Obsidian Potency 3.0
Kickball Playoffs, Championship Game: Extra Innings
posted Sunday, 29 July 2007
Immediately after my team's historic win, it was time for the big one: the championship game. The Cup sat waiting to be claimed by either our 12th-seeded team (Freqs) or the 3rd-seeded Your Mom's Team. One would stand, one would fall.
By this time, it was about 95 degrees in the blazing midday sun on the National Mall. Both teams were tired, hot and dripping with funky sweat. My right hamstring, strained two games ago, tightened up during the break between games. It got so bad that my teammate Cat actually had to help me stretch it out. This helped somewhat, but I knew as soon as I started to run full-speed, it would start to tighten up again.
Your Mom's Team wasn't quite dumb enough to kick first, so we went up to kick. I got on base, and I think I might have scored again. In any case, we scored two runs in the top of the first.
By the third inning, the game was tied 2-2. Lots of people from the previous games stayed to watch, including DC Kickball Capital Division Spring President JP, whose team had been beaten 5-2 by Your Mom's team in the semis. You could cut the tension with a knife.
In my second at-bat, I made it to first but was forced out at second. Our opponents were as solid on defense as Thick Femur had been. We ended up stranding several runners, including me (once).
In the top of the fifth, we thought we'd won the game. Ben made it all the way to third base with no outs. Kris had managed a single. Our next kicker popped out, but we had told Ben to tag up and run for home if this happened. Our first base coach at the time, Justin, started screaming at Ben to run home. Unfortunately, he failed to coach Kris - who was the person he should have been focusing on, since Ben already had a third base coach from our team giving him instructions. Kris heard Justin and thought he was talking to her...so she ran. The opposing team caught the ball, then stepped on first and tagged Kris out for a double-play, ending the threat. AAAAAAARGH.
We held them scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, and the game went into extra innings. A couple of the opposition said, "Can't we just settle for a tie? Would you guys mind?" Frankly, no: none of us would have minded. I was exhausted, and so was everyone else on the field. Nobody should have been playing without shade in that weather. I just wanted to get done. But I also wanted to win.
The game stayed tied 2-2 into 8 innings. Kicking became more and more sloppy. Finally, it happened: with the bases empty, the other team kicked a ball that went low into the outfield. Our pitcher (Justin again) got the ball back just as their runner was halfway between first and second. According to kickball rules, once the pitcher gets the ball back, the runner can no longer advance. But Justin inexplicably tried to throw the guy out at second, resulting in an overthrow.
Usually you can only take one base on an overthrow, but that rule only applies to the outside bases (first and third). But this overthrow was at second. Their runner came all the way home to score the walk-off home run. Game over.
Just like that, our magical run ended. Final score: Your Mom's Team 3, The Freqs 2 (8 innings). Both teams lined up and exchanged very heartfelt admiration for our opponents. The game could have gone either way, and it ended up a battle of attrition. A few mental mistakes ended up costing us.
I don't blame Justin, though. He is probably our best all-around player. He is our pitcher, and even managed to strike someone out during the title game (a very rare kickball occurrence). He is incredible on defense most of the time. He is our fourth (cleanup) kicker in the lineup. He joined our team midseason a few weeks after the birth of his first kid, and that's when we started winning. Without Justin, it's pretty safe to say that we wouldn't have made it this far. A team often lives and dies by its best players, and that was definitely true for us.
Due to horribly last-minute planning, the DC Kickball Open tournament was scheduled to begin play right after our final game. Both finalists from DC Kickball were supposed to participate. But due to how long we played and how tired everyone was, and how disgusting the weather was, both our team and our opponents declined to participate. No way were we playing any more kickball on Saturday.
Fall season starts in two weeks. My team (this time wearing the black shirts, under the moniker Cobra Kai) will be essentially the same as this year's. I hope my hamstring is healed up by then. Until that gets rolling, I have to be satisfied that our team made red rubber kickball history. We were the Rocky Balboa of the game, and nobody can take that away from us.
Besides, it's only kickball.
By this time, it was about 95 degrees in the blazing midday sun on the National Mall. Both teams were tired, hot and dripping with funky sweat. My right hamstring, strained two games ago, tightened up during the break between games. It got so bad that my teammate Cat actually had to help me stretch it out. This helped somewhat, but I knew as soon as I started to run full-speed, it would start to tighten up again.
Your Mom's Team wasn't quite dumb enough to kick first, so we went up to kick. I got on base, and I think I might have scored again. In any case, we scored two runs in the top of the first.
By the third inning, the game was tied 2-2. Lots of people from the previous games stayed to watch, including DC Kickball Capital Division Spring President JP, whose team had been beaten 5-2 by Your Mom's team in the semis. You could cut the tension with a knife.
In my second at-bat, I made it to first but was forced out at second. Our opponents were as solid on defense as Thick Femur had been. We ended up stranding several runners, including me (once).
In the top of the fifth, we thought we'd won the game. Ben made it all the way to third base with no outs. Kris had managed a single. Our next kicker popped out, but we had told Ben to tag up and run for home if this happened. Our first base coach at the time, Justin, started screaming at Ben to run home. Unfortunately, he failed to coach Kris - who was the person he should have been focusing on, since Ben already had a third base coach from our team giving him instructions. Kris heard Justin and thought he was talking to her...so she ran. The opposing team caught the ball, then stepped on first and tagged Kris out for a double-play, ending the threat. AAAAAAARGH.
We held them scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, and the game went into extra innings. A couple of the opposition said, "Can't we just settle for a tie? Would you guys mind?" Frankly, no: none of us would have minded. I was exhausted, and so was everyone else on the field. Nobody should have been playing without shade in that weather. I just wanted to get done. But I also wanted to win.
The game stayed tied 2-2 into 8 innings. Kicking became more and more sloppy. Finally, it happened: with the bases empty, the other team kicked a ball that went low into the outfield. Our pitcher (Justin again) got the ball back just as their runner was halfway between first and second. According to kickball rules, once the pitcher gets the ball back, the runner can no longer advance. But Justin inexplicably tried to throw the guy out at second, resulting in an overthrow.
Usually you can only take one base on an overthrow, but that rule only applies to the outside bases (first and third). But this overthrow was at second. Their runner came all the way home to score the walk-off home run. Game over.
Just like that, our magical run ended. Final score: Your Mom's Team 3, The Freqs 2 (8 innings). Both teams lined up and exchanged very heartfelt admiration for our opponents. The game could have gone either way, and it ended up a battle of attrition. A few mental mistakes ended up costing us.
I don't blame Justin, though. He is probably our best all-around player. He is our pitcher, and even managed to strike someone out during the title game (a very rare kickball occurrence). He is incredible on defense most of the time. He is our fourth (cleanup) kicker in the lineup. He joined our team midseason a few weeks after the birth of his first kid, and that's when we started winning. Without Justin, it's pretty safe to say that we wouldn't have made it this far. A team often lives and dies by its best players, and that was definitely true for us.
Due to horribly last-minute planning, the DC Kickball Open tournament was scheduled to begin play right after our final game. Both finalists from DC Kickball were supposed to participate. But due to how long we played and how tired everyone was, and how disgusting the weather was, both our team and our opponents declined to participate. No way were we playing any more kickball on Saturday.
Fall season starts in two weeks. My team (this time wearing the black shirts, under the moniker Cobra Kai) will be essentially the same as this year's. I hope my hamstring is healed up by then. Until that gets rolling, I have to be satisfied that our team made red rubber kickball history. We were the Rocky Balboa of the game, and nobody can take that away from us.
Besides, it's only kickball.
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