Over the past few months, I've been playing in a summer adult baseball league called the Puget Sound Senior Baseball League. Last year, I was really interested in playing hardball again, and I found this league. Little did I know that I'd find one of my old high school teammates already playing on one of the rosters. I immediately reached out to him, and although it was too late to join, I made sure he'd follow up with me come the draft the next year.
Well, sure enough, I was greeted by a text in early March. And I didn't even have to go through the draft process, my friend "buddy-picked" me to ensure that I'd be on the same team as him.
I started out the season with minimal practice. I hadn't seen more than a few live pitches, had only caught a few fly balls recently (thanks, softball), and hadn't really thrown a competitive pitch since 2009-10. Yeah. Like 7 years ago. Crazy, right?
Playing on this team has been such a blast for me. I have by far the lowest batting average on the team, but I've had the opportunity to play a lot in centerfield where I grew up playing. Additionally, I've had the chance to pitch and can confidently say that I throw harder now than I did in high school.
My favorite part about being on the team is that we play games all around the Sound, so Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Tacoma (ugh), and all locations. Today, I got to play at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue where I played in high school, and my dad was able to come to the game. That was really neat for me.
Overall, I've loved this whole experience. Getting up and going to the batting cages to swing a wood bat just feels so right. My team is a ton of fun. It has players all over from ages 18-35, and it's neat being able to play with people so much older than I am. The love for the game never dies. Lastly, we're all on somewhat of the same skill level. We're almost .500 and in the middle of the standings, and it's competitive baseball. I've missed it so much, but I'm so glad I got to do this in my last summer here.
