Random Softball Observations

I've watched more girl's softball in the last year than I have in all my life. Overall, pretty entertaining.

But I do feel sorry for the real young girls who strike out with a dramatic call from the umpire. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does they drag their bat back to the dugout with a look of, "He didn't have to rub it in!"

On a different point, there was a funny observation Mrs. LL and I had on Saturday. In the 10 and Under league, they'll let the opposing pitcher face a batter until there is a hit, an out or until there are four balls. But in the case of four balls, they don't get a walk but instead the batter's own coach will come in to pitch to her. Here it gets stranger: The batter will get a maximum number of pitches from the coach equal to the number of strikes she has remaining. And it doesn't matter if those pitches from the coach are balls or strikes. That's all she gets so she better swing and make contact or she is out.

But here was the odd part. This was a playoff game so the parents were a little more into it. When one of the girls got to receive pitches from a coach and struck out, the opposing team's crowd would, out of habit, do a little cheer. Why not? That's an out! But how weird is that? The opposing coach inadvertently struck out his own player when the cheering crowd's team had absolutely nothing to do with it. So what exactly were they applauding?

Editor's note: The entertainment to word ratio of this post is completely out of whack, but there's no way I'm junking it now.