BYRON’S COL.
I played some kind of organized sport from the age of eight to forty. The last twenty or so of those years I played slow-pitch softball.
I love the feel the bat has when it makes contact with the ball and enjoyed just plain getting out and tossing a softball.
When I played regulary I was just an average player, nothing special, other than I enjoyed playing.
My business ate up my free time when I moved to Carrollton, Georgia. It was just too hard to set aside the time to play ball.
After I had been there for about a year, one of my customers, Jeff, and I were talking and the subject of softball came up.
I told him how much I had missed the game.
A few days later I got a call from Jeff and he said he and some of his friends were putting together a softball team and he wanted to know if I would be interested in playing.
Initially I told him no.
He explained that the team would be in one of the local area softball leagues.
I eventually agreed to play.
Over the next couple of weeks we had several practices. I decided this was something I was comfortable with doing, especially since I had moved to an area where I hardly knew anyone.
As a player I’m most comfortable catching, pitching or playing second base.
As far as hitting, again I’m just average, nothing particularly special.
As I got older, however, I did develop a style of my own and became fairly good as a place hitter.
Most of the time I was pretty consistant putting the ball close to anywhere on the field I wanted it (except over the fence).
Three places I liked to hit were straight up the middle of the field, over first base and pulling the ball down the third base line.
It is hard to defend against those types of hits, especially if it is hit hard.
I had become quite proficient by hanging a car tire from a limb and hitting the ball through it from different positions.
The team I played with in Carrollton was not that good, but I was there to have some fun and at the time that was all that matered.
We were playing in a country league of about six teams, not far from town.
I watched as the opposing team gathered in their dugout and noticed that most of them were big guys. I knew something wasn’t quite right about the team or the league after I arrived at the field.
We played the first game of the night and were on the field first.
I played second base and in short order the other team had scored six runs, with no outs, and I had not even touched a ball.
After 12 runs we finally managed to get three outs. During that inning we had two tags at home plate called safe with the catcher standing there holding the ball long before the runner got to the plate.
Once, on an easy out at first, the umpire called the runner safe before he even got to the plate.
It was frustrating, to say the least.
It was our turn to bat and in quick order it was three up and three down. It seems that their pitcher could throw the ball anywhere and it was a strike.
Batters had no choice but to hit whatever he threw, even if it meant chasing the ball.
They scored 12 more runs in the second inning. Nothing we seemed to do made a differnce.
It might not have been too bad, I guess, but they heckled us as well.
Seems that calling people names and being critical of everything they did, gave them a lot of joy.
They were playing by one set of rules and we were being held accountable to another set of rules … and they had made both sets of rules.
It is frustrating to sit there and watch something when you know it is wrong.
Two batters were up and down in a flash and it was my turn to bat.
The other team had a pitcher that did something I have never seen before.
Instead of pitching the ball and stepping back, which most pitchers do (it gives you a wider range of field to play and gives you more time to react to a line drive coming straight at you), he stepped forward two or three steps and planted both of his feet and stood like a sumu wrestler.
It was intimidating to a batter, especially since this guy was about 6’5.” You could hardly see around him.
I had observed all of this from the sideline and as I stepped into the batter’s box, I decided to take the first pitch.
The pitcher threw the ball in a slow high arch (actually too high) which gave him the time to get set in front of me.
I let the first ball fall and it landed in the middle of the plate.
“Strike,” the umpire said.
I immediately quizzed him about his call, telling him it was not a strike and how could he call such a pitch a strike when it was obviously a ball.
“According to my book, it’s a strike,” he told me.
Again I watched as the ball came in high and dropped this time in front of the plate.
“Strike,” he said again as I heard what sounded like a growl after he spoke.
It was obvious that no matter what the pitcher threw next, according to the umpire’s interpretation, it was going to be a strike.
Strange as it might sound, a high pitched (although illegal) ball was my favorite type to hit. I could actually control the ball better and hit it harder.
I looked out across the field and saw three major holes I could hit into.
I had a fourth chosen as well, the pitcher.
At 25 feet away, a hard hit line drive would be impossible to avoid or stop, other than getting in the way of it.
As I stood outside the batter’s box I weighed my choices. Over first base was my best chance to get on base, I figured at the time.
I could hit a safe line drive or take out the pitcher who I had grown to dislike immensely (as well as the umpire).
A head shot would do it, maybe even in the neck, but a chest shot would do the job as well, I thought.
I stepped into the batter’s box and dug me feet into the ground.
The ball left the pitcher’s hand and I watched as it climbed up into the air.
I readjusted my stance and drew the bat back behind my ear.
The ball fell over the top of its arch and drifted down towards the plate.
I started my swing, never taking my eye off the ball. I kept my arms level and watched as the ball lurched off the bat.
I don’t believe I have ever swung a bat as hard as I did that day.