Softball winding down (or is it?)

Last night marked the end of my softball season at work. It was a great year -- we managed to make it to within a game of the tournament finals. All and all, it was a big step forward from last year (which happened to be an even larger step from the previous season) and so life is good, albeit a little bittersweet.

For the first time, we were able to beat each team in the league at least once (there's only 6 teams but the ability to take down the "best" teams is still an accomplishment of sorts) and we increased our win total by 1 game as well. Even more importantly, we began to hit the ball better and definitely had some flashes of brilliance defensively. Attendance improved and we never had to forfeit a game due to the inability to field a team. So all in all, we're starting to get our act together and playing like an actual team! It took several years to get this far, and there's no doubt we have the framework in place to build and improve upon our accomplishments this year.

All the while, we have a tournament of sorts coming up this weekend in my church league. This league could be seen as extremely "casual", sometimes to the point of frustration but I have to constantly remember to respect the relative skill levels of everyone and make the best of it. But either way, I've made a lot of friends in this league and it's still great exercise and practice. So right now I'm looking if I can get my hands on a hot bat before Sunday, and hopefully be able to break it in before gametime. I checked around the local sporting goods stores and didn't even come close to having anything I would consider "high-end" so I'll have to keep searching.

At this point in time, I am still considering the idea of joining a fall ball team. While I had interest in it previous years, I always felt like taking time "off" from softball once the summer season is over. I'm a bit more energized right now, and want to keep my level of exercise up as much as possible. Part of this can be attributed my ability to better handle my Achilles' tendonitis, which has allowed me to work on my sprints and play the outfield. So I haven't yet found a fall team, but everything is in place to make this work.