Hey July 10th through the 12th… nice job. That was awesome. Friday night, Abbe, our friend, Lee and I spend the evening sitting on our back deck with a couple glasses of wine. Perfect summer evening – bugs weren’t too bad, and it was pretty cool.
Saturday, I had a great 3 mile run, and weighed in at my lowest so far – 194.2 pounds. That’s 23 pounds lost since early May. After getting some chores done, I met Abbe down at the beach and soaked up some rays. We remembered a really nice gift certificate I received from my Mom for Father’s Day, and had ourselves a ridiculously great dinner at Zinc Cafe. This lady loves sitting in the sun…
We got a text from our buddies, Tim and Mel inviting us over to drink some beers and play some music. We got to hang with their mammoth mastiff, Angus play some guitar, and ride our tandem. Again, another perfect summer evening. The bike ride home was tough… that tandem is heavy and I had a guitar strapped to my back too.
Sunday morning, I woke up and had a fantastic 5 mile run. Quickly got changed and headed out for softball playoffs. The Cannons took a beating all season long. Our first match-up was against a team that showed up with 7 guys and an 8th arrived about 30 mins late. We beat the undermanned team without too much issue. We felt good, but we knew it wasn’t that big of a win. But hey, we won a playoff game – it’s been a couple years since the Cannons have done that.
The second game was against the first place squad and for some reason, we came into the game with some confidence. It nearly worked, too. We took them to extra innings and nearly pulled off the upset.
Our third game (yes, 3 freaking games in one day) was against the undermanned team that we played in game number one, but this time, they had 10. We played some fantastic defense, hit the ball, and both teams were anxious. We were up 4 runs going into the bottom of the seventh. They had one more chance to win the game. As I grabbed my glove off the fence, Abbe told me, “I think I’m going to cry.” I caught a lazy fly for the second out in the last inning, and our bench and the remaining players from other teams were getting noisy. One more out. Holy. Shit. I shouted over to my buddy, Justin playing next to me in the outfield. “I want to catch the last out. I want that ball.”
And there it was, another lazy fly to left center. “I GO! I GO!” I settled under it easily, and squeezed the glove tight around the final out.
That dumb confidence was still there, and the Cannons did the impossible – we are playing in week two for the first time in no one could remember how long! We dumped beer on Lou’s head (next to me in the picture below). Three sets of fathers and sons celebrated together. A teamful of old guys that no one wants was moving on in the playoffs.
And that ball I caught for the final out? It’s still in my glove…
