Rookie's First Official Game

I was nervous again. I showed up in the parking lot and the coach was there with a few of the veteran players walking over to the field as the game before ours was ending. The coach gave me a T-shirt it was not the team colors but it had a Mass Baseball logo on it and it would have to do until he got me a shirt for the next game. I was the only guy without the green and yellow shirts of our A's team. That hurt a little. Before the game started a guy with an extra shirt gave me his and it helped alot. I felt wanted.

Truth is, the guys on the team have been great. It's a real assortment of ages from 30 - to one guy who is one year older than my 57. They're pretty supportive and I'm getting a little good natured ribbing which is a sure sign of acceptance. We had 14 players, and I was told I would rotate with Benny for the right field position. I batted next to last. Oddly that was comforting, at least one guy was deemed by the coach to hit worse than me.

The other team had full uniforms, complete with matching warmup jackets. We were the Little Sisters of the Poor, comparatively. They all looked young, not a gray hair on the squad from what I could tell. They put up a 5 spot on us in the first inning. We made 3 infield errors. It's hard not to see that and not think that I would have made all of those 3 plays cleanly. But alas, I'm thought of as an outfielder where I almost never played growing up.

My first at bat came in the 3rd inning, we were down 7-2 no one was on base. My first official at bat! I took the first pitch, fastball down the middle, strike one -
I topped a foul for strike two (contact, yeah) took a high pitch for ball one and then made the mistake that you're not supposed to make. I decided I was going to swing at this pitch unless it was over my head. Whiff. Strike 3 at the knees and a K on my first official at bat. Damn.

I made two clean plays in the outfield chasing down balls hit through the infield. For some reason I played the rest of the game not rotating with Benny but playing the outfield each inning. Then came the weird fly ball. A right handed batter hit a fly ball out my way, usually the ball coming off the bat of a right hander will spin away toward the foul line a bit (sometimes alot)I held my ground waiting for the turn and the ball never turned it was going to come right toward me. Good. But I had overestimated how deep it was. I was a step or two too deep. At the last second I put my glove down and made a clean basket catch of the ball. Very unconventional. One guy shouted out "nice catch Willy" a reference to Willy Mays who always caught fly balls this way. Most people think it's a showboating way to catch the ball. Believe me, I wasn't showboating. I caught some wisecracks on the bench and the pitcher said "Hey, you almost gave me a heart attack". I hate playing in the outfield.

My next at bat I felt a little more comfortable and drew a walk. I came around to score my first official run as we rallied to tie it at 9-9. They scored 4 more runs in the top of the eighth as our infield made 2 more errors. I came up in the bottom of the eighth and struck out on a high outside fastball after getting myself in an 0-2 hole. We lost 13-10 but I was glad to get the first one out of the way. I'm hoping to feel more comfortable the next time out.