A few Sunday’s ago I walked out onto the field and into America’s pasttime. Myself and a few other guys were representing our workplace in Men’s Softball during the 2011 Corporate Games. I started off the first inning playing rightfield but after that moved to Catcher (which was much more fun). Our first game was close for the first few innings and then I was up to bat for the second time. Runner’s on first and second base, two outs. I was able to draw a walk and load the bases. Our big hitters came up and went to town and before they got the third out we had scored fourteen runs and went on to win that game by a big margin.
In the second game, our defense tightened up as we got into a good rhythm and when the final out was recorded we had won by 5 runs and had earned the right to play in the Gold medal game. The other semi-final game was still going on so we went over to watch to see who we would be playing. Both teams had big hitters and we’re scoring runs like crazy. Somehow it ended as a tie so they went to extra innings. The first team scored a few runs so in the bottom of the inning the other team had to score 3 runs to tie and 4 to win. They quickly scored one run but then got two outs. The next few batters got on base and then their best hitter came up. Down 3, bases loaded, 2 outs. One of their other players told us that no matter what happened, win or lose, they all had to leave to go to work after this game. So if they won, we would get the gold by forfeit. We watched anxiously as their best hitter stepped to the plate, swung at a pitch, and hit a grand slam! They won be one run and by default we got the gold medal!
It wasn’t a conventional win, but we were happy with it nonetheless. I do think the championship game would have been a great one to play in, but we walked away that day with a gold medal, my first of the 2011 Corporate Games. Little did I know there were more to come….
Around the world in 30 years 
