El Camino Staff Softball Team Game 1

psychoverse: bay area sports edition april 2007

the past week has been a godsend for bay area sports fanatics like myself...

golden state went on a magnificent run to make the playoffs and played an amazing game 1 against the Mavericks in Dallas last Sunday

the Sharks finished off Nashville and are off to Titletown Hockey USA in Detroit...

and the Giants, whom many wrote off after the first week of the season, have righted the ship and are now 9-7 after starting the season 1-6... i went to the first 7 home games until game 8 was a day game and my job interfered... though I was sorely tempted with BART across the street and an afternoon prep period...

last saturday night was prom and that felt a little like a sport as i spent the waning hours hunting for college frat guys who kept trying to sneak in and seduce our young female students... thankfully, no major problems of which I'm aware...

but now for the most important sporting news:
April 24, 2007 began a new era in El Camino High history. The staff softball team, GOT WHAT?, played and should have won our first game.

We were the home team so the opposing team got to bat first and it started a little rocky as i think there were some nerves in a few of us, including me. I pitched a few wide and what apparently is considered deep to the umpire we had (more on that later). They managed to score two runs, but our defense played well for the most part. Strategy #1 in my pitching, get them to hit it to Will at shortstop.

Bottom of the 1st: I have to admit that I really didn't know what to expect from our offense. After all, this was our first game together. Truly, I believe having two practices in the past month with at least half the team there helped because we all enjoy getting sweaty and eating BBQ afterwards. Particularly, last Sunday... due to the muddy field all we really were able to do was work on hitting, which we had yet to do... So, of course, I believe we scored three runs in the bottom of the first. I even had to sub in for Vinski. Unfortunately, our team's first home run turned into a triple because Vinski pulled his quad and he had to sit the rest of the game, but that didn't mean he wasn't part of the team as he coached from the first base box.

The middle of the game went rather smoothly. I think it was the third & fourth innings when I helped make 4 of the 6 outs. The first inning a ball was hit just beyond my reach. The middle innings, our team defense held solid (and remember, we're a rookie team). Two balls were hit directly back at me and I caught them on the fly. Scared the hell out of me. I had flashbacks to when I took a shot to my leg two batters into our championship game over a year ago. That hit to the leg led to my vein bursting 3 months ago. A slow bunt like hit dribbled in front of the plate and I missed it at first but bare handed a throw to first just in time... love my first basemen, especially when they make me look good. The best part about all this for me is that I was worried about my leg at the beginning of the game. The first hit right back at me helped me to focus on the game and clear my head of anything else.

Their clean-up hitter happened to be a former ASB vice-president of mine back in 1999. He was able to get on base in his first at-bat, but while running to second, Vinski tried to throw it to Will covering and the ball hit Phil square in the back of the head. Their team even claimed we tried to take out their best player (although I give that to what of their other guys who realized I was trying to get him to hit it to short and he still managed to knock over it to Sanguinetti at second base--I took the challenge personally and I didn't get my pitch inside enough). Anyways, the odd part of the night is I struck out my former student twice... I think he was being nice by letting me look good... it helps also that i've played with him and know his style a little (he played on my Sunday night team two or three years ago). The second strike out was the first out of the sixth and that was huge.

Unfortunately, I think it was the 5th inning in which I lost some control. Here's the scouting report on me... after running the bases, the tendonitis and arthritis in both my feels and ankles flares up so much that I can barely walk. Tomorrow at work trying to teach will be painful. But you know, after having survived a kidney stone in January and a vein bursting in February, I'm OK with the pain. The batter I walked that led to them tying the game at 6 really pissed me off. The pitches were barely deep and I'm not really sure how the batter laid off them.

Now a word about my team. for the most part, we kicked butt. Considering it was our first game all together and not knowing how each other plays and scrambling to put a lineup in just before game time, the game was great. All I really imagined last August when Lipman and I (with an assist to Jusiak) said we were going to put this together was the opportunity to hang out. So maybe we didn't go to Molloy's after tonight's game, but we had fun. I think we all benefited from this, especially with the unknown status of our contract negotiations and a volatile English department meeting earlier in the day. A lot of played great. Marciano holding onto a ball at second to end an inning was key. Macapinlac, my battery mate (catcher) bats like she's a professional and I don't worry about her making a play to catch a relay in from the outfield to home plate. What can I say? Everyone is just awesome. Jusiak and Will fortifying the left side of the infield. I even made sure after getting two balls hit straight at me to get it hit to Bellar playing short. My outfielders get much action, but were sure-handed when they needed to be with only one ball getting hit hard enough by any of them. Team Momager Lipman got kept the lineup in order. The fans in the stands were loud and hilarious. There were alumni, students, parents, and co-workers all there to support. I just wonder what the video tape is going to look like when we watch it back. Maybe we'll even get some highlights into the DVD yearbook... wow... something to stand up to the greatness of our lip sync routines...

I look forward to Tuesday nights. And the season ends after graduation, and I love the idea that when school ends that it won't be the last time I spend with these friends. In the 10 years I've taught at El Camino, I have made wonderful friends and many have left over the years and I miss them all, but I am lucky enough that the people who've replaced them are just as amazing and now we all have something new to share together. I think I'm even going to be sad in two weeks when I'm sitting on the beach in Waikiki knowing that I won't be playing by their sides and instead have to stress over what to say in my best man's speech for my brother's wedding on May 11...

We may have lost game 1 and I did walk back into the dugout pissed giving up those final runs. But we played with fight and determination in the last inning and scored one run back. We don't give up and that's what makes us teachers.