Batter Up!

It really has been a summer of watching ball games.  Joel and Daniel played slow-pitch softball for four different teams - two in the Men's League on Monday nights; one in the Co-Rec League on Wednesday nights; and the Svea Gold Team in the Church League on Thursday nights.  Sarah played fast-pitch softball for the Willmar 18U (age 18 and under) team on Tuesday nights, and joined Pete and Andrew on the Svea Bronze Team on Thursdays.  Philip played on the Willmar Twins, a 5th- and 6th-grade team with Willmar Community Ed and Rec.  They practiced on Thursdays and played games on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Except for the church teams, I watched only a few of each softball team's games, but saw most of Philip's games in the last three weeks.  Getting everyone to the right field at the right time provided some interesting exercise in car coordination.  This week Sarah and I stayed home from a Sioux Falls bridal shower for Callie because between meetings and ball games, we needed the extra drivers and car.

Attending and chauffeuring shouldn't cause a problem, but I try to catch up on so many household areas during the summer that going to a ball game every night feels like a chore instead of a privilege.  Cooking has fallen by the wayside, for supper anyway; we've eaten in Willmar (before or after games) far more than usual.  Reorganizing cupboards and systems, purging photo collections, catching up on albums, working on 4-H projects, keeping the kids productive, preparing books to sell, practicing for an August program and tying up loose ends on the spring school work join the usual daily or weekly chores of cooking, cleaning, yard work, money management, exercise, weightlifting, laundry, church activities and ball games to make the summer feel like an exhausting whirl instead of a relaxing vacation.

On the positive side, lots of opportunities for discussions on sportsmanship and excellence have arisen.  The importance of practice and the difference between "illegal" and "unethical" has been demonstrated.  Everyone has made their share of blunders and bloopers, and hopefully learned a little more humility.  And Svea still has the best fans!

Ask and you shall receive...

The Lord has been reminding me of the truth of "Ask and you shall receive."  A week ago Tuesday, I realized that I hadn't been praying with Sarah for her softball team, games and season.  She had been somewhat negative about their winless season - some disappointments etc.  I asked if I could pray for her before she left for her last home game, she said, "Well, nothing else has worked!" and I asked the Lord to help her relax and enjoy herself and have a good perspective.  They lost again, but she had a good game with 3 solid hits, and felt God had answered our prayer.  On Thursday we prayed for team unity and perspective, and they did come together, enjoyed their game, and procured their first victory!  They were so excited!  On Friday,we prayed for Coach Banks to relax and enjoy herself, and for more teamwork, and they won again!  On Saturday, we prayed for teamwork, and they lost their first game so were out of the tournament.  Sarah and KJ had to sit there for hours while the boys' baseball team finished their tourney and then ride back with them.  But at least they were together.

On Thursday, Pete and I had to sing for a funeral and when we got there, Jon Barber informed us that the sound system wasn't working.  He and Pete tried several things while I played the prelude, and right before the funeral started Pete prayed with Jon and then sat down and informed me, "The system isn't working - do we need to do anything different?"  But when Pastor Mary started speaking, lo and behold - it worked!  Afterwards Pete asked Jon, "What did you do?"  "Nothing - I just turned it off and back on and this time it worked!  Must have been your prayer."  Must have been.

Thursday night was the first church softball games, and we prayed for a good spirit of encouragement and a good attitude.  I don't know what happened over at the Gold team (I wasn't there because I was driving Sarah back from her Rocori victory so she could play with the Bronze team), but we (Bronze) had a great crowd, great spirit and a great game with a victory.  Everybody had a good hit or two and a good defensive play or two.  Jerry was quite pleased, and the rest of us were thrilled.  Thank You, Lord, for answering prayer and for reminding us that You like to be asked.

The Power of God through Prayer

Last week the Svea Silver slow-pitch softball team (our church has two teams, one in the Silver League and one in the Bronze League) suffered its first defeat of the season at the hands of the #5 seed in the playoffs. It was a shocker, to say the least. Our guys made many errors, couldn't hit the ball, and the other team ripped hit after hit to a few of the same spots the whole game and "ten-runned" us - the game, normally seven innings, was ended after five innings because they were ten runs ahead.

This loss dropped us down to the loser's bracket, giving us more games to play to eventually reach the championship game. Prior to last night's first game, against the last-seeded team, our team was confident of victory; we had "twenty-runned" this team in the first game of the playoffs. So when their players mentioned to some of ours that their pitcher was illegal (in order to play in the playoffs, you must be on the roster at the start of the season and play in two games during the regular season), our guys brushed it off and went ahead with the game. But it was another disaster. Lackluster hitting, error-filled defense and a general sluggish attitude contributed to a 13-10 loss for Svea. I was especially disgusted because I hadn't even wanted to come; I've had a bad toothache for a couple of days and drugged myself up with Advil so I could make it.

