Ironman Softball

I played softball last night at the usual place on Hudson Street in the West Village. The field was a bit wet from some rain we had over the weekend (around home and first base had standing water which we did our best to clear out), but it was playable. But we had a bigger problem on our hands last night.

Just nine guys showed up. So what to do? We all really wanted to play a game.

One of the guys came up with an unusual idea. We played a "three-cornered" game. Basically it was a three-on-three-on-three. (A "three-way dance" to use a pro wrestling term for it.)

We divided into three teams of three guys. One team would bat and the remaining six guys would play the field. We limited everyone to two swings a piece and kept the usual rules in place. (We had to have self-pitching and self-catching, and "phantom" runners on the bases.)

We also rotated in the field, with one team playing 1B, 2B and 3B, and the other playing SS, and two outfield positions. It turned out to be a really physically demanding game, as we were all constantly doing something with no time to rest. We were all hitting, pitching, catching, running and playing the field with almost no breaks. And it was murder trying to cover the outfield with just two players.

My team had my friends Alex and Steve with me. We got whacked, by the score of 18-10-3 (something like that). After the game, we went out for dinner, and Steve came up with the perfect term for our game: "ironman softball." It was rather unusual, but I did rather enjoy playing ball in a way I never played it before.

I always enjoy playing softball, especially in October with the weather still very good. But I hope we can get more guys to come out next Sunday. I'm feeling the soreness more and more even as I write this.