You saw our rankings. 1 win, 3 losses. You thought, “piece of cake.” You saw us warming up and thought, “decent, but beatable.” We got up to bat for the top of the first. Ball after ball after ball led to nine runs and only two outs. Finally someone just swung for it and struck out. Bottom of the first.
One hard hit out to left field got you a triple. A drive line to first got you home, but no one else made it to first base.
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Top of the second. You switched pitchers. You thought it might help.
Top of the third. One out. Our player swings and strikes out. Only two outs, but you run towards the dugout with the fervor of a team needing to rally. Your pitcher drops the ball and walks away, but the game is still live. Our guy on first base takes the opportunity and heads home. You realize what you've done and desperately try to get him out, but he makes it home. Barely, but he makes it. You question it, but the umpire says it's fair. You should have paid attention.
Then, it's the bottom of the fourth. Your batter has a full count and the ball hits the line of the strike zone. You all wait with bated breath. Strikeout, or walk? She's sad, but the umpire has to call strike. You get angry again and question our pitchers technique. He's in the right, so you get no gain.
Finally, we’ve lost track of innings. You're down by twelve. You have to bat one more time, and then it's mercy ruling. You get one on base but it's not enough. Three outs, and the game is over. We line up on first, you on third. High fives and smiles from us, just raised hands to slap from you. One of your own stays on the bench, a scowl on her face.
But what you don't know is that this is our first real win. We won off of a forfeit the first time. This game was pure us. Maybe your pitchers weren't great, but we played nearly flawlessly. We have never played as good as we did that night.
So even thought you guys didn't have a great game, and even though a loss to us of all teams probably stung, know that you helped make our night, if not our week.
And if that doesn't feel good, I don't know what does.
