You shouldn't have to get up before sunrise to play softball.

(Warning...sports talk first)

No, you shouldn't, but that happened yesterday down in Indy. We had a light practice at 8 before our game at 9 against another team from Canada and at 7 (even 7:30 I think) the sun hadn't risen yet. Ugh. Our team was decimated with injuries after day one and we didn't have any subs really to fall back on to begin with. We had an outfielder who couldn't throw because of a bad arm, another one who couldn't run because of bad knees, another one who couldn't run because of his back. Oddly enough the oldest outfielder was the only healthy one!! On the infield our first basemen ripped up his ankle on day one when he hit the side of first base wrong while running out a hit. Our third basemen pulled his hammy. Our pitcher and catcher were both slow/hobbled to begin with....it's just their natural state of being. It was not pretty.

We were game though and took a lead on the Canucks and only needed to score one run in the fifth to end it by slaughter rule. It didn't happen though and back they came.....couldn't think of a war analogy where Canadians came back from anything. Actually I couldn't think of a Canadian war analogy at all. Anyway, they ended up taking the lead in the top of the seventh, and last inning, 16-15. In the bottom of the inning we loaded the bases with nobody out. Guess who was up to bat? No, not me. I was on deck. It was the same guy who popped out before me in the last game on Saturday. He again took a swing at the first pitch and hit a chopper to third. It could have been a double play but the ball took a bad hop, hit off the third basemen's knee and hopped over the fence in foul territory out of play. By rule, the runner on third and on second both get to score and the game was over! That's all we had in us though and were hammered 17-4 in the next game. I joined the ranks of the injured by that time as my calf muscle was re-strained. Ouch.

After starting the tournament 2-7 and going 0-3 in the last game while hurt, I put together a string of 10 for 13 including a triple to finish 12-23, slightly over .500. We always say that we try to find hitters that on a BAD day will at least hit .500. Adjusting to this style of pitching was hard for me after Orlando. In Orlando the strike zone was 3'-9' and most of the strikes were called in the 3'-7' range. Here the zone was 6'-10' with most pitches coming in at the top of that limit. Not an easy adjustment to make.






Our team. I'm in the front row, second from the right.







(Sports section is over.)

After our second game (we finished 4-2 and in fifth place), I raced by to Chicago while listening to the latest Bears debacle. My only consolation is that Pittsburgh also lost, so Bee can't post an obnoxious Black and Gold comment.

Instead of going home though, I went straight over to MWrigley's condo. I was too late for having lunch (which I was supposed to bring anyway....doh!) but she was still up for making dinner after watching some football on the sofa. On the menu was a porkloin brazed with some olive oil and spices (I know lemon peel and parsley), a rhubarb chutney, baked but crisp asparagus and mashed potatoes (the Yellow Gold kind...yum). It was all very good and guess what I'm having for lunch?! MWrigley cooks like they do on the tv shows where all of the ingredients are prepped well in advance and put into little bowls for easy mixing. Like most cooks, you don't want to get in the way while she's doing her thing. I was happy to sit at the kitchen counter sipping a rhubarb wine (from Galena) and watching tv while periodically helping to clean up. It was a full day!