The Race

Yesterday I was walking by the softball fields on Iowa Street, and right as I walked by a foul ball got popped into my periphery. It went over the fence that separates the field of play from the audience and bounced just short of the fence that separates the crowd from the sidewalk. Normally, I would just keep walking and let someone else worry about ball shagging, but I had some time to kill. Watching all of those stir-uped little girls kicking up dandelions got my adrenaline pumping, and brought about a curious urge to do some fence-hopping.

I easily scaled the fence and started walking towards the ball. I put my hand up so the right fielder would know that I had it, and the ball would be back in play soon. She gazed at me from under the shade of her mit. Suddenly, from the bleachers, rushed a girl who was a few years younger than the girls on the field, out of uniform, but with a mit. She was on a full-bore sprint towards the ball that was a few feet away from where I was standing. If I wanted that ball I would have to act fast, so I skipped forward and scoped it up. The little girl was going so fast at this point that she couldn't stop herself in time from colliding with me. I made a quick bull-fighter dodge, and she stumbled to a stop a few feet past me.

She looked over at me, crushed. I took a crow hop and sent the ball right into the fielder's waiting mit. The fielder waved thanks and went back to her post. As I continued my walk, I thought about what I had done. I could have let the little girl grab the ball, but she probably wouldn't have thrown it over the fence on the first try; she might have been traumatically embarrassed. I probably needed the exersize and the practice more than she did. I haven't touched a baseball in years. Still got it.

My one hope is that my intervention provided the girl with the hunger that I once had for the sport. She will run her sprints and practice her little heart out for that first year of eligibility. Who knows maybe next time time she will beat me to the ball.