It wasn’t my first time in Ljubljana, I was here as a SHAB (Softball Husband or Boyfriend) when the Irish National Team played in the European Championships in 2006.  Now I was there as a player (and AHOPU - Assistant-Hander-in-of-Official-Paper-to-the-Umpires) for the first time at this level and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.  My First First : Playing Softball at this level.  I must admit it was tough going, my body has not been used to so much exercise since I took part in the Tignes-Bourg Saint Maurice Descente Deux Mille in 1992.  I’ve played in a good few softball blitzes over weekends, and there are generally plenty of squad members to make sure you get a break during those; this was different.  You may think that two or three games a day is easy going – it’s not.  Regardless of the weather – playing ten games (well actually I think I played seven and three-quarters) in the four days of round-robin games, before the fifth day when the playoffs take place, is hard on the body.  Now those of you who know me obviously appreciate the peak condition that my body is in, and toned and prepared as I was for this tournament I finished on the last day with kinesio-tape down the whole side of my right arm, looking more like a Maori tattoo than a medical treatment.  My left knees are [still] grazed more than they ever were when I was a small boy, and I’ve a huge blister on my big toe from the new shiny boots that landed in from the USA the day before we departed.  Let’s not forget the bump I took on the head five minutes into the first game when I decided that in order to catch the ball I needed to punch a hole in the wrought iron fence that surrounded the outfield.  “It’s all part of the game” the Slovenian Umpire told me following the required blood check, as I saw three of him running back to his position in the field.  We don’t have any fences in Irish softball, and certainly not ones that the KGB would be proud of surrounding a secret espionage training centre in Eastern Europe – hang on, perhaps that’s what SD Golovec’s ground was before the fall of the Iron Curtain.  My Second First : playing on a proper diamond with Fence

Sliding is such an integral part of the game, and is something I’ve never really felt the need to (or wanted to) do in one of the Dublin parks frequented by softballers every Tuesday evening throughout the summer.  Throwing yourself on the floor feet first toward a hard plastic base or plate, which is generally protected by a bulky short-stop or a rather large catcher who looks more like an ice hockey goaltender is not my idea of enjoyment, but at this level, if needed, you have to do it otherwise you’ll be out, or you’ll get a softball in the face (or both).  Let’s also remember that we’re sliding on either hard ground (i.e. a rugby pitch) or on hard clay.  In the second of our games against Long Bridge I took off from third base after a pop-up to second, we needed to score the run!  As I approached the plate I lunged my left foot forward, followed by the right, noticing the immediate fear in the somewhat slender sized catcher’s eyes.  She would do very well in a Vanessa Mae lookalike competition, so you can imagine her fear as she saw a fifteen stone brute bearing down on her.  I hit the plate, I hit the catcher, I was safe and the run was scored.  The catcher was hurt, and I thought that the best thing for her was to try and pick her up by wrapping my arms around the ribs that I’d just collided into.  My Third First : a proper slide.  And can I just say that I do not intend this to become a regular part of my game.  Only when needed, and when I’m happy that there is enough padding on my left leg to merit another slide.

The catcher did however play on.  And she was there (albeit she’d been moved to second base) to witness my next First.  And she may now deem herself as one of the privileged few who have seen me hit the ball properly to right-field.  Not only hit the ball but hit the ball over both outfielders heads to the fence (this one more a fence that a farmer would use around a chicken coop) in the bottom of the last inning with the scores tied, one out and to runners on base.  Why so great an achievement?  Because as everyone in BatPak knows, as a left-handed batter (I do everything else right-handed by the way, oh except batting at cricket), my natural hit should be to right-field, but because of my cricketing background my natural hit is more to the other side of the field.  This has many times confused opposition teams who would see my cack-handedness arrive at the plate and consequently shift its field round to the right, only for me to drive the ball into the rather large gap created in left-field.  This season however I’ve been trying to hit the ball where I need to based on what is happening in the game, including a not so natural right-field.  As BatPak’s winning run against Long Bridge was standing on third base, it obviously made sense to try and hit the ball right field (well to tell the truth anywhere in the outfield should have made the game safe), and this is what I did.  As I jogged round the bases it dawned on me what I’d just done, and I did pinch myself just in case.  Not only had I hit the winning run in a comeback inning, but this had been done with a smooth swing of the bat that looked like I played this shot whenever I stepped up to the plate.  My Fourth First : an inside the park HR in right field.

On Day Four of the tournament, last day of the round robin games, I was asked for the third time to be AHOPU (see above), against the Homerunners of Austria.  This should have been an easy enough game for BatPak to win, and I was looking for my first win in position of AHOPU while the Captain Jon Barry sunned himself in the pool back at our lodgings.  Alas, ‘Saturday Morning BatPak’ turned up (weird given that it was only Friday), and we played a stinker.  I was forced into making substitutions driven by an Umpire’s Strike Zone being no bigger than the cap he was wearing, by players not performing to their capabilities and by my determination and bloody mindedness to get the win and not leave this tournament a winless AHOPU (WAHOPU).  Only after the game, which Homerunners won by the way, did I think of the switch that would have made all the difference.  No good thinking of it sitting in the tent eating a Slovenian Kebab!!  My Fifth First : going winless while in charge of a BatPak team.

And so to finals day!  Because of the thunderstorms that had struck the day before (principle cause of the BatPak site not being updated as the subsequent floods hit Slovenia’s main Internet provider causing all connections to drop), BatPak, while assured of a top-four place and pretty certain of third spot which meant a home game in the play-offs, had to play the host team, SD Golovec, in the last of the round robin games.  This started at 9am.  We had all been looking forward to a later 11am start to what was the pivotal day of the tournament, so by the time Dodder and Chromies arrived at the ground for their 1pm start we’d already played over three hours of back-to-back softball on what was a rather hot day.  We beat SD Golovec to finish the round robin stage 6 & 4, and we beat Long Bridge (of the maimed catcher) in the first of the playoff games.  Next up Dodder who had lost their game against Chromies.  After eleven games of softball over four and a bit days it came down to the two Irish teams to play for the right to meet Chromies in the Grand Final.  The somewhat extended playoff system in softball is obviously biased toward the top teams, I think all that it is lacking is the Clubcall option that Rugby League has recently introduced.  Both BatPak and Dodder looked dead on their feet, with neither team grasping the opportunity to score many runs.  Going into the top of the last inning BatPak were down three (4-1) and it looked like the bar and a chilled pint of Union was beckoning.  However a spirited comeback to tie the game meant that a somewhat shocked Dodder needed to bat again to win.  BatPak got two of the three required outs but could not contain Dodder’s ‘go-to’ player Ken McCarthy and his line drive down the third base line put an end to my, and BatPak’s dreams of reaching the ECCS Grand Final at the first attempt.  Personally, having batted well throughout the tournament and with a decent history against Dodder’s pitcher I was disappointed to go 0 for in this game, and I was amazed at the wave of emotion that hit me at the end.  My Sixth First: batting 0 for against a certain Dynamoes pitcher

My Seventh First: a medal!!  We had come third, and deserved at least this.  On another day we would have beaten Dodder and had a good go at the Chromies in the Grand Final.  Hopefully BatPak can finish off the Leinster League Premier Division with the wins that are needed to regain our title for a third time.  Who knows what we then face in terms of inter-provincial playoffs but I still believe that BatPak will be representing Ireland next year in the ECCS, wherever it may be held.