A Post from Cade

Ashley and I have been playing faithfully on our ward softball team (only missing one week the whole summer). Last night's game was probably a pinnacle in my top-ten greatest sports moments of my life. Our ward has gone undefeated the whole summer. Last night were matched up against a good team with only one loss. They take it very seriously. They were by far the best competition we've had. Due to a tied game we had to go into an extra inning. They were up to bat and miraculously scored four runs. We hadn't scored more than three runs in a single inning. Now it was our turn to bat. The pitching was horrible, all pitches were over the head. Our players kept swinging anyway. By the time I got up to bat we already had two outs. Talk about pressure. There were runners on first and second. Even more pressure. Due to the big holes in right field (and the fact that they were usually staffed by unconfident girls) I had been hitting opposite my previous two hits (with a single and a double to right field, mind you). The pitching continued to be horrible. No joke I seriously let at least 20 pitches sail over my head, directly at me, or so far out you would think the pitcher was throwing the ball to first base (not quite that far, but you get the idea). With our Stake rules, there are no walks. I wasn't going to let my swinging at a bad pitch lose the game for us. Finally on about the 25th pitch, with nerves tense and pressure on, there was one low enough I could swing at and - crack! Never have I hit a ball so far (I have never been a power hitter). It felt so good to see the guy in Right-Center (they had now moved over much farther to the right remembering my previous two hits) run up, and then stumble backwards realizing the ball was sailing over his head. It was no home run, but the best triple I've ever hit - probably the only triple I've ever hit. The rest was history as the kid after me belted a home run tying the game at ten runs a piece. Unfortunately the next guy up swung at another pitch to his head and the fly ball was caught. Too much time had expired and the game was called at a tie. Surely it would have been better if we'd won - but by not losing we still go undefeated.