FIELD OF (DAY)DREAMS

I joined the bleacher creatures yesterday to cheer on Sweet Neighbor Girl's softball team. Her side won, 6-3, she went 2 for 2 batting, fielded every hit that came to her at third base, and even made a stellar throw to second base for a force out. High five! But this blog entry is not about her. Not by a long shot.

This is about the right fielder. Now, anyone who's ever played little league ball knows that the least talented (aka: worst) kid on the team usually gets relegated to right field. It's just part of the rules, I think. Damage control. Odds are, the ball will get hit somewhere else on the field so stick the weakest link out in right field.  My big brother Beans, hampered by near-sightedness and little talent, was a right fielder when he was a kid.  Mama Bore saved his ball glove for posterity because it has a chewed-out thumb, either due to boredom or fear that the ball just might come his way.  

So, back to yesterday's game and a play that will go down in softball's Right Field Hall of Fame. SNG's team has the field.  A left-handed batter comes up and hits the ball between 1st and 2nd, closer to 1st. The 1st base girl fails to make the play, mainly because she is practically stuck to the base, so where does the ball roll?  Right field!!!  And what's the right fielder doing?  Sitting on the ground, of course, picking at the grass, off in la-la land!  The ball rolls inches from her and then on past, but she doesn't have a clue.  That grass is just too darned interesting.

The second base girl and center fielder, yelling at her to no avail, run on by her to retrieve the ball.  And does the right fielder finally get her head into the game and try to help out?  No, she's still digging into the grass.  Finally, after the batter stops at third with a triple, the coach (in a grand show of self control) calls a time-out, walks out to right field, and kindly helps the kid up. One of those teaching moments.

Now, lest you think this child is in the special needs category, I'm assured she is not.  Otherwise, I wouldn't nominate her for Right Field Hall of Fame glory.  "She just doesn't like playing ball," I was told when SNG came over this morning.  Well, we've all been made to do something we didn't really want to do, like:  "Hang up your clothes right this minute, Nancy Elizabeth, before I ground you for life!!!" --so I guess I can understand why a kid would sprawl out in the grass and daydream of being somewhere else rather than work up a sweat chasing a blasted softball.

If she hangs in there till the end of the season, I'm betting her ball glove will start looking a lot like my brother's.