Well, I guess we did, in a way. See, the Drumsticks (my softball team) played the end-of-summer-league softball tournament on Saturday (and man, can I feel it...seems like soreness from the very first track meet all over again) and we managed to make it all the way to the finals. We didn't win, in fact we were pretty well out of it (don't know the final score but it was something like 16-9 or such) BUT we did manage to barely beat the team that won the tournament last year and in fact several years before that in the second round. The were on the top of the league, undefeated I think, and since they had a bye the first round we beat them 5-4 in their first game. They took it really hard, which we didn't understand until one of the other teams told us about their winning status. Whee.

We totally surpassed my expectations...I figured we'd at least make it to second round, maayyyybe the semi-finals, but certainly not the finals. Well color me wrong. It was a LOOOOONG day. First game at 10, then one at 12:30, then one at 3 and the final was at 5:30. All this when we normally play at 7 on thursday nights. Needless to say everyone got a little sunburned. I have a rather interesting tan since I wore a tank top and couldn't quite get the back parts of my shoulders. But that's ok. I think it was worth it, even if we didn't really 'win' anything...just the satisfaction of getting as far as we did. And we most certainly have a winning season under our belts. I like to think I helped out with that My only big bummer was that I managed to get the very last out of the game. I had a great hit, it just happened to go right to the second baseman who caught it. Ah well.

Dawn from the Cat's Meow (the team we beat) asked if she could play the rest of the games with us because she didn't get to play in the tournament last year and then of course this year, she was only in one game. She didn't get to play much but she was darn good at cheering. Whenever I would come up to bat she'd say "Let's go, Speedy!" The coach of their team was really serious about the game, she got our entire lineup and kept score for both teams. And she would keep track of what player did what last inning, like "He was a 6-1 last time!" (Which I think means he hit to shortstop who threw to first for the out). And when I came up to bat the first time against the Cat's Meow I beat out the throw to first So they said, watch out, she's got legs. Unfortunately there weren't too many breaks like that. We had to play hard against them. But haha, we won!

Per the email our coach just sent out, the scores were 12-1, 5-4, 16-10 (us) and 13-6 (the Ballers). Too bad we didn't win, but we went so far past everyone's expectations that you just have to feel good about it. Of course, my *body* doesn't feel good about it, but that's just the way it is. Gotta have a few times a year when you remind yourself how out of shape you are and that you really should get back into something athletic with some sort of regularity. We'll see how it goes now that it's approaching fall and the cold season...So that's the wrapup of the Drumsticks' season. Here's to next year!

And here's something to squee about for the next year or so: 'Lord of the Rings' exhibit will visit the Midwest... in 2005.