Due to time constraints and a general lack of creativity last week, I neglected to continue the exciting saga of the softball league that I have been so lucky to be a part of this summer. Unfortunately, I shouldn't have waited so long, as we were knocked out of the playoffs in a crushing defeat yesterday afternoon.

It all began last Wednesday when we played in the first round of the playoffs. I was really nervous to play the game. The team we were up against was gunning for us. The last time we met we were tied entering the last inning, and we somehow manged to score during the last play of the game. The runner slid into home, knocked down the catcher, and sent up a big cloud of dust. As our team jumped up and down and high-fived each other, I noticed that the catcher who had been knocked down was throwing dirt at the fence and screaming at the umpire. It was not pretty. Because of the nature of our first victory against the other team, they really wanted to win last week's game. So as a result, everyone was all business. As was witnessed in our previous meeting, we were pretty evenly matched, and when we reached the 7th inning of last week's game, we were once again tied. We played four extra innings before we were kicked off the field by another league. They set a date to play a sudden-death game the following week to decide who would advance to the next round.

This arrives us at yesterday. Sadly, I was too busy at work to actually play in the game. I wished my teammates well as they trotted off to Central Park to play. About 20 minutes later they returned. I don't know all the details, but rumor has it, they were an embarassment on the field. The short stop and the second baseman collided when trying to catch the same foul ball, and a ball thrown by the pitcher to the first baseman ended up almost hitting a girl who was sitting in the stands. To top it all off, a young man who likes to go simply by the name "G," took a crazy swing at a ball and completely whiffed it in a way that was most humiliating. In an effort to blame the mistake on extenuating circumstances, he staged and elaborate (and obviously fake) fall that landed him in the dirt. He then claimed that a faux ankle injury caused the incident. He even went so far as to have someone help him off the field. He is totally fine now.

So that's it. My rookie season is over. We did pretty well as far as I'm concerned. Considering all the drama that occured over the course of the season, I'm surprised that anyone is still speaking to each other. It'll be nice to play next year as the seasoned ballplayer that I've become.