As the guys drifted off the field, a couple of the players talked to the umpire, who eventually confirmed that the other team had to forfeit because of an illegal player. Interestingly, the same thing happened to us last year. One of our players recruited a couple of "outsiders" in order to soundly defeat our cutthroat rivals; we had to forfeit, which led to our losing the league championship and remaining in this league another year. The recruiter publicly apologized to our entire team, and we learned a valuable lesson. Ironically, the "outsiders" didn't contribute to our victory last year, while the "outsider" pitcher last night was also a coach and probably made a difference in the game.

Perhaps you are imagining excitement and enthusiasm at receiving another chance to play. There wasn't any. The next game was already in progress and had to be stopped so our team could take the place of the forfeited team. Three or four of our players had already headed for home and had to be called back. No one felt good about getting to the next game that way. It was already 10:00 pm. And the mosquitoes were bad!

I went to move the car closer so Sarah could get away from the mosquitoes, and as I went I had a picture in my mind (I think the Lord put it there) of the teams praying together before the game. Pete had led a short devotions and prayer before most of our games this year, but he was gone with our twins and I was pretty sure he hadn't appointed anyone to take his place. As I drove back, I prayed, "OK, Lord, if I get back in time I will ask if I can pray." However, as I pulled into the parking lot, I saw the first batter for the other team take his first swing. It was a base hit, and they went on to score three runs on a few good hits, a missing outfielder and a couple of errors by our team. It was not looking good.

I had another picture of myself going over and praying with just our team before they batted. I walked over and as they came in off the field I asked, "Did you guys pray before the game?"

Someone answered, "No, that's the problem."

I pressed further, "I suppose you didn't pray before the other game either, did you?"

"No."

"Can I just pray for us now?"

"Sure!" And they gathered around as I quickly said something like, "Lord, You know we're frustrated and upset. But we trust You, and please help us do our best! Amen!" Everyone echoed, "Amen!" as the umpire called for the batter.

I am NOT saying that a prayer to God is a magical charm that results in instant success and glory for anyone who will say a few words. But it was a different team that batted around in the bottom of that first inning, scoring six or seven runs. And it was a different team that went on to win the game 16-7 and advance to the next round of playoff games, next week. I believe the Lord orchestrated that entire series of events to say to our team, "Just remember Me." And I pray that message will stick with some of those guys for the rest of their lives.

Nothing but Fun!

On Friday at 4pm, Mark Kraemer & I left Crown Farm for the University of MN to pick up John K, who had been at a songwriter's class all week. From there, we headed down to Rochester, where the boys dropped me off at my college roommate's house and headed over to Winona for the state church league softball tournament. Shelley and her family arrived shortly thereafter, and we had a great visit, catching up on the past few months. They had a French 16-year-old staying with them for the last month, which provided some interesting conversation.

In the morning, after delicious homemade whole wheat cinnamon bread by Jon, the head of the house, who turned 48 - 47? 46? - that day, Shelley & I drove to Winona to watch the tournament. It must have been close to 90 already by 10am, when the first game started. Because we were there to watch Svea's team, I got to explain to Shelley who everyone was, some of their statistics, and other details. She did know Joel and Daniel, who played 3rd and 2nd respectively, and a couple of guys who had been to Leadership Quest three years ago with Shelley and family. The only other Svea fans there were the families of the two married men on the team. We marveled at their commitment; Nicki was there with her 9- and 5-year-old sons and 2-year-old daughter, and Emily with her 2-year-old son, for the whole blistering day.

The first game was a disaster - the St. Cloud team scored 6 runs in the first inning, and when Shelley & I went to get cooler clothes and sunscreen on (the bleachers were in full sun), we missed most of the Svea rally. I think our guys were tired (they had tented in the heat last night) and a little nervous at finally facing some real competition. They almost caught up, however, and lost 9-7. That put them in the loser's bracket right away and meant a 3-hour break until the next game. The clouds in the west were already looking threatening, but the head umpire said they'd play through pouring rain if necessary; they would only stop a game if lightning flashed.

