Over the river and through the woods –
Okay, Okay there is no drifted snow now. Thank heaven.
However, there are some things that I have come to know to be certain about fastpitch softball. One of them is – I never know where the game will take me, where I will find the game or where the game might find me.
Tonight is a great example of where the game found me.
My wife has a great friend, one of her very best friends who hosted a sort of celebration. The reason for the celebration isn’t important as much as how the event brought together a group of people who had at least one common bond – a great friendship with the couple hosting the party.
For me, it allowed me to demonstrate to my wife that although fastpitch softball indeed does consume a great deal of my time, I can, for a night put the game aside and do something else. Tonight that something else was the celebration we went to. See, in order to accompany my wife to the celebration hosted by one of her friends, I had to leave the Poynette Summer Jamboree on the first night of the event in Poynette.
Our Poynette Fastpitch Organization is a great one and as it’ President I have tried to lead by staying out the way in certain aspects of the business end and promotional end of things. As a longtime Ducks Unlimited Chairman and after a lifetime of coaching and leading various types of teams and groups I always found it works best for me to give people a position of importance and then stay out of their way as they progress through a project etc.
The Poynette Summer Jamboree is a huge undertaking. It takes a lot of people with a vested interest in promoting the game, the event etc. They each have certain responsibilities so as Umpire Coordinator and with just five games tonight I felt I could leave the entire operation in the hands of the experts in concessions, in competitiveness, in scheduling, in diamond preparation etc. So after the first game of the tournament I said goodnight to fastpitch softball and headed for Sun Prairie where a night of meeting new people (I would only know my wife and her friend Tina) would be the order.
At least that’s what I thought as I left the ball yard in Poynette and headed to the celebration in Sun Prairie.
At the celebration fastpitch softball found me.
How could that be you ask?
Here is the story.
My wife’s friend Tina is from Thorp, Wisconsin originally and so is her husband Gary. People who know me well know that I enjoy meeting new people and creating new friends and relationships. I enjoy hearing their stories. It just so happens that many times, as I’m sure this also happens to you, we discover that it’s a small world.
Tonight I met Tina’s brother-in-law Dale. He told me how he and his brothers and sisters and Tina are all from Thorp. I told him I knew that and that I also know people from Thorp through fastpitch softball. It old him about knowing Brad, the head coach at Thorp and that I’d known Brad from his men’s fastpitch playing days and my publishing his exploits in the Fastpitch Chronicle newspaper.
Then I met Tina’s brother-in-law Dean and again Thorp got brought into the conversation and the story sounded the same as it had when told to Dale.
Not too long after meeting Dean, Tina came around and said something like, “Bob, I’d like you to meet my two nieces who are state champions.”
My wife had told me that two of the girls on the Mosinee softball team were Tina’s nieces. I looked them up in the program last week as a matter of fact. They are Halee and Carli . Tina introduced us and the conversation got started. They talked excitedly about their amazing season and how they had just seemed to creep up the Fastpitch Chronicle team rankings until they reached the #4 spot in the final rankings and #2 in the other poll. They talked about reading things on the Fastpitch Chronicle website and how much they enjoyed that.
After a bit I asked something like, “So you do read the stuff on the Fastpitch Chronicle Dot Net website?” Their answer was a quick, “Yes!”
I thought that was cool so I said, “Well, you are talking to The Fastpitch Chronicle right now.”
They were a little surprised but quickly the conversation turned to lots of things about their season, who they played, where they played and to other aspects of the game. They really impressed me with their knowledge, honesty and candor.
In the next hour and half they learned a lot about the game in the state and I learned a lot about them, their thoughts, their insight and more.
It was just a celebratory night indeed. We celebrated Tina’s outlook on things. We celebrated some longtime friendships and some not so longtime as well as new ones created tonight. We celebrated Mosinee’s state title and we celebrated state titles for the other three winners. We celebrated a game that once in it can find you when you least expect it.
It’s more than a game.
It’s a friendship builder.
In the end I didn’t miss being at the ball yard in Poynette. I didn’t need to miss it. The Jamboree was in good hands. I shared a night of celebration with my wife and met some new friends.
It’s good – it’s the way it ought to be.
Have a great weekend fastpitch friends.
Keep it Rising!
Bob
