Standings:

Team	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct.	G.B.	Streak
Red Team	12	5	0	.706	--	Lost 1
Skull Team	9	7	0	.533	2.5	Won 2
My Team	9	9	0	.500	3.5	Won 2
Mule Team	7	11	0	.389	5.5	Lost 1
Hammer Team	6	11	0	.375	6.0	Lost 2
Date	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
July 1	3	1	0	1	1	0
June 26	1	2	1	0	2	0
June 17	1	0	0	0	1	0
June 15	2	0	0	0	0	0
June 12	3	1	0	0	1	0
June 5	4	1	2	0	0	0
June 1	4	0	1	0	0	0
May 29	4	0	1	1	1	0
May 27	5	0	0	0	0	2
May 25	2	4	0	0	3	0
May 18	3	1	0	0	1	0
May 15	4	2	2	0	0	1
May 13	2	3	1	0	1	0
May 8	Opinionated didn't play
May 6	3	1	1	0	1	0
May 4	2	2	2	1	2	0
May 1	4	4	1	0	1	0

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Tuesday (July 1) we played the Mule team. The Mule team beat us 2 out of 3 times we played, but we felt we were a better team so we were eager to play against them. But the time we finished our half of the first inning we were ahead and we stayed there. Until the top of the last inning when, with two outs, we allowed a hit, five walks and them to take the lead. Fortunately in our half of the inning we scored two runs and won the game.
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Thursday (June 26) we played against a Hammer team that was missing its star pitcher. We took advantage of their spot starter by racking up 9 walks and 19 runs in 5 innings of play. We won the game because of the mercy rule at 19-5.
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This email was sent out from the commissioner's office explaining that we would have a new manager:

"Dear My Team,

Congratulation's on a really good win the other night, You guys played together as a team offensively and defensively.

The league has appointed a new manager for your team. If anyone has any issues whether it is a spot in the line or in what position you play...Talk to your new manager.

If you guys play the way you did the other night; RELAXED...you guys will win many games - fighting, and screaming when someone makes an error etc.. will only put more pressure on your teammates to perform.

Good luck and have a great season.

Commissioner

PS If there are any questions or comments on your new manager or how you played on Tuesday and why you were so successful feel free to contact me."
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After Sunday's game my manager sent out this email:
"Guys,

Clearly this team is going to need a major shake up, the way we are playing individually AND MOST IMPORTANTLY AS A TEAM is disgraceful.

Todays comments in the dugout was clearly laying blame on the manager. I AM WILLING TO TAKE THE BLAME 100%.

So here is MY SOLUTION, I am going to give each member of the team a oppertunity to voice their opinion either vie email or calling me personally and I will listen and do the best i can with the input, IF HOWEVER I do not get any helpful feedback I cant PROMISE WE WILL EVER WIN another game, but one thing I will promise ALL OF YOU. THAT WE WILL GO DOWN PLAYING MY STYLE OF BASEBALL!!!!!!!


Looking forward to hearing from you."

Apparently there were people on the team who read this email and got upset and called the commissioners asking to be traded and/or threatening to quit, because for Tuesday's game (June 17) one of the commissioners managed the team.

