In all the years that I have written in this and previous publications, I have always kept my columns centered on softball. I never veered into social, political or other issues which we deal with or read about daily. And while I will continue to keep this column on its focus, youth softball, I received an email last month that I wanted to address here. Reason being, that softball does not exist in a vacuum.

The individual who emailed me, reminded me of a column I wrote some time ago (at least two years ago) about how I missed attending tournaments during the high school season. Actually it was probably just the competitiveness of travel ball I missed, but during the high school season, we didn’t have other games to go to for the most part, and my wife and I loved to watch our daughter play, which we still do.

This individual went on to talk about how his daughter and family had been involved in tournament softball for about seven years and how much they all loved the games, which most of us can relate to. His daughter was now a freshman in high school, and he spoke of how proud he was that she was able to make the JV team. He also related how he had always told his daughter that he would make an effort to make it to every one of her high school games.

Unfortunately, Dennis O’Leary, or should I say SFC Dennis O’Leary, is a member of the Army Reserves, and his unit has been activated, and deployed to Iraq. His email was actually sent from Iraq, and expressed the sadness he felt that he would not be able to keep the promise he made to his daughter. Additionally, he stated that reading Softball West in Iraq made him feel a little better, and a little closer to the softball world.

Since I served in the Air Force during Viet Nam, I can empathize with Dennis. I can also tell you that he is with the HHC 319th Signal Bn. in Iraq. He will miss his daughter’s high school season this year, but hopefully will be able to catch the next three uninterrupted. I would like to wish Dennis’ daughter the best of luck (if he had mentioned her school, I would have attended a game and cheered her on) this season, wish the O’Learys the best of luck, and Dennis a safe tour and speedy return home from Iraq.

THE UGLY

Last month, my column included two stories of love and softball. Unfortunately, this month it will contain a story of ugliness, that is a true story. As you might expect from a softball junky, I find myself at softball games a lot, watching players I don’t know, just to watch the game. These games include some travel games, college games, high school and even recreation leagues. Just a couple of days ago, I was watching two young recreation teams playing in a very unimportant recreation league game.

As is typical in such games, there was some poor pitching, poor hitting, and poor fielding, which was every once in a while interrupted by something good. The girls were all having a good time, even though one of the teams was just killing the other one. In the last inning, the home team came to bat losing by the score about 20-4. As is common in such situations, the team leading put their number two pitcher into the game and moved some of their outfielders to infield. As they had the entire game, the home team continued to cheer and root on their teammates, as they awaited making their final three outs.

The leading team’s new pitcher was having control problems; every once in a while she would throw a strike that the batter would hit, and like so many recreation league games, the defense would boot it, and the runners would keep running. The home started to score a few runs, and then a few more. Soon they had scored ten, and cut the lead to six runs, all with only one out. The visitors went back to their original pitcher, and moved fielders around a bit, in an effort to stop the rally.

During this time, the manager of the team that was leading began to become angry with his daughter, who was catching. She had made a bad throw or two, but so had others on the team. This catcher is not a great player, just your average recreation league catcher. She seemed to be having a good time playing the game, but was being attacked by her father/coach. As one could guess, the new pitcher began to have control problems of her own and walked a few batters, and then there were a couple more errors, and maybe a hit or two.

Finally, with two outs, the home team had cut the lead to 18-20 and they had runners at first and third. After a pitch, the catcher threw the ball to third trying to pick off the runner. I thought it was a great try at making a play. Well, since this is recreation softball, the ball bounced off the third baseman’s leg and bounded out of bounds, scoring a run and moving the tying run to third. The manager called his daughter/catcher to backstop and shouted to her, "You Suck!"

The visitors finally got the final out to win the game by one run, but what was a fun and exciting game for both teams left a pain in my stomach, and sympathy for that catcher. Now that my daughter is done playing youth softball, I look back on her recreation games and travel games, and remember all the great times we had. I really miss those days. And while I was not the perfect dad when it came to criticizing my daughter, I would never have put my daughter through that type of embarrassment. I only hope that this coach can see the effect his actions can have on his daughter, before she’s out of the sport, and they both have few positive memories of their involvement in this game.

FOUL TIPS

Lately, I’ve been receiving more emails than usual. Thanks to all of you who have written to express your views and thoughts. By the time this issue reaches you, the college softball season will be over, or almost over. For me, that means only two more years of having the opportunity to watch my daughter play. As always you can contact me at softballfloyd@hotmail.com_and so the ball rolls.