Kickball season ended last night. St. P’s got a gutty two-run win over the team they got their first win over a week ago. They ended the season 3-4, but won three of their final four games.
As with the first game, last night was not without controversy. There were a series of contested calls involving foul balls late in the game. The OL coaches and parents were complaining especially loudly about two calls in the last inning. Given the closeness of the game and the position of the coaches and parents (directly between me and the field), I came dangerously close to becoming That Dad. You know, the guy who yells at the other team’s coach and parents during a third and fourth grade athletic event.
In my defense, they were being idiots. I’m amazed at how many parents, including ones keeping the scorebook, don’t understand the foul ball rules. Last night one parent turned to another and said, “So when is it a foul ball and when isn’t it?” Shouldn’t you know the answer to this question before you start bitching loudly?
A grandfather of one of M.’s teammates was standing near me and as I started to voice my opinion, not loudly but enough to be heard several feet away, he turned and looked at me and shook his head in disgust. I’m assuming at the other parents and not me, of course.
Anyway, the girls won and were very happy. And I learned a valuable lesson: stand farther away from the field next fall so I don’t hear every comment of the other team’s parents. I think I’m going to recruit kids and parents from the neighborhood to play some kickball in the street this summer so, hopefully, M. can develop a little more kicking strength/skill. Since she doesn’t listen to anything S. and I tell her to do, maybe peer pressure will pay off.
Oh, last night OL pulled off an unassisted triple play. With runners on first and second, there was a line shot to the pitcher, who caught the ball. The runners from second and third both took off and, as tends to happen, either kept running or completely froze in the middle of the base path. Meanwhile the parents from both teams are screaming at their kids to either throw to second or get back to their base. The pitcher was the first to figure out what was going on. She ran toward second and tagged the base, then ran over to first and doubled-off the runner there. Sure, she could have thrown the ball and not hogged all the glory for herself. But given how first basemen struggle to catch, it was a pretty heady and smart move. A bummer for our girls, but impressive nonetheless.