Out of Retirement

My big sis, Beth, and I.

Look at Mt. Shasta in the background!

Robin McCormick, Margaret Seaman, and Sarah Moffitt

The Screamin' Eagles 1997.

Putting down a perfect bunt at Siskiyous

I first began playing softball when I was eight years-old, in 1985. I was the youngest on my team, the Ladybugs, and played alongside my big sister, Beth. I continued with little league softball through eighth grade - still playing with my sister. And in my four years on the high school team I was lucky to have two of them with Beth. She and I spent hours in our backyard playing catch, batting, and annoying each other with wild throws into the blackberry bushes. In our back yard Beth perfected her fast-pitch wind-up while I caught for her. Our coaches soon realized that if she was pitching, I should catch for her, and if she was catching, I should play second base. We seemed to anticipate each others actions - knowing where a pitch would be or exactly where to make the tag on a throw down to second base. Beth and I also played on a summer softball team during high school.

My positions varied from second base to shortstop to catcher to outfield. I was never a strong batter but Beth could crank the ball out of the infield at nearly every at-bat. In high school, our dad always said that if Beth hit a home run over the fence he would buy her a new car. During practice one day she did just that during a scrimmage. Dad was not there to see if for himself and it took another year but he did get her a used little pick up truck when she left for college where she ended up playing two years on the College of the Siskiyous team.

After high school I became a walk-on to the College of the Siskiyous softball team, just like my big sis, where I became teammates with a number of girls I am still in touch with today. I played year-round with the Screamin' Eagles from the fall of 1995 to the spring of 1997. My coaches at Siskiyous saw some potential in me to become a left-handed bunter/slap bunter due to my speed on the base paths and my poor right-handed batting. Starting out fresh as a leftie proved to be just the thing I needed to become a successful batter. I soon became the designated hitter sent out to the plate to bunt my teammates around the bases and into scoring position. The one downfall was that I was often a sacrifice batter :(

I transferred to Humboldt State University in the fall of 1997 and considered trying to walk-on to their team for less than a nano-second. I was not only positive that I wasn't good enough, but I was also ready to be free of the daily practices I had been enduring for the previous two years.

Lucky for me, my big sister, Beth, was involved in the co-ed intramural league at the university and was happy to have me join her team. We played our games in a big barn-type structure known on campus as the Field House. It was dark, damp, with a hard-packed dirt floor but provided shelter from the rainy Humboldt weather. It was the perfect place to continue enjoying competitive softball.

Once I graduated from Humboldt in 2000, I got my first job teaching and the only time I played softball was if we had a teacher versus student game at the end of the school year. When Brian and I got married and I began living in Tahoe in 2005 I was aware that there were men's and coed leagues here in Incline. Unfortunately, the season was halfway over by the time we were settled and I didn't even know where to start looking for a team. Then in the summer of 2006, I had a brand new baby, Ben, to take care of so softball was once again out of my reach. In the summer of 2007, I had just gotten pregnant with Sam, so again - no softball. And in the summer of 2008, Sam was just a baby. Repetitive, huh?

This last April, Brian and I were attending a 40th birthday party for one of our friend's and softball came up at dinnertime. A couple of my book club girlfriends asked Brian if he wanted to join a softball team that their husbands were on. Brian quickly said he wasn't much of a player but I would probably like to join.

So after a ten year hiatus, here we are, two games (undefeated) into the 2009 season, and I am thrilled to be part of the game I love so much. I certainly don't have the spring in my step that I did ten years ago but I am holding my own. As was true in my earlier softball career, I am not the star of the team nor am I riding the pine. I have managed to get a couple of hits, a couple RBI's and even helped make a couple of plays. If my body can hold up I hope to be part of the Crosby's team for many seasons to come!