Foul Ball-It Doesn't Stink in the End

Today Mike and I sat on the sidelines of one of the saddest, most embarrassing softball games we had ever seen.  Michaela's team played this morning, and the first thing I want to say is that she is on a team full of girls who have been encouraging, kind, and friendly from the start of the season.  You see, she is an outsider.  All of the other girls know each other from school; not only do they go to school together but they have played ball together for several years.  She was on this same team last year, but from one spring to another I'm not sure that they remembered her.  A lot happens over the summer and during a school year.  As a mom (especially one who struggles to make friends with women who are already in well-established circles of friendships) it has been touching to see her teammates treat Michaela as one of the girls.  Michaela is not a strong player, but they (and the other parents) cheer her on, yelling,"You can do it!" from the side.  One of the girls was on second base today when Michaela went up to bat and as she waited for her final pitch this teammate hollered,"Go, Michaela!"  I almost cried.

These girls are decent softball players.  A lot of the time they get a hit, and often they make it to the next base.  They've scored plenty of runs.  They've both won and lost games this season.  The fact that they lost their first of two games today is not what was embarrassing.  What was so shameful was the way the other team's coaches were directing those girls.  They were unabashedly teaching them to take advantage not only of someone else's weakness (as in the case of overthrowing the ball-it's pretty standard to take one base when the team on the field misses a catch and has to run to get it and then throw it to the pitcher...this team sent their girls home time and again, even if the ball was on its way to the pitcher and even if the runner had already taken second and/or third), but they were also teaching them to take advantage of mistakes made in their favor (like when one of our girls made it to second, at the same time the second baseman-girl, whatever- caught the ball but stood just short of the base...the referee signaled our girl out, and when two of our coaches asked about it the ref maintained his call, amidst a collective,"What?!" and groan from our team's parents; it would have been clear to the other coaches had they been watching the game, and to the girl who caught the ball but was not on base, that a mistake had been made, yet no one said anything...our coaches did not get into an argument about the call, but let it go).  These things were so sad to see.  Mike said later,"They're not playing softball, they're just taking advantage of people."

The heartening thing about the situation lies in the response of Michaela's team.  They didn't complain.  I won't lie and say that no comments were made by the parents to one another (once our girls were on the field again, one dad yelled out,"Just stand close to second!"-I don't know if anyone else heard him but one other dad and me...and darnit, I laughed), or among the coaches and dads.  But it was lighthearted, a what-are-you-going-to-do-but-let-it-go kind of attitude.  The girl who was called out, even though the folks at the pool next to the field could see that she was safe, came off of the field easily, even with a smile.  Her mom came over just after and she turned to talk to her; I didn't hear their whole conversation, but understood her look to say,"Did you see what happened?!"  I heard her mom say that everyone saw it, but that these things happen, that she did a good job, and everything was okay.  When the coach questioned the call and the ref signaled "out" again, he lowered his head and spread his arms with his hands palms-down as if to say,"You got it; you make the call."  He told the girls after the game that yes, there had been some tough breaks, but they did well, and he encouraged them as they looked forward to their next game later in the afternoon.

You know what?  They won that second game.  I was at home with Eliana for her nap, and I wish I could have been there.  I bet they worked hard and played fair, and their reward was a win.  I don't really care about winning and losing so much; mainly I want Michaela to have fun with other little girls.  But I want her to learn about good sportsmanship, teamwork, and honesty.  I'm grateful that she is on a team that works to instill these things in the players.  As the end of the season nears, I'm making a call myself...whether they are dashing to first or running down the line headed home, I think these girls are SAFE!

Comments

[Kristina Zirschky]

Oooo that makes me so mad when things like that happen. So glad Michaela and her team had such good attitudes about the whole thing. That's great. And I'm sure it felt great to win the second game.