In the late seventies I played on a softball team in the HIlliard Rec. League. Our team was a bunch of misfits, that no other teams really considered having on their teams. We werent the best softball players in the world, but we always had a good time. We were called the Psychos! Ill try and list our team if I leave anyone off its because of all the time that has passed by. Mark Thompson, Mark Outler, Lee Draper, Marty Wilkerson, Mike Giles, Bill Hagan, Jack Humphrey, Wayne Bargeron, Mike Chapman and myself. There were a couple of others I cant remember. We were playing the Hilliard Merchants for (believe it or not) first place in the league. They were without a doubt the best team in the league. We were not. The game was close throughout and it came down to the last inning and we were the home team so we got to bat last. The bases were loaded and my brother was up to bat and we were down by three runs. The Merchants were prepared to win as my brother, Mark stepped up to the plate. The outfielders had moved in on Mark thinking he wouldnt be able to hit it over there heads. They were wrong! Mark hit one to left center field over the heads of the players from Hilliard. We started screaming run, run, run. We were all out of the dugout by now screaming, one run scored, then another, and another. Mark was running as fast as he could towards third. Our third base coach gave him the signal to keep running. As Mark hit third base he stumbled and fell. We were all yelling Get up, get! We never touched him and he fought to get back to his feet and he stumbled towards home as the throw was coming in from the outfield. Mark regained his footing and slid or dived to home plate. The umpired yelled out safe. We dog piled my brother at home plate. We had just defeated the best team in the league and was on top of the standings. We had won by one run. That was the biggest most exciting game I had ever been a part of. My brother hit a grand slam home run in the last inning of the game. After that game we were 11-1 in first place at the halfway mark. After that we went 1-11 for the rest of the season. Ill never forget that game, never.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 13:10:56 +0000