{"id":7741,"date":"2014-09-04T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoohaa.com\/?p=7741"},"modified":"2014-09-03T19:42:21","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T23:42:21","slug":"softball-still-fun-after-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoohaa.com\/?p=7741","title":{"rendered":"Softball still fun after 25 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fb\"<\/p>\n

For those of you who know me, you know I\u2019m pretty active in the summer with softball. In fact, it\u2019s been a massive part of my summers for 25 years now. Of those years, all but one has been spent running at least one team.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve played in several leagues and tournaments at all levels. I\u2019ve played modified pitch (mainly) and slow pitch. I\u2019ve also won championships and had my softball heart broke more than one time.<\/p>\n

There were summers where I played nearly 100 games or so, and others where I didn\u2019t even reach 20.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s always been a part of my summers.<\/p>\n

Coming into this season, I thought it was going to be it. Being 40 makes it harder to do things like this. I can still play some and I have started pitching a little, so there\u2019s time to stay in the game. But the time it takes makes it harder and harder.<\/p>\n

Still, this season is one of those that make you want to come back for more.<\/p>\n

\"2014

2014 League Champs!<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m also way mellower than I have ever been. Don\u2019t get me wrong, in the 2-2 1\/2 hours on the field, I want to win and compete. But when it\u2019s all said and done, I want to smile, know I played the game hard and go have a cold one or hang out with friends.<\/p>\n

Winning doesn\u2019t suck, however.<\/p>\n

Winning also makes you want to keep coming back. We came pretty close to a perfect season. We lost the opening game of the finals \u2013 our first loss of the season \u2013 and came storming back to win the next two to complete an 18-1 season and win the championship \u2013 our third in that league (well, to be fair, it\u2019s kind of a different league now \u2026 but same place).<\/p>\n

The funny part is how some from the other team actually said to some of our guys that\u00a0they were better than us and should have won (we beat them in the series this year, 4-1, and outscored them 82-31 in those games, including 37-13 in the three-game finals series), despite the numbers proving otherwise. That being said, the finals were pretty exciting, though long breaks and such were pretty key in us all of a sudden not hitting as we had (I think, in the full series, we left the bases loaded at least 5-6 times, several times having them loaded with one out), but we played solid in the field and earned the title.<\/p>\n

I also played three games in another league (and wasn\u2019t eligible for the playoffs), but that team won the championship \u2013 also losing but once game.<\/p>\n

The season ended with a trip to nationals with mixed team. Despite not reaching our goal (winning a game), it was an interesting experience and the first time I\u2019ve been to nationals in several years.<\/p>\n

Personally, I had one of the best hitting seasons I\u2019ve had in a long time. I pitched a few games, but need to pitch more if I\u2019m ever going to be regular at it. The funny part is I had the second lowest batting average on my team \u2013 at .419. We hit .502 as a team. That\u2019s pretty crazy!<\/p>\n

\"Nationals

Nationals 2014.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the end, it was a truly fun season. The regular season went decent, and despite the playoffs dragging on way too long, the end result was worth the wait.<\/p>\n

Initially, my thought was to move to the over-35 league next year. That\u2019s out the window. I\u2019m into it again. I\u2019d love to play more. Maybe hit a few tournaments. States. Nationals. A league and do well again \u2026 why not? Who knows how many years I can do this, so I may as well stick it out.<\/p>\n

For years, I always did the \u201cright thing\u201d as the manager and took a seat when we had extras. This year, I decided to play more, especially hitting. I\u2019m glad I did as it gave me the drive to continue playing this game.<\/p>\n

At least for as long as my body allows.<\/p>\n

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please\u00a0\u201cLike\u201d HooHaa Blog on Facebook<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those of you who know me, you know I\u2019m pretty active in the summer with softball. In fact, it\u2019s been a massive part of my summers for 25 years now. Of those years, all but one has been spent running at least one team. I\u2019ve played in several leagues and tournaments at all levels. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New blog post: Softball still fun after 25 years http:\/\/wp.me\/p1mcHC-20R","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,44,3],"tags":[476,3243,3544,2738],"class_list":{"0":"post-7741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-myworld","7":"category-softball","8":"category-sports","9":"tag-adult-softball","10":"tag-league-champions","11":"tag-softball","12":"tag-summer-softball","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mcHC-20R","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13672,"url":"https:\/\/hoohaa.com\/?p=13672","url_meta":{"origin":7741,"position":0},"title":"Hanging up the cleats: The time was clear","author":"P.J.","date":"October 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Note: This is something I should have posted a couple of years ago. But looking back, I\u2019m kind of glad I held off on it as it gives me the chance to chime in with some thoughts. 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It\u2019s rather interesting that we actually ended when the season was supposed to end, considering all of the rain we got. A one-day-per-week league turned into several weeks with two games. That was something we had tried to avoid when switching leagues to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "blogging"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/hoohaa.com\/?cat=269"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hoohaa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20214207_1952123285067365_8784747917635223552_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hoohaa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20214207_1952123285067365_8784747917635223552_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hoohaa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20214207_1952123285067365_8784747917635223552_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hoohaa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20214207_1952123285067365_8784747917635223552_n.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hoohaa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20214207_1952123285067365_8784747917635223552_n.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6108,"url":"https:\/\/hoohaa.com\/?p=6108","url_meta":{"origin":7741,"position":2},"title":"Summer softball is still a blast, despite fewer players, teams","author":"P.J.","date":"June 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"What a difference a year makes. The softball team I run is out to a 6-0 start, despite not always having 10 players on the field. I'm not sure what's different between this year and last, but things are clicking a little bit better. And I'm all for it. We've\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A 'lil HooHaa"","block_context":{"text":"A 'lil HooHaa","link":"https:\/\/hoohaa.com\/?cat=31"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4069\/4647563785_423931a4db.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13676,"url":"https:\/\/hoohaa.com\/?p=13676","url_meta":{"origin":7741,"position":3},"title":"Hanging up the cleats: Final thoughts","author":"P.J.","date":"December 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Note: This is part three in a three-part series about giving up softball after nearly 30 years of playing. This should have been published like a month ago, but apparently I didn't schedule as I had thought ...) 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