Unnecessary Roughness

Last night the season ended for team "Balls to the Wall" (please note again I did not pick the name) in the first round of the playoffs. Our final record was 3-5, not too bad for our first year and also considering we probably had the oldest average age among teams (a few 50+ year old's will shoot your average up fast).

We lost 12-6 to a team that was hard core kickball. My first clue that they were way more serious than us was when I saw the majority of the team wearing batting gloves. Really?? Batting gloves for kickball makes a difference? My second clue that this team was way more competitive literally "hit me" while playing. Picture this - the other team is up to kick, the ball is kicked between first and second base. A runner on second starts running toward third where I am playing. I assume the defensive position with my hands up ready to catch the ball and my left foot slightly on the base should a teammate try to throw to third (even though the obvious out was at first). I'm watching my team throw the ball to first when all the sudden I feel the painful impact of someone running into me, thus causing me to be shoved off the base. In shock I yelled out, "Ouch!" and just looked at the runner with disbelief. She then unsympathetically told me, "You're not supposed to stand on the bag". Still in shock all I could muster up in response was, "This is my first time to play third base." (a weak comeback, I know) What I wanted to say was not appropriate for the blog - it is a family blog. Let the record show that I wasn't "standing" on the base, I was slightly touching it with only my left foot and the ball wasn't even coming in my direction. Definitely not cause for her to lower her shoulder and knock me down! I then looked at my friends & coworkers on the bench who were there watching and saw them all hysterically laughing, clearly worried about my safety.

Needless to say I'm not sad to see the season end.