Our weak points this season have been our shortstop (our regular shortstop is getting married and is likely out for the rest of the season) and our outfield. For this game we got a replacement shortstop (someone I played very well with 2 seasons ago), our left fielder went to left-center (where he claims he can see the ball better), our right-center fielder went to left field, our pitcher went to first base and our short center fielder went to pitcher. The change was dramatic. Almost everything they hit was soft pop ups that our outfielders were able to handle. The new pitcher brought some heat so they struck out 4 or 5 times.
From the first inning we showed that we were going to play our offensive game and we didn't let up until the mercy rule was invoked.
A final score of 10-0 was ours to enjoy.
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Sunday (June 15) we played the second game of the day, but the first one ended early due to the mercy rule. So before the the game began I was getting in some practice by practicing in the outfield. Someone getting batting practice hit a fly ball in my vicinity and I tracked it down while calling for it. Unfortunately one of my own fielders didn't hear me call for it (or ignored me) and ran into my knee. A few minutes later I was able to stand again, but sadly I wasn't able to bend normally for the rest of the day.
Before the game I went over to the manager and requested he move me from leadoff to the bottom of the order because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to run the bases normally. On my first at bat the shortstop couldn't handle my bloop pop up and I had a runner take over once I got to first base. And, indeed, on my second at bat I hit a grounder to the third baseman that I would ordinarily have beat out, but with my limited mobility I was thrown out by 2 steps.
I started the game in my normal position, but after fielding the ball a couple of times (successfully), I worried the opposition would start hitting to me, knowing I had decreased mobility, so I requested a move to catcher. (We had the exact number of players, so I couldn't bench myself without harming the team.) Normally a move to catcher is not made when someone's knee is pained, but while it hurt for me to bend it and unbend it, I was capable of staying in a position without being in pain. So I only had to get into a crouch once per inning - and without the time limit that fielding a "live" ball would impose.
Sadly, the same outfielder who ran into me before the game also made a few silly plays and we were getting killed on our outfield defense. As per our usual we couldn't hit and we lost 13-3 by the mercy rule.
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Thursday (June 12) we played against the Hammer team. We played well defensively, but our bats stayed stone cold, and they got a lot of line-drive singles. (With one out and a runner on second, they hit a fly ball to left field. Their runner tried crossing over to third once the ball hit the glove. The throw from the outfield was not in time, but our third baseman sold the play to the umpire and the runner was called out.)
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Thursday (June 5) we played against the Red team. In previous match-ups against them each team scored double digit runs, but this game was played more defensively. We lost 6-5, but we turned a few double plays and made some beautiful defensive plays. At one point they they had a runner at third with only one out. The batter hit the ball to the third baseman (who was playing away from the line). After looking the runner back for a beat, he fired to first. The runner broke for home (because in this league the bases are rather close together and the catchers aren't usually very good, though ours is the best in the league this year). The throws from the third and first basemen were perfect as was the tag applied by the catcher, so a double play was dutifully called.
With two outs and no one on a Red hitter hit a hard grounder in between the shortstop and third. The third basemen dove to his left came up with the ball and fired to first to get the runner. The crowd gasped, the umpire was surprised, and both teams came over to congratulate the defense man, who insisted it was a lucky grab.
Unfortunately the umpire, despite our pointing out multiple times throughout the game, missed their first basemen interfering with the runners so our runner made the last out trying to get to second base.
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Sunday (June 1) our hitting troubles continued. This time we were down by 5 going into the final inning. A two run homer got us within 3, but our hopes were dashed and we lost 8-5. Overall our defense was pretty solid, but the outfielders had trouble hitting the cutoff player and they swiped a lot of extra bases off us.
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Thursday (May 29) we played against (the Mule team) the worst team (record-wise) in the league, but we seemed to forget how to hit the ball. However, our defense was strong so we found ourselves down by 2 going into the bottom of the 7th (last inning). We followed the direction of our manager and we began to make noise on the bench - with our bats. We hit single after single until we tied the game and I came to bat with bases loaded and nobody out. I hit a slow roller to the third baseman which could not be turned into a triple play or an out at home. We won 7-6.
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Tuesday (May 27) we played against a pitcher who was hitting all his spots. Unfortunately for my team I kept coming up to bat with multiple people on base and I couldn't hit anything. Most of my swings this season have produced line drives, but this game they spelled lazy pop flies.
Thankfully we played a flawless defensive game or it would have been a really sad night. We lost 10-6.
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Sunday (May 25) we played against what had been the first place team - the Red team. We got off to a quick start by scoring 3 runs, only to give all 3 runs back in the bottom of the inning.
But in the second inning we took the lead for good.
We flirted with "mercy"ing them the entire game, but waited until the top of the final inning to actually break the 10 run lead barrier. Since they were the home team, they got a final time at bat which allowed the game to go its full 7.
I played well with 3 walks and for runs. On my third plate appearance (when I finally saw a ball that I could hit) I hit a shot into left field that the opposing third baseman managed to get his glove on, though he couldn't haul it in. The umpire ruled it an error, so I officially went 0-2 in the game.
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Tuesday (May 20) was rainy and the game was canceled.
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Sunday (May 18) we played against the last place team. We played our best defensive game of the season, but so did they. Everything we hit was caught by their centerfielder. Sadly, we lost 9-6.
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Thursday (May 15) was a day designated for (playoff) tickets and the game against the Hammers started out with a playoff atmosphere.
Before the game our manager met with the left side of our defense (shortstop, thirdbase and left fielder) to discuss mistakes made in Tuesday's game. We had a team conference to discuss playing against (argueably) the best pitcher in the league. We came out with a game plan and we stuck to it throughout the night.
Going into the top of the last inning, we were up 7 - 5. We rallied to get runners on first and second so our manager could blast a homerun into deep centerfield. That gave us the insurance we needed to win 10-6.
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Tuesday (May 13) we played against the undefeated first place team.
We got off to a good start by limiting them to two runs in the first two innings while we scored eight.
By the top of the fifth we were up 17-6. We needed to get three outs to mercy them and win. They demonstrated why they are the first place team by scoring 10 runs and cutting our lead to one. But rather than get disheartened, we went right back at them and scored four runs in each of the next two innings and won the game 25-17.
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Thurday (May 8) was my last night of class (the final is in two weeks - pray for me(smiley face)), so I wasn't able to help the team out (aside from not playing(wink smiley face)). Unfortunately, we lost by one run.
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Tuesday night (May 6) was our third game. We traded runs for a while, before we kicked our defense into high gear and put the game away easily with a final score of 13-6. The umpire was apparently high on weed (according to the catchers who were close enough to smell it on him), but, aside from bad ball and strike calls, still called a good game.
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Sunday morning (May 4) was our second game. We battled the whole game and finally got our first (and second) 1-2-3 inning on defense. When the dust cleared we found ourselves ahead 11-9.
I went 2 for 2 with 2 walks and 2 runs and (a bases loaded single for) an RBI.
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Our softball season started Thursday night (May 1).
While we took early leads, we lost 21-14. Yes. That is not a misprint. It was like a football game.
The pitchers were rusty, so there were a lot of walks. The rain came down for more than 80% of the game, so the ball was slippery. The raindrops showed up against the lights and that was distracting to fielders.
I went 1 for 4 with a walk. I reached base every time (2 errors and a fielder's choice) and scored 4 times.