Phat Bhatts

This year Tyler, the worship pastor at our church, decided we needed a softball team. So basically he signed us up for the "Leisure League" at Cottonwood Park with the hopes enough people would agree to this crazy idea. I think when it was all said and done our team roster had around 18 people on it. Let me tell you, the resumes of some of the people on our team were pretty impressive. We had everything from active military guys, to people who had run marathons, half marathons, triathlons, and completed iron man competitions.

With that much athleticism and determination on a giant roster, you would think the season was ours for the taking...but let's just say the Bad News Bears had nothing on the Phat Bhatts. Side note: props to Tyler on the team name! The head pastor of our church is Sam Bhatt....thus, we are the Phat Bhatts. Clever. We did consider the name team name Vanguard Church (the name of another church in town) just in case some of our pastors got a little too competitive.

We finished the season 0-8 or as Tyler likes to say, almost-7. Our last game actually ended up being pretty close. I think we only lost by 3. The other games the closest we got was a 7 point loss...no kidding.

What we lacked in wins, we made up for in great memories though. I mean there was this one time an umpire straight up asked me if this was the first time we had ever played in a league before. When I asked him if it was "that obvious" his answer was dead silence. He said he would rather ask then just assume. I asked him to not ask any of my teammates these same questions.

Another umpire was shocked to learn we were a church team because we were so fun. Not sure what that means, but he was so intrigued by us. He said we weren't very good, but we sure do make for a fun hour of softball.

Then there was the time Greg, the smallest guy on our team, broke a metal bat in half. He swung, the ball flew to right field, he threw the lower part of the bat on the ground to run to first, and the top half of the bat flew right over the second baseman. In one night Greg might have become a softball legend. Aaron, one of the biggest guys on our team, was quick to tell me he used that bat all season and he had been hitting pretty low so he probably cracked it and then Greg just finished it off. Aren't guys amusing? I'm sure that's what it was Aaron. After that impressive performance, I thought that might be the end of short jokes for Greg, but no such luck.

I slid into second once this season and boy did I feel it for the rest of the week. But let's focus on important things...I was safe. Also, after I made it home a few batters later and went into the dugout, I saw the three Fernihough boys sliding around in the clay. They said they were "sliding like Dani." Seriously, so adorable.

I played infield positions most of the season - 3rd base, 2nd base, 1st base, a half inning of a pitching disaster....then eventually I made my way to catcher. I played softball for 7 years when I was younger and I never once played catcher. I don't know the first thing about it. Here is what I know now though.
1) I am terrified pretty much the entire time I am behind the plate.
2) I warmed up to it because you get to actually participate every play, which is fun and always keeps me on my toes.
3) I make all kinds of friends playing catcher. By the end of the game I know something about every player on the other team and have had a pretty decent conversation with the umpire.
4) No one cared to mention this...but about half way through our last game I noticed something. None of the girls on other teams who played catcher actually PLAYED. Sure, when the pitcher threw the ball they caught it and threw it back, but they didn't even stand near the batter's box. In fact, they would stand behind the umpire near the fence of the backstop and wait until the pitch rolled over to them and then toss it back. If there was a play at the plate, they would just move out of the way and let the pitcher or first baseman cover the plate. What is that all about? How did I miss that memo? Here I am crouched down behind the batter trying to give our catcher a good target and hoping to not get knocked unconscious by an out of control swing. I even went for foul balls and caught a few. I think in the 3 or 4 games I played catcher I made 3 outs behind the plate. Not too shabby if I do say so myself, but for real, some one could have told me that catchers are just there for looks.

All in all, I think this was good for us. There were plenty of laughs and just to go to a church that puts themselves in a city league instead of a church league is a blessing.

Watch it 2012 season...we see you and the Phat Bhatts are coming back with a vengeance....and by "vengeance" I mean we are determined to win at least one game.

Go team!