Next time I am Wearing a Crown Instead of a Cap!
It is Sunday afternoon in Darnestown Maryland. As my husband and I walk together all the guys are so glad to see me. "Hi, Audrey, we are so glad to see you." "Hey look everyone look, Audrey is here." My husband and
I just grin. You see, it is Spring and Coed Neighborhood Softball has started in Darnestown and the women are a must. It is not because I am so good, they just need 3 breathing females on the team to play!
Then Linda and her husband show up, and the same thing happens. Hey, everyone, Linda is here and so on. We girls laugh and say we have not been this popular since our wedding days. The guys make us feel like queens because they need at least 3 of us in order to play!
In our town we have six softball teams that are made up of from different neighborhood combinations. You must own/ live in the Darnestown area of Gaithersburg to be able to play. Each team must have three women playing at all times. There are several rules that have been put into place for safety purposes. There is no sliding into home plate. The men have to bat opposite until they are 50, then they can bat normal. For some of the guys, it doesn't matter - they still knock it out of the park. The women use a smaller ball than the men. There are all kinds of little rules to keep it safe and fair for the girls.
There is a six foot circle drawn around the home plate so there is no pushing the catcher out of the way in order to score. That is good news to me seeing how I am the catcher for my team.
My husband, Mike, is the pitcher. He does a pretty good job. However, when he is not on his game and I sigh, not having anything to do with the fact that he is about to walk another person and we might lose the game because their best hitter is on deck kind of sigh. No, it would have anything to do with that, and Mike can still hear my sigh only like a husband can. It can be amusing to say the least.
The games have umpires, strikes are called, and batters are walked. It can be pretty exciting. Scores, wins and losses are kept and there is even a trophy at the end of the year. Neighbors bring their lawn chairs and cheer their neighbors on. After the game is over, we sit and visit, watch the next game if there is one, have a beer. It is a great way to know your neighbors in a small town way that is not normal in the DC suburbs.
It is neighborhood softball and is a lot of fun, there are those that you have to remind them that they are not in the World Series, but I guess that is just how some folks are. All I know is next week when I need a boost in morale; all I have to do is show up to the ball field.
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Audrey, It sounds like you have a great time playing ball; it doesn't hurt being so popular doing it either.