Diamond Memories

The afternoon watching softball over the weekend brought back many good memories of the five years I was privileged to work pretty closely with a softball team.

The Lutheran High School of Indianapolis Saints have had a very good softball program for quite a few years, but until the fall of 2006 didn't have a regular public address announcer.

Coach Don Pietz asked me after a football game in 2006 if I'd be interested in helping him make the games a bigger deal and I agreed to help.

Up to that point I had maybe seen a few minutes of college softball on ESPN, but wasn't very familiar with the rules and everything I knew about softball came from slow-pitch.

Coach Pietz had speakers and amplifier that I would set up before each game.  I'd check with both teams for their starting line-up and go over the pronunciations for the visiting team.

From that first year to the fifth I learned a lot.

I learned the ball arrives at the plate real fast.  The pitching rubber is 45' away from the plate making a fast pitch equal to a 90+ mile an hour fastball in the major leagues.

The concept of a courtesy runner and a designated player were new to me - but as games rolled into seasons I learned and appreciated the game and athleticism and dedication the players brought to the field every day.

The growth of college softball programs, like Wisconsin's, comes through the travel ball and superb high school softball teams around the country that are developing.

Parents and family pour time and money into special training and coaching and a slot on travel teams that play close to nine months of the year.  The hope is that the investment leads to a college scholarship.

Parent put in real time - sitting in fold-up camp or lawn chairs bundled up against the elements and frequently watching 3 or more games in a day.  That's dedication.

At Lutheran, I was privileged to watch a number of young women who took advantage of their God-given talent and the opportunities provided by their family into scholarships at schools like Valparaiso, Tennessee - Martin, Alabama, and Oakland among others.

While the Saints were winning a lot, upwards of 90% of their games... the team learned teamwork; dealing with adversity; handling demands on their time; and handling success.

It was nice to see the players had learned those lessons - humble when they won and gracious when they came up short - lessons that will serve them well after hanging up their cleats for good.

I enjoyed being on the periphery of that experience with them.