Outlaws 17 vs. Beer Sluggers 3

I had two big firsts on Tuesday night. Our coach, Billy, and our starting pitcher, Pam are enjoying a well deserved vacation to Hawaii. Billy bestowed the honor of coach upon me!...which really is a true honor.

The problem was and is that our backup pitcher is also in Hawaii.

I got in contact with Sundance who has tossed at BP in the past and he was willing to try it out. I was thankful but knew this plan could really blow up.

Feeling uncomfortable when I woke up Tuesday morning, I decided that I needed to learn how to pitch....and I needed to know it by gametime, 7PM. So I did what any resourceful learner might do in the digital age, I googled "How to slowpitch a softball." To my relief there were five or so videos posted on Youtube that proved helpful. So my morning was all about film study.

The best advice for tossing "the meatball" focused on the concepts of release point and arc.

I knew I had to practice so I got to the field at 4:45 so I could have some time alone. I really didn't want anyone to witness my process. I tossed about 70 or so meatballs with very limited success. Pitching, as it turns out, is a lot harder than I thought it would be and I give tremendous credit to Pam for all her years of it. She's great! I could get it near the plate most of the time but hardly at or on. I had a sinking feeling after my session. I watched the opening game and tried to pay close attention to pitching style and mechanics while finalizing my line up/position card

Coaching, as it turns out was a lot harder than I thought it would be and I give tremendous credit to Billy for all his years of it. The toughest part was all the uncertainty about who would actually show up. I try to do a roll call every week for my team but you just never know who will be there before or at gametime. Luckily, I had prepared for several scenarios and the majority of my decisions were informed from my preparations. Nevertheless, there is a certain frenzy of last minute decisions you must be ready to communicate so everyone understands their role.

The game started and Sundance walked the first four runs. I knew this couldn't work and at that point I warmed up. After 7 runs an inning is over and that's exactly what happened. At 7-1 I entered the game in the 2nd inning as a relief pitcher.

Maybe I should have felt nervous. When you are the pitcher, literally every eye in the park is on you. At that point though I knew I couldn't do worse than poor Sundance, who was even playing injured!

Remembering my (interesting)  training I focused on being calm. I gripped the ball the best way that worked in practice. I reminded myself about consistent release. I used my disc golf experiences to forget the last toss in order to be present for the next. I refused to get rattled. I never got tricky.

Well I got out of the 2nd inning giving up six runs, which actually felt amazing. It wasn't my performance that afffected that half of the inning as much as the errors committed by our infield. Although I did walk at least two of those runs. My team was very supportive of my effort.

My pitches were vastly far from perfect and with a 13-1 lead, The Outlaws took it easy with me. They started to hit any junk I could put somewhat down the middle. I still drew a handful of walks....but it worked! I was pitching....with some success!! I even struck out a player. Imagine that, my first K.

We were horrible though and lost the game 17-3. So for the rest of the game we only gave up 4 runs. We had one scoreless inning! And I drove in a run on a double.

As the coach and the pitcher I should probably hang my head in shame after a shelling like that but even two days later I feel great. What an experience to savor. This unique opportunity is one I wont forget.....but I hope Billy and Pam come home soon. I'm ready to be a left fielder again.

As for my pitching....I hope I get some more reps at BP because I really think it's a good thing to be able to play multiple positions. You never know when you might have to.