We walked around the river path for a while and commiserated with each other on our various challenges in parenting college students and teenagers. It was great to connect for such a big chunk of time. When we returned to the car, the wind picked up and it was obvious the rain was coming. We got in and drove in the pouring rain, trying to find a restaurant. After finding a McDonald's, we sat in the parking lot and waited for a lull to get the GPS out of the trunk. It directed us to a Perkins, where we had a nice lunch and then tried to find our way back to the tournament - the GPS didn't have the location mapped, and it turned out we had gone in a big circle. We happened to catch sight of "Huff Street" and recognized the name, so returned in time for the next game, which was only about 15 minutes late. When we got there, the guys were a little frantic because the two dads still weren't there; they had gone in the pool with their kids and without their cell phones, so didn't realize it was time to play. They arrived in time, though, and the next two games were solid victories for Svea. The first one was good competition, and provided some fun spectacles, such as Jason sliding through a water puddle to catch a foul ball - which popped out of his glove - and Mark making a diving catch in the outfield. Another bonus was the shade which was available - it hadn't cooled down at all.

After the two wins, we were in the loser's bracket championship against the team which beat us first. We beat them 9-2 with great defense and offense. During the game, the undefeated team - Atonement Angels from Bloomington - sat behind us and scoped out our team. One guy mentioned the "two who look alike," and when I confirmed that they are twins, he queried, "Dare I ask how old they are?" "Eighteen." "Is there anyone on your team older than 18?" he wondered. He kept making comments about how their youth would enable them to keep going in the heat and so forth, but when he told us that Atonement comes to this tournament every year, and that it was his 31st season playing softball, I knew their experience would make it a difficult game to win for Svea.

Sure enough, Atonement scored 6 runs in the first inning. After that, our guys brought one outfielder behind second base, and we beat them 5-2 over the course of the rest of the innings. That wasn't enough, however, and we lost 8-5. That was OK with me, because it was already after 6pm, and the Kraemer boys and I had to get back home that night. Plus, there was plenty to be proud of; in their first year at the tournament, Svea took second place. Shelley & I had a wonderful visit, and everyone got safely home.

Summer Softball

The slow-pitch softball season has begun! Each week, between fast- and slow-pitch, six or seven games feature someone from our house. Never have I missed my voice so much as now, when I can't yell and cheer for the teams - I sit in the bleachers and lamely clap.

Svea Church has two teams - one in the Bronze League, and one in the Silver (that one should probably be in the Gold - they won 38-0 last week). The Bronze League team consists of eleven Svea youth, ages 13-19; three friends, ages 16-19, and a mom. Our coach is the fantastic Jerry, who played on a state champion slow-pitch team years ago, but who has a perfect perspective for a church league team. Everyone plays as soon as they're ready; everyone bats (the league has a special rule allowing that). Most of the players don't play sports in school, although we do have a couple of girls' softball players, including our Sarah, and a baseball player.

Our record is now 2-2, but that is irrelevant to how we (coach, players and spec- tators) feel about the season so far. We derive great satisfaction from seeing how much improved the team is. Last year, if a ball flew to our outfield, the runner almost always got to second base at least; this year, the outfielders are able to either catch it outright, or field it and throw it in to hold the runner at first, a good portion of the time. They are aware of the "cutoff" player, and thinking about the game as it unfolds. The infield is even better. John, the pitcher, knows the game and remains aware of every situation; he saves the others from many mistakes by calling out what they should do. The first baseman, Liz, snags balls thrown to her, or speedily tracks them down if they are overthrown a bit. Our Sarah, having played third base on the 9th-grade team this year, has improved her throwing speed and accuracy across the diamond. Last week the entire team played almost flawless defense - which is the area I enjoy watching the most. Our hitting is slowly improving as well.

One of the umpires mentioned to me once that he loves refereeing church softball, and especially Svea's games. We shine in three areas of sportsmanship. First, our players encourage each other. Last week Rusty, a three-year veteran of the team, hit a great smash to the outfield and took advantage of an error to race home, along with the other 2 base runners. The cheering and backslapping went on for quite some time, because Rusty hasn't had a lot of batting success in the past. The very next inning, in the outfield, Rusty caught a well-hit ball and quickly funneled it in to the second baseman. We joked that he was a one-man team, and everyone was very excited for him. This is typical of our team.

Secondly, our coach stresses good sportsmanship. Often we play against teams who dominate us because they are made up of grown men - sometimes in the wrong league, but not always. Occasionally some opponents will sneer, mutter, or even make inappropriate comments or actions on the field. Not Svea - when we beat another team 15-0, everyone tried his best and didn't rub it in. Jerry always says, "You have nothing to be ashamed of" if the team did its best, no matter the score.

Thirdly, our fans are the greatest. While other teams frequently have empty bleachers, Svea always has a good contingent of cheerleaders. One year we did the can-can whenever a player hit a home run (fortunately there weren't too many!). Several of us have Svea softball T-shirts to wear. And we are relentlessly positive, never cheering against the opposing team, and even congratulating them on exceptional plays.

I know I'm bragging, but I love church softball! And I take no credit for it; Jerry and the team are just great!