Hitting one out of the ballpark on derby day

May 1, 2009, 12:00 AM

I think the last year I played baseball, when I was 15, I hit something like .187 and probably had less RBI than Willie Bloomquist did last season. I was less feared at the plate than Richie Sexson. So, naturally, when I heard that the UW softball team was holding a home-run derby for all UW students, I decided I'd try to knock a couple out of the park - or, you know, make an ass of myself in front of everyone in attendance. Hey, I couldn't fare any worse than opposing batters have against Danielle Lawrie this season. UW head coach Heather Tarr greeted all of the students who showed up as soon as practice ended, told them how things would work - we broke up into teams of four or five people, got ten swings each, and the top two teams went against each other in the finals - then had the team do one of their game chants to get people excited. For the record, I did not participate. I was on Team 2, along with Alex, Kelsey and Oscar. But before I could even ask for their last names, I was being handed a bat and told that I was going first for our team. Oh, boy. I already had a tough act to follow - the kid before me, Jordan McGinnis, belted four out of the park, including one that I'm pretty sure went into the lake beyond the left-field fence. The last time I hit a ball that far was on Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball for Nintendo 64. UW assistant coach Lance Glasoe was throwing what's called "circle pitch," which meant that he was about 15 feet from the plate, sitting on a bucket behind a screen, tossing each pitch around it. Bobby Ayala might as well have been pitching. Glasoe, knowing I cover the team for The Daily, threw the first pitch behind me. We'll see if he ever gets any good ink again. Just like I had during my entire youth baseball career, I rolled the next three pitches over and hit ground balls down the third-base line. Seven swings left. But on the fourth one, I finally made solid contact, depositing it over the left-center field wall, just under the scoreboard. Two pitches later, I knocked another one out, this one over the bleachers in center field. I don't know what it feels like to hit a real home run, but for hitting one off a guy throwing me perfect pitches from 15 feet away with 200-foot fences, it felt pretty good. Unfortunately, my team hit just one more, and we didn't advance to the finals. But everyone there seemed to enjoy themselves - even the ones who couldn't get the ball out of the infield. And really, it was good to see how many people showed up, especially considering the things this team is capable of doing this season. There were roughly 30 or so people who hit, but a lot of others - including Jake Locker, who was shagging balls in the outfield with the rest of the Huskies players - came to help or just to watch. I had to leave before the winner, Jeremy Lashinske, was decided, mainly to avoid a tongue-lashing from my editors, who were waiting for me to come back to the newsroom and, you know, do my job. If Lawrie had been pitching, I probably would have left a lot earlier. Reach sports editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

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