This week we played another somewhat highly ranked team (of course). We were off to a decent start, scoring 1 run the first inning. As the sun was going down, we had the game tied 2-2.

Unfortunately, with this scenario, once it started getting dark, the lights didn’t turn on over our field (they turned on everywhere else, but I guess we were just lucky like that). We could still see enough to play, but it made it increasingly difficult to see when the ball landed in fair vs. foul territory. Unlike with previous weeks, this team seemed to be missing one of the key concepts of the kickball league—that it’s supposed to be FUN! This team, even before the lights were an issue, was disputing every (and I mean EVERY) call the refs were making, and just weren’t a lot of fun to play against. You can’t even say that the amount of fun we have is based on how well WE do, because having lost every game, we still had fun even when we lost by several runs. But not with this team. They also had an insane pitcher who seemed to chuck the ball super hard at you, which wasn’t terribly fun to kick against.

At any rate, at the end of the 5th inning, we were still tied, and so the other team informed us this meant that we do an extra inning. We wanted to go to a neighboring field that had lights, but the cones had already been taken away, so we had to stay where we were. We weren’t exactly thrilled, since we couldn’t see and we knew they would just keep disputing. But, we had a chance to take the win, so we went for it.

We kicked first and didn't manage to get any more runs, so it was the other team's turn. They had a runner on third when the next ball was kicked. We thew the ball home and unfortunately the catcher fumbled a bit with the ball and didn't quite have a hold on it when the guy from the other team hit the base. And so, the game ended with them beating us 3-2.

If you will recall, last week we won by an equally close margin, but the level of excitement from our team was way different. It's just not fun when every move is questioned and it's more about being argumentative than having a good time. However, our co-captain just sent me a text message from the bar, after she talked to the head ref of the division. Apparently one of the rules about extra innings is that BOTH teams have to agree to it. Since we didn't agree to the extra inning and thought we HAD to play, we contested our loss and got it overturned. End result? We didn't lose this week! Instead, we tied!!

I'm home early instead of heading to the bar this week, but after the way the game went, almost no one was up for "celebrating". Perhaps if we had known it would ultimately end in a tie our team would've been in better spirits and represented, but no matter. A tie is awesome, and we played a good game--even better when you consider how hard it was to see out there.

Hopefully next week's team will know what the game is REALLY about, and win or lose we'll all have a fun time.

Posted at 9:15 PM |