"Unhook the plow."

Ah, church softball season has begun.

I ain't saying you missed out on some awesome.

Okay, maybe I am.

You missed out on some awesome.

Today was the first official WELS softball area tournament held in G-Town.

The first step in what Becky is hoping to turn into a WELS Regional softball tournament.

Three churches for the first year, though there were bits and pieces of others as well. More will participate in future years, this was kind of a thrown together to play over a holiday kind of thing, but then a lot of people go on family vacations and all that - though our team was intact. Expanded even with the addition of one of my old classmates and her husband, and then Megan's boyfriend who we're making play again cause he's got some speed.

And, what church softball game would complete without me tearing up my leg?

To be fair, I did NOT slide.

There was no sliding on my end.

It was even worse, UNINTENTIONAL.

I was like five feet from home, stepped in- I don't know there must have been a hole or some loose dirt or something, I still have no idea what happened, all I know is that I was running and my right ankle twisted out from under me and somehow I ended up flat on my back like a foot from home plate with a seriously skinned up left leg and it all happened in SUPER SLOW MOTION, like I could feel it happening in slow motion but I couldn't stop it.

Though not as scratched up as 2 years ago - that was even uglier.

The funny thing is, even though I did not slide, the scraping is in the exact same place on the exact same leg as always.

Becky says I should have scar tissue built up by now, but apparently not.

This one started to bruise immediately, and of course bled and it was gross, but favorite sister-in-laws plans ahead for these things. KNOWING that I would injure myself she brought a first aid kit with special gauze pads that stick.

However, when you're running they still fall off. So I had to add tape.

Lots and lots of tape.

And they still fell off.

So I said screw it and played anyway, still covered in dirt from head to toe.

It was worth it.

Funny story though, big brother was making fun of me and then he totally wiped out on the pitcher's mound on his way to the dugout after claiming we should hustle in.

Serves him right.

Game one was against our new rival, and they beat us bad.

See, we were going in thinking, hey, we play together all the time, we should rock.

We did not rock.

At first.

Apparently morning games aren't our thing.

It was like home run after home run for them. And then on the other side of the fence is the park's playground. Megan hopped the fence once and had to run all the way through the park to get the ball - "Megan, you can go down the slide later!" we like to heckle.

We're good at that.

Hence the "Unhook the plow" title, which we yell when someone gets a good hit and is rounding the bases - though it's usually directed at John since he said it originally.

Actually, we pulled it together by the end and then there was some confusion on what should have been an out for them and they won by one.

So that sucked.

Then they played the other team and whipped them, then we paused for some lunch - Jim O at the barbecue it was great.

After some burgers and other essential barbecue fixings we played the third team and were getting hosed, like down by 7 hosed. At this point we're thinking, okay, this is pathetic. We play together all the time, we gotta pick it up, and actually, we play best when we're that far behind.

Bottom of the last inning we pull off the comeback of the season and tie it up taking it to extra innings.

Tyler gets on base. I'm still uninjured at this point - that happened during the last game, I know, I know, so close yet so far - and I get walked.

I never get walked.

We don't do walks.

We hit.

We hate teams that sit there and wait to be walked which has become the strategy of one of the teams we play during regular season - not cool.

Anyway, I got walked on some crappy pitches, and my big brother strides to the plate.

First hit goes foul.

Second sails over the fence.

Homerun and game, awesome comeback.

I was scared it was gonna be on me since I would have been the winning run.

After that they played the rival team again and we had to wait to play the rival again until after their game.

We sat on the bleachers and cheered for the members of our team covering for missing girls on the non-rival team. I think Becky and G-Wigger played in every inning of every game.

I should have done it, I could have used the batting practice. I got good hits. Like every time I had a really good hit to the outfield, it's just that they would always go to the same place and they would always get caught by the same guy.

Though not to the extent that Becky had against a certain left-fielder. They kept getting each other out - she plays third and catches like everything, especially the line drives though she claims it's in self-defense.

It's amusing cause we all have our spots that we play in every game. It's been what, like five years of church softball already? Geez.

Anyway, so we got to play the rivals again and we rocked it.

Seriously rocked it, think we beat them by at least 5. We called ourselves the champions since even though we won the same amount of games we beat them in points and since they didn't dispute - mostly cause they were leaving - we are going with it.

So we are the champions my friends.

And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end of the season.

Which officially starts next weekend. And I'm off so I'll be there. Might have to ask Superwoman about the earlier games, we'll see how that goes.

After the game we had some victory icecream - which G-Wigger and I do during the regular season anyway so that was nice - and jammed on the picnic tables planning for next year.

I had a blast, we all did. We're pumped to take on the rivals again next year - they were good, I'll give you that. I'm just glad we're were able to beat both teams, that come from behind thing was awesome. Though not the first time we've done it, actually I think it was last year we scored nine in the last inning and got a victory.

Like I said, we play better when we're behind.

But we're goofy and don't get all like yelling and pressure-filled and all that.

We're just out there to have fun, and I'm glad we got to have a lot of it today.

Oh, and we're gonna get t-shirts made with "Who's Steve?!" on the front. It made a re-appearance this morning from our book keeper since I had written out the lineup on the clipboard and has been dubbed as our team name (go here) so we're thinking grey shirts with blue and yellow writing, plus some possible hot pink with the quote, "Back up, our women can hit!" (Go here) at least on the girls shirts. Maybe we can put "Unhook the plow" on the boys in blue writing.

After all that fun I headed out to the farm to grab my stuff. Dad checked my tire pressure - apparently I'm short so when Mom had to move my car she had to like cram herself into the seat.

"You're short."
"You borned me, it's your fault!"
"If I could have given you longer legs I would have."
"Thanks Mom."

Then I headed back to the apartment to my crazy fat cat who basically tackled me upon my return. Which didn't bode well for the leg.

So, since my leg is all gross - I took a shower and it freakin' hurt, plus all the cream stuff I'm putting on it just stings - I'm going to wrap it up and get some sleep.

Hope ya'll had a great labor day, off to work in the morning so I really should crash soon. First official TAB meeting in the afternoon, no pressure. Plus gotta finalize some volunteer stuff, everything comes at once, ahh!!

Songs of the day:

it's only fitting
that is one stylin' outfit

Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
sing it now.