A few weeks back, some friends from baseball invited me and aarti down to a softball tournament they were putting on in Birmingham.
I’ve played a handful of softball games this year, so I was looking forward to it for a couple weeks before hand. Unlike before, this tournament wasn’t coed – the girls played a separate division from the guys. I was told to expect a lot of games, and a feeling of pure exhaustion by the end of the weekend.
We got a ride down with some teammates, and it turned out to be more than a five hour drive. The first 1.5 hours, we’re on these narrow winding roads through the borders with nothing but a few small villages and some farms to look at. That was at least until we got on the M6. It passes near Carlisle and the Lake District but there isn’t much to look at out the window on the motorway either.
Everyone was camping out at the park, so we could get an early start the next morning.
It was the weekend after we went to Arran. We were up against teams from Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and London and a couple other cities. I think I played fairly well. I didn’t make any big mistakes in the outfield and I was getting on base on most of my at-bats. I even hit my first home run of the year. The guys team pulled off a pretty solid 5 and 3 record.
The games were a bit shorter than I expected, but I was definitely exhausted and sun roasted by Sunday afternoon when we headed back.
They say softball is more about the socializing than the sport, and it was a really great time so I hope I get a chance to do it again.
Wright After Reading 