Bottom of the third and we’re down by nine runs. This is good.
You see, we’ve signed up for our local softball adult rookie league and recruited people from different departments. The level of skills goes from I’ve-never-held-a-bat-before to I-grew-up-playing-baseball. We’re not winning a world championship any time soon, but the overarching idea is that it allows us to get outdoors and have fun. Most importantly, it unites us and helps apply our teamwork mentality into a real-world application.
The Monday Routine
Monday after Monday, we eat at a restaurant and dig into our pool’s statistics. We compare scores and performance, trying to figure out what the odds are for winning the game (we also stress about trying to recruit enough players for that day). After a few laughs and previous game stories, we drive to the nearby baseball field.
As we throw the ball around and do a couple of laps around the field, we start to strategize where we’re going to place everyone. We go back and forth and determine which player would do best in what position. Eventually, the umpire calls the beginning of the game and we get set to play.
Lessons Learned from Playing Softball
We approach the dugout with a smile, a bag of flavored seeds, and the desire to win. While one of those has yet to become a reality, we've learned four very important life lessons from playing as a softball team.
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Don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’ve played against teams whose only intent is to win and do so by being let’s just say not so friendly. We approach each game with a determination to win and a resolution that if we don’t, we’re still going to have fun.
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Always bring enough gloves. We learned this the hard way when we had to give someone a left-hand glove when she was clearly right-handed. That scenario didn’t work out as well as we intended but it led to many unforgettable plays.
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Second base is jinxed. Elbows fly and you might get run over on your way to second base. We learned to approach the base cautiously after the first incident.
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Dogs make amazing mascots. One of our players brought their dog, Bluey, to the game. Bluey brought her ball catching skills and was our biggest fan.
At the end of the season we asked ourselves a very important question: Will we be returning for the 2019 season? Absolutely!
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