Tonight's softball game
Tonight's softball game was going pretty well until I crashed face-first into the outfield fence. We were only down by a few runs against our rivals, the other dot-com softball team, with plenty more of the office in the stands. I was hitting the ball. I hadn't misplayed any balls in left-center. And then I ran face-first into the outfield fence.
I was playing deep against the hitter, who'd already had a home run and a triple. he then hit the ball well again, sending me backing up quickly and — realizing the ball would go over my head — spinning around counterclock-wise as the right-center fielder yelled it was catchable and I thought it was too as I went face-first into the outfield fence. Nose, chin, right shoulder, knees, knuckles, and the fence bounced back, as good Long metal fences do, toppling me over backward and onto the grass.
I wouldn't exactly call it a crash at full sprint, because I had just finished turning around. But it was certainly the fastest I'd ever run into a fence without expecting the fence to be where it was.
I sat there for a few seconds. It was the most surprised I'd been all year, in sports or otherwise. I'd guessed I had 6-8 feet, maybe 10. Apparently not. The ball went over the fence for another home run, so at least it wasn't an error. But our shortstop compared me to a Slinky, and I figured that was about right.
