Reporting From NY

I'm finally on a vacation! I'm in NY visiting my family this week...my family on my dad's side.
Something got to me today so I wanted to jot it down cuz it was somewhat emotional for me.
We were on our way home from picking up our aunt from Vietnam from the airpoirt and my cousin broke down in tears as she was telling about some of her recent experiences with some of her aunts from her father's side. I guess I touched on a sensitive topic. Her tears made me feel really sorry for her. I could tell that she was really hurt with the things that she had been subjected to by her own family members.
I always wondered what happened to the little fun girl when we were growing up. She's so bland now. Almost a cold personality. Now I understand.
I really wish I could take her away from here and let her enjoy life. She's always been one of my favorite cousin. I care for her a lot that's why I'm always on her about getting out and seeing more of the world. I see so much potential for this girl and now she'll always have in the back of her the resentment she has towards family. This obviously will affect her for the rest of her life. I just don't want to see her lose her mind over this...kind of like Christina Aguliera with her resentment towards her father. Not the same situation, but the same idea.
I really hope one of these days, she'll be able to leave and be on her own and learn how to enjoy everything that life has to offer. She's barely even tapped the tip of the iceberg and she doesn't even know it.

There's Always Next Year

This is going to be a sad story to tell...but yes, it's true....there will always be next year. We lost in the final game to the defending champs. That's their 5 championship in 6 years. Not fair! They're going down one of these days. Final score was 17-16. We did pretty well considering how badly we sucked. But the game went into overtime and that's where we lost.
I didn't get to play any defense in this final game, but I did get to hit. But I would have better just sitting the whole game cuz I didn't contribute much to the offensive attack. Defensively, outfield was solid. Infield still seems to be our problem. Especially 1st base. He couldn't catch a ball if it were handed to him. He missed at least 3 balls and that allowed at least 3 runs to come in. What a punk! As much trash talking as he does on 1st base...you'd think he'd actually make the plays on 1st when his number is called. We could have had so many stops at 1st but our guy just couldn't catch a darn. 3rd base didn't help either. The same guy that cost us the game versus the defending champs in the second half of the season, helped us lose this one as well. He let too many balls get into the outfield. And plus...he couldn't get the ball to first base in time to tag the runners out. All day long....the combination of 3rd base not being able to get the ball to 1st in time and 1st not being able to make the catch for the out...really killed us. We didn't lose to the defending champs....we beated ourselves! I certainly didn't help with my 1 for 3 hitting.
Next year....just watch...we'll dominate!

We're In!

My first actual playoff game...and it was great! Great cuz we kicked azz! And now we've advance to the Finals. Final score from today...16-6. Game ended due to run rule.
Last week's game didn't count as my first playoff game cuz we didn't actually play. The other team forfeited and didn' t even bother to show up, so there was no game to be played.
We had just enough players to play today. I don't know what happened, but I guess they had other things to do. Eric broke his thumb so I can understand why he didn't show up, but he could have at least come to cheer us on. Joe and Christina didn't show up...no clue what happened with them. So we were short 1 girl and that hurted us a lil cuz at the end of our lineup, we would get an out for not having 2 girls.
Again I played right field. Not much action for me today. I had about 3 hoppers that passed Mary and got into the outfield, so I was there to pick it up. But no pop-flies my way today. At bat...I absolutely sucked! I think I had my worst performance all season. I was 1 for 3. I have to do better than this in the finals.
A bright spot...I was very proud of Mary's performace today. Before the game I gave her some advice on how to catch the ball, stop grounders, and bat. She's not much of a player...this is her first time playing softball. But she surprised me during the game. She had a grounder come her way and I saw that she used the technique I showed her on how to stop those grounders. She did really good. Even at the plate...she was 1 for 2 and a walk. Good eye Mary! The most important thing was that she made contact with the ball and gave that ball some distance when she did hit the ball.
Finals is next on our agenda. It's tomorrow! Yup, we're trying to finish up this season quick. It's been raining so much that since there's an opening this week with no rain, we're trying to wrap the season. Good!...I'm ready to finish the season. But I want to finish the season right. Guess who's our opponent in the Finals? Yup...the Sons of Pitches. The defending champ for the last 3 years. It's time we knock them off their high horses. It's primarily cuz we don't like their coach and some of their players. Very shady ppl. I'm ready for this! I want to win it all and then leave for vacation knowing that we won it all. What a heck of a feeling that will be.
Of course there's always the opposite that can happen. But I chose not to look at that side of the matter. Always think positively! How can I not! I have so much confidence in the team we have. I'm not saying that we're better than everyone, but if I don't have confidence in my team to begin with, then there's no point of even thinking that we could win it all. Sometimes you just have to believe that others will come through. I just hope I can hold up my end of the deal for my team. It is, afterall, a team sport, so if someone does bad...everyone else has to pick up the slack. We've always had each other's back since the beginning of the season and I hope we can do it for just one more game!

Playoff - Round 1

Sorry it's been a while since I've kept up, but my computer was hit with a virus and crashed my harddrive, so I've been busy reformatting it and updating everything and now I'm back up and running.
So yesterday officially started this year's playoff. Unfortunately for us, it was as easy as it gets. Our opponent decided to forfeit the game. We were so looking forward to playing, even if it was against the 8th ranked (last place) team. Talking to their coach, they decided not to play cuz they knew they were going to lose so the team didn't even bother to show up. Yeah...thanks a lot for telling us 30mins before the game! Most of the guys from my team were already out there raking and chalking up the field. We decided to stay out there so we could take a few hits and practice fielding.
In the second game, the defending champs took the field and unfortunately they won their game so they're advancing to the next round. I guess it could be a good thing. Like one of my teammates says..."Good...let them advance to the finals cuz we want to be the one to knock them off!"...hahaha...I hear that. Alright...I know that's a lil cocky, but most players in this league hates that team. So in a way...we're representing for those ppl.
If things go according to schedule, the playoffs will wrap up next week. Semifinals on Wednesday and then Finals immediately on Thursday. This will work out perfectly for me cuz Friday I leave for vacation to NY. To make it to the final and win it all would be a great way to go off on vacation. I really hope things go according to plan and rain won't come our way. If rain comes and the games are postponed till the next week, I won't be able to be there to help and to celebrate with the team. That would be so disappointing cuz I've worked so hard this season and contributed so much not to be able to play in the final and celebrate with them. :(