The Beatles may have broken up, but at least now there's Wings

Sadly, the Shampoo Your Mullet softball club has (temorarily) folded for this season. Instead, I now play for a coed team on Sunday nights, with my lovely girlfriend and her friends. We're called "Balls Deep", and the shirts are baby-blue. We're pretty sharp. The season started last weekend, but I was in Dallas, so yesterday was my Opening Day. I cruised through the first three innings, allowing 2 hits, one walk, and no runs. A four-run hiccup in the fourth, stemming from me misplaying a tailor-made double-play ball on a come-backer to the mound, ended up being the difference in the game as we waited until the 5th inning to score any runs. Those runs were the result of my 2-run "homerun" that was actually a routine fly ball hit to right field that was predictably misplayed by a rather large woman. Coed softball, baby! The other team got me for one more run in the bottom of the inning, then the drama ensued: I lead off with a single, Alicia beat out an infield single to second, then a guy (I don't remember his name) walked. Thanks to the magical sexism that runs rampant through coed softball, I went from second to home, Alicia from first to third, and Dude from the plate all the way to second, for one walk. This is done so that if a team walks a guy to pitch to a girl, the guy is automatically in scoring position and then the girl has to option of taking an intentional walk. Which the next girl did, loading the bases for us with nobody out and the score resting at 5-3, Team Transvestite (there were at least two legitimate cases on their team). Final score? 5-3.

A couple of notes on why I like this team over my previous forays into coed softball:

1.) Part of being a member of Balls Deep is the understanding that we are playing slow-pitch softball on Sunday night next to a humane society on fields with no fences. No one's a superstar, so there's no reason to act like one. There are no scouts watching us, so take it easy.

2.) The girls are good.

3.) The guys are hilarious.

4.) I don't have to play outfield--I'm pitching.

Tonight, I make my triumphant return to the kickball field after a two-week hiatus (one bye, one me getting back into town). The recap of the game, and, more importantly, my performance, will be posted either tonight or tomorrow.