Report on Vegas

Sorry about my inability to post this weekend, but hopefully you were able to keep tabs on our progress through the link I provided on Friday.

Sports first and then the other stuff tomorrow.

It turned out to be a pretty eventful tournament. Las Vegas had a ton of rain on Friday and Friday night, causing our games on Saturday to be pushed back four hours. To compensate for the loss of playing time, the organizers decided to change the rules a bit to catch up on the schedule. So on Saturday, we had our first "game" at 12:30 instead of 9. I say "game" because the rules were changed to speed up play. First, there was a 35 minute time limit per game. That's half the amount of time and for a national tournament, it's ridiculous. Then they instituted a "one pitch" rule. So as a hitter, you were getting one pitch. You either walk if it's a ball, are out if it's a strike or you hit it into play. There are entire tournaments that are run this way, but you shouldn't invoke the rule just to catch up on missed games. It's Vegas, people are going to be up late anyway!!

So when and if you lost on Saturday, that would be it for Saturday and you wouldn't play again until Sunday. If you went 6-0 on Saturday, you wouldn't play again until Monday! Well, we didn't have to worry about that as we lost our very first game, I think 7-5. Ugh. The good news is that we were in Vegas so there was plenty to do during the day and evening on Saturday. The bad news is that Sunday was going to be a long day if we were going to make it to Monday.

In Vegas, 6:30 rolls around pretty early, or pretty late, depending on your mental (and financial) state. For us, it was pretty damn early. Our first game was at 8 in nearby Henderson. Traditionally, we have not done well with the first game in the morning because 1) we have some older players like myself who take a while to get moving and 2) we have some young players (unlike myself) who stay out all night drinking when they are away from home.

As the sun was still low in the sky, our hitters were face-on into the sun. Any pitch arcing over 6 feet or so would go right into the sun and would be virtually unhittable. We prevailed however, 13-9 against a team from (Carson City, NV, the state capital) though I'm still not sure I saw any ball that I actually made contact with. Ugh. The game didn't mean too much actually because this tournament is a three game guarantee, so even if we lost, we'd still play another. Lose THAT game though, and it's a quick flight home.

Our next game was at 10:00 and thankfully on a more sun friendly field. We were playing a team from Yuba City California, right outside Sacramento (also a state capital!!). We won 10-9 and I can't remember a single detail about the game. That's a shame because a 10-9 game sounds pretty exciting.

Next up was Smashmouth, not the band, but a team from the north side of Vegas and we beat them 15-12. If you notice a trend of close games here, you're dead on. This was probably one of the most talented tournaments we've played in. Very few blowouts.

So we had played at 8, 10 and 2 and had won all three. We would still have to play at 6 and at 8 and win both if we wanted to make it to Monday. The game at 6 though went to a field that, surprise, surprise had the sun in our hitters' faces as it set. Nice. We get the sun in our face in the morning AND the evening. It was really, really hard to see and I don't do well under those conditions. My game is more of a place hitter than a power hitter, but it's tough to hit a ball in any regard if you can barely see it.

We won our 6:00 game though 20-10 as the sun set 3/4ths of the way through the game and allowed our offense to take some shots. Every game was a huge game at this point because we could go home with any loss....or at least back to the casino.

Our last game of the day, our fifth by the way, was against the team that beat us to start the tournament and we had revenge on our minds. This team, from Hayward California, were a bunch of jag-offs and poor sports. We jumped to an early 5-0 lead and built it to 9-0 by the end of the 4th inning. Back they came though and they made it 9-9 after 6. We scored two runs in the top of the seventh and blanked them in the bottom half to exact our revenge and head into Monday morning at 5-1.

Another 8:00 a.m. start did not sit well with the team, especially in day three of a Vegas tournament, but most of the team, while sore from playing 5 games on Sunday in 45-50 degree weather, were in decent shape. Our next opponent was from Bakersfield CA and had put up 34 and 22 runs on two different opponents the day before. We were going to have to be hitting and playing defense to win this one.

