We won, but it was ugly...

Last night I played softball. The team we played was a team that isn't going to win any good sportsmanship awards anytime soon. I remember them from last year because of two people: The coach/pitcher* and a guy that hits a really hard line drive.

My memory served me correctly. And there was a third person this year. There was a girl that NEVER swung at a pitch. OK, she would swing, but, I kid you not, I threw at least 10 pitches every time she was up. This is a league with no walks, no strike-outs, so I don't know what the heck she was doing other than irritating me to no end. Oh, did I mention that I pitched last night because our regular pitcher is coaching his kids team? Yep, I'm the only one that is foolish to volunteer.

Back to the guy that hits a really hard line drive. When he was up the first time, he hit the ball so that it bounced really big. He didn't hit it really hard. But as the game progressed, he started hitting harder and harder. He also hits to 2nd base position and he hit both her knees last night. And then the last time I pitched to him he hit the ball straight to me. I luckily turned and the ball hit the outer part of my left heal. It flew way up in the air and the 2nd baseman (woman) fielded it and threw him out at 1st.

He does all this with a strange-serial murder-no expression -kind of face. He was the same last year. And not once did he apologize for hitting us like sitting ducks. This is, after all, coed, non-competitive softball. I don't what he is thinking.

The next time he got up to bat I said, "I am not pitching to this guy." I looked at his coach and said, "you can do it." Our 1st baseman switched with me. I told them (all from the mound) that he hits the ball hard and he tries to hit people. I said it was bad sportsmanship and I was p. o.'d. Maybe I was wrong in saying all of that, but I was really pissed.

I was feeling a tad guilty after the game. The guy didn't come out and say "good game" to us and one of my teammates thought he was embarrassed. Hell, he should have been. She thought I should apologize. At first, I said I wasn't in the mood to be that nice, but I thought about it in the car for a minute. I saw that he was walking up to the car behind me, so I got out and approached him. I said, "I'm sorry I wasn't so nice to you out on the field..." and his reply was, "get away from me." Um, yes, he may have been embarrassed, but I know he was mad. To me, that showed that he truly was a bad sport and was mad that I called him on it during the game.


*he was one of those old farts that had to have a pinch hitter every time he was up. And he heckled me when I was pitching. Good grief, I was tired from pitching to his horrible players that stood there like a flag pole.