It’s that Time of Year Again…

It's that time of year again...where the trees get leaves on them, the birds start chirping and I get to pull out my softball glove. I always love this time of year; I get to open up my ball bag and see what treasures await me from last year. You would think with how long I've been playing that I would've mastered cleaning and disinfecting the ball bag each fall...but I don't! Sometimes in the winter if I get real sad about the snow or I start to think that summer is so far away I can unzip my ball bag and get a good whiff of the shale and dirt...and then I somehow come out of my funk.

Ever since I was old enough to catch my dad's windmill pitches I've been playing the sport; I love it! I've never looked forward to playing something so much that it takes over my thoughts. I found myself at the gym last week on the treadmill thinking about playing ball, little did I realize that I had run for 10 minutes straight! I mean talk about consume your thoughts...LOL.

I've never loved a sport so much that I actually still get flutterby's before every game. Yes, EVERY game!!! It's to the point where I must watch what I eat and drink beforehand so that I can make as little trips to the bathroom as possible. I think to myself "Is this what a Professional Athlete goes through before every game?"

I love the adrenaline pumping through my veins, my stomach in knots, the feeling that I get when a ball is well hit. The feeling I get when I can round third and take my time trotting home. And I really do mean trotting, as I run flat footed and that my friends is a sign of a slow runner. LOL The reason I know that is because a guy named Brent (who I used to play ball with) would purposely bat after me so that he could chase me around the bases and yell "Run on your toes!" I think that was the one and only year I actually ran fast! LOL

That was the year that I played for a team called the Allstar Sports and we won every game that we played...all year. A feat that had never been accomplished by anybody, 33 regular season games and we won them all. Then we went on to win all of our playoff games! The last being the most dramatic (Of course!) game I've ever played in my life! There were 2 out and we were down by one run (Did I mention it was our last at bat), and a lady who usually gets out was up to bat and got on base. Then her husband comes up to bat and gets an in the park homerun! (Talk about a Dream ending!) We were all waiting at the plate when he crossed it as we knew we had won. 

We started jumping up and down and couldn't contain our happiness any longer; think Circa Toronto Blue Jays 1993. One of the best times in my life...despite it NOT being front page news for my hometown it was still a victory that no one will ever be able to take away from us.

So here's to another year of sliding into second base, snagging that line drive, catching that incredibly high fly ball and hitting that first homerun of the year.

Here's to not just the commeroderity, but to a sport that I truly love.