Anybody engaged in an athletic endeavor has his good days and his bad days. Ted Williams hit a home run in his last at-bat; that was a good day. Hockey players sometimes get hat tricks and sometimes get their faces flattened against the glass. Downhill skiers sometimes win and sometimes wipe out. With senior softball, any day where you don’t pull a muscle or fall flat on your ass is a pretty good day. But every now and then you have a game that is immensely satisfying.
Today was that day.
We were down 6-1 after the first 2 innings, thanks to some remarkably inept fielding and some very weak hitting. It was looking bleak, but the defense improved, as did the offense. After 6 innings we were down 9-7. As we were home team we batted last. In the top of the last inning (the 7th) we played some outstanding defense and held them. In the bottom, I got to the plate with bases loaded and one out. If I hit into a double play (all too likely given my poor summer softball performance) the game would be over. If I hit a fly ball it would likely score 1 but still leave us behind by a run. My goal was to get a solid hit and, hopefully, tie the game.
I hit a sharp line drive that the left fielder tried to quickly field, no doubt with the idea of throwing out the tying run at the plate. But he let the ball skip by. Three runs scored. We won 10-9.
Glory. And a very good day.