Summer Softball

This summer I began my final quest to become an intramural champion at BYU. I had participated in some sort of intramural activity every semester of my BYU life. The closest I came to winning the coveted t-shirt (the prize for winning) was in the winter semester of 2005 on the Revolution coed-wallyball team. My roommate Nick and I teamed up with two girls Nick knew and took the wallyball world by storm. We weren’t the most talented team, but we were scrappy and refused to lose. We made it to the championship game only to fall short of the shirt.

So beginning this summer I thought my quest for the shirt would never come as I joined the 54th Ward Softball team. I had played with the team in the Spring semester and we didn’t win a game. In fact I don’t think we ever lost by less than 10 runs. It was embarrassing. So you can see why I was skeptical going into my last intramural season. (Editors Note: This was Brandon’s last intramural season because he could no longer be in a BYU Student ward, and he no longer will be a BYU student. If he happened to become employed by the university, or returned to school, he could then return to the intramural field).

Our first game of the new season, the other team forfeited so we had our first official win ever. Spirits were high, but I was still skeptical. Our second game came along, and once again the other team forfeited. Win number 2, but I still didn’t count either one as a win. Game 3 came and we actually played, and played well. I was surprised at the progress our team had made in the off season. A lot of the guys played in our stake, so they were getting a steady dose of softball. So after 3 games we were 3-0. I missed game 4 and couldn’t tell you how it turned out. Game 5 was our last regular season game and once again we played surprisingly well and won. We were undefeated and headed to tournament.

Now this is where the good news comes in. Our team was good enough to receive a number 1 seed in the tournament and bad enough to be placed in the lowest bracket. For those of you who have played intramural sports, this is a perfect formula for success in tournament. We also received a bye in the first round.

Our first tournament game would be in the round of 8, which is where the bracket became double elimination. Our first game was spirited and we pulled out a victory in the end. We played our next game in the tournament immediately after that and came out blazin. We scored 8 runs in the first inning. Unfortunately our defense wasn’t stellar and we also gave up 8 runs in the first. After that we settled down and were able to win comfortably. We had a couple days off to rest our legs and get ready for the semifinals the next week.

For the semifinal game I made sure to get a good nights rest. On game day I went to the bating cages during my lunch break to get loose and I loaded up on carbs by eating some pasta. I was ready to play. I arrived at the game a couple minutes early, a first for me and started to stretch out. As I was stretching and getting myself in the zone, I was informed that the other team didn’t have enough players and forfeited.

We moved on to the championship game without a challenge. The championship came and I decided to ditch my hefty pre-game ritual that I had installed for the semis and just showed up at the start time. The other team looked decent as they where taking batting practice when I got there. The game was a lot different from the other games of the year; there weren’t a lot of runs. Both teams showed great defense and by the last inning my team was ahead by 3 runs. I trotted out to left field knowing I was three outs away from the t-shirt. The first batter hit a line drive my way and I calmly made the catch and threw the ball back in. 2 outs away. Then things got a little interesting. A guy singled to first. They had one man one with one out. There next guy popped out to the in field. 1 out away. Our pitcher then walked the next two batters. He had been pitching the whole game, so I think his arm got a little sore and he was losing control. The stage was set, bases loaded, two outs, they were down by 3. It was their clean up hitter. You could cut the tension with a knife. The first pitch was a ball and I saw our relief pitcher starting to get warmed up on the side. Pitch two fouled off down the line. Pitch three fouled off down the line. Pitch four, grounder back to the pitcher who threw out the runner at home for the last out. We were victorious. The BYU 54th Ward softball team did the unthinkable, go from defeated in the spring, to undefeated in the summer and win the coveted intramural t-shirt.

-Brandon