a Ladies’ Softball team for my church just after college. It was great fun, and I was pretty good at pitching, so that generally ended up being my position. It was one of those B or C leagues where we had to hope that at least 6 people would show up so that we could have a game, and certain people brought relatives or friends to church once a month so that they could be eligible to help us out. We were always glad when we had all 9! The great thing was, I always got to play the whole game. The fields were wet or bumpy or littered, but hey, it was fun anyway. We played against similar teams from other churches.

  I wasn’t the greatest hitter, but I could aim and hit the ball hard enough to earn a reputation for usually getting a single. I could run pretty fast. The two power hitters we had tended to slam it into the outfield for a fly out, way too often. I guess nobody really knew how to hit line drives, or we’d have conquered the league since most of the  fielders were afraid of them, including me. We were playing for fun, right? Not bruises. Because of all the fly outs, it happened during my last year that I was actually heading towards getting the trophy for the highest batting average.  This surprised, but enormously pleased me. The same certain person had gotten it every year as long as I could remember, and while she was definitely a better all around player, statistics didn’t lie: I was getting on base more than she was.

 Then I got engaged. It happened that the team that my future sisters-in-law played on preceded us on the ball field that week and my future father-in-law stayed on to watch my game. Maybe he wanted to see me play, and maybe he thought it wouldn’t look so good for him to leave since we were about to be related and all. In any case, it made me very, very nervous.

  I struck out three times.

  The worst of it was that a certain woman was more concerned about getting that trophy once again than she was about seeing her team do well. The two power hitters discouraged me  and cheered when I bombed. Which I did., four times.  And she got the trophy again, all because of that one game.  Looking back on it, I wonder if she thought she was being funny, or maybe it was her competitive spirit coming out “all in good sport.” I just know that at the time I wasn’t strong enough to take it, and I didn’t want to play with that team again after that. 

 So, here’s to the year that I almost won the trophy for highest batting average.  It taught me to be a good sport and always encourage, rather than compete with, the team that I was on.