(In which the blogger barely recaps a resounding defeat, and makes a weak attempt at topical humor)
Yes, there was some talk about practice following Tuesday's game against Catahoula. In some past years, the idea of a regular practice in addition to a weekly game would have been the punchline to a joke, not a serious proposal. But there is no doubt that practice is an important part of skills improvement, so I'll echo Paul's call for better attendance. Hopefully we can get enough people out on a regular basis to run some effective drills and scrimmages, which are also more fun than hitting BP with 5 people.
This game, against last year's top team, was basically a training session, at least for the outfield. It included basic aerobic conditioning and arm strengthening exercises as we chased after well-struck fly balls and heaved them back to the infield. Once we we had retreated deep enough in our initial fielding positions to have a chance at making a play, we got to practice catching the ball, with some success. We even explored advanced defensive concepts like three- and four-person relay chains to return the ball to the pitcher for the next at-bat. Did I mention the sprinting (or, once the game was basically out of hand after the 3rd inning, half-hearted jogging)? Yeah, we ran a lot. Especially Bob in left field- apparently Catahoula didn't want to practice hitting the ball to the opposite field.
So it is safe to say that the some of us were feeling the Bern after a tough game against the four-time reigning CCSL champions. No, I didn't just mispell a colloquialism for overworked muscle tissue -- It seemed clear that with the talent inequality in the league we needed to follow Senator Sanders' blueprint for dealing with our unfair economic system by breaking up Catahoula, the top 10% of the CCSL, and redistributing the wealth to the "poorer" teams. Also, universal healthcare was sounding like a pretty good idea after our Captain dislocated his finger sliding into second base to escape a late-inning pickle (hope you are feeling better, Paul).
Alas, much like the DNC is in clear cahoots with HRC, the CCSL "Establishment" has too much at stake in ensuring Catahoula's continued dominance. A redistribution of of the softball talent is even more unlikely than a Bernie Sanders nomination following his New York primary defeat. Comrades, the game is rigged in favor of better teams! I fear that our only effective strategy for a successful CCSL revolution must be to improve on the field.
...So maybe there is something to this "practice" idea after all...
Just don't hold it against me if I can't be there*.
Final Score: Catahoula 26, THB 3 (6 innings/darkness)
*Considering that I opened my third CCSL season with a swinging bunt and then tripped over first base, I should probably try to attend a few. Noted.
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We've played our opening games against two of the best teams in the league, and we haven't yet been at full strength or played our best ball (as the results have shown). Don't let it get you down! It took us a few weeks to get rolling last season, but once we hit our stride we could hang with anyone and made it all the way to the Championship Series. We WILL be more competitive than we've shown thus far.