After starting off the tournament in the middle infield, I had shifted to third base for the last game on Sunday night and started there on Monday morning as well. The first guy up to bat for their team essentially bunted the ball at me, which is illegal in softball, and ended up on second after I threw the ball away...not a good start. Every time after that however, I played between home and the third base bag daring him to try it again. He flew out twice and grounded to short for what should have been an easy out if the the new shortstop didn't boot it, so we controlled him pretty well after that initial questionable at bat. When someone tries to cheat like that, it can really fire up the other team, as it did for us. We hit pretty well again as a team and would end up at around a .600 average, as we won our sixth game 14-10.

Our eighth game of the tournament and second of the day on Monday morning was scheduled for right after our last game and against a team from Illinois against whom we've played several times. An out of state rematch was not to be though as they had already headed for the airport! For reasons beyond my comprehension, they scheduled Monday morning flights even though the championship game wasn't until 3. So you could have this great run (let's say you even have the luckiest run EVER) and your team bails because of their flights. Unbelievable. So our seventh victory, appropriately enough, was by forfeit 7-0. I played outstandingly. ;-P

The opposition for the ninth game was ready and waiting for us though and we started 15 minutes after a forfeit was declared our last game. This team was from San Jose CA and had only given up 7, 5, and 4 runs in it's last three games, so their defense was solid.

There was controversy almost from the very start. We were home team and they put up 5 runs right away. Our first hitter came up and hit a ball to center field and the outfielder made a leg first sliding catch. It was clear from our angle in the dugout that he caught it, but the umpire called it a trap, meaning no catch and the runner was safe. It was a big break for us. The other team, justifiably, was absolutely livid though. And then the umpire did something I've never seen an umpire do before in my life: he called over the outfielder in question, looked him in the eyes and asked him if he caught the ball. The player said he did and the umpire reversed his call!!!! Can you imagine what sports would be like if this EVER happened???!!!! Unbelievable. Now WE were livid! Correct call or not, you just don't ask a guy if he's lying and then believe whatever he says because you "can tell by looking him in the eye" if he's lying or not. Needless to say our coach was kicked out for arguing, but it was the umpire that should have been tossed. Coincidentally enough, a second umpire came out to umpire the calls on the bases in the very next half inning. A little too late my man!

Our shortstop booted some balls again during this game which should have been routine plays and you just absolutely need to make the routine plays in games like these. He was moved from the outfield because he had played shortstop in college, but I don't think doing it during a major tournament like this is the right idea. He hadn't played that position for us all year and is a bit of a head case anyway.

Meanwhile, at third, I made one of the catches of the tournament on an absolute bullet off the bat of a left-handed hitter which went right down the line. I dove across my body and made the grab, saving a sure double at least and a run. Guys on the team were still talking about it in the airport later in the day and the guy who hit it even came over to me and said "nice play" when I was on the base paths.

Anyway, we were trailing the entire game and it was 21-9 going into the bottom of the 7th. I led off the inning with a fly to right on a nice play by the right fielder. Even with the sun-field at bats (where I was 1 for 5 I think) I still hit .583 for the tournament, which was pretty respectable for this quality of competition. Only one more of the next 10 batters made an out however and we had pushed across eight runs to make the score 21-17 when I came around in the batting order again. After fouling off the first pitch, I bared down and made the pitcher throw me a strike, which he couldn't do and I walked to put runners at first and third. The next batter walked also to load the bases for our lead-off hitter, who also happened to be the shortstop. Unfortunately he could not come through, hitting a lazy fly ball to center to end the game.

It was a great tournament for us though going 7-2, having the third most wins of any team in the tournament, playing the third most number of games by any team in the tournament and finishing in seventh place out of 55 teams. Not too bad.

Tomorrow: what ELSE happened in Vegas? Basra, the reconstruction. And Evelyn Wood. What? You're kidding me right?