While you’re out drinking on Tuesday (and many other) nights, the staff of The Mirror is in the lower level of the BCC, typing away on our computers.
I swear we have more fun than I just made that sound, but you probably wouldn’t predict us to win the 2005 intramural softball championship.
I’m not here to gloat about our amazing feat over much more athletic teams (we won!), but rather to share my experience in intramurals as a girl who until recently didn’t know that runs are scored in a softball game, and not points.
We kind of signed up as a joke. Our sports editor, Bryan Mahoney ’05, thought it would be a great way for us to bond further and make some new friends. He wasn’t expecting such a triumph.
Some of the teams were pretty intense. Many questioned our talent. (How could The Mirror staff possibly win a game against teams with names like “Cookies and Cream” and “The Hooligans”?)
But I’m confident that it was our camaraderie that placed us in the Rec-Plex hall of fame.
It was a learning experience for everyone. I learned that if I ran away from fly balls, someone else would run and catch them (or dive, trying).
Later, I learned how to catch a ball so I could stay out of the dangerous outfield and become our team’s catcher. It was much safer for everyone.
Our photography editor, Chris Donato ’05, showed up to the first game in jeans. But that wasn’t that bad. Assistant copy editor, Greg Hill ’05, didn’t even wear shoes.
Donato drove in a whopping two runs with style, and Hill’s mitt was a black hole for the opposing teams’ line drives, in all seriousness.
News editor Megan Mahoney ’05 shined as our pitcher for a few games, and then later earned her nickname, “The Net”, when she took over my position in the outfield. Editor in Chief Steve Andrews ’05 proved to us that his stunning knowledge of baseball does not surpass his talent on the field.
OK, I’ll admit it: we drafted a few players (or most of the men’s cross country team). We also recruited Andrews’ housemate, Matt.Ventura ’05, without whom the team would have not been as successful.
Somehow, we made it to the championships. We put on our gray Mirror t-shirts. We tied up our battered old sneakers, put on our caps, and together, walked onto the turf field.
We didn’t get nervous when we saw our opponent’s overwhelming number of fans, or even when we spotted their mascot (a real dog).
We went out there and did our job: we ended up winning by two runs. When it happened, at least five voices could be heard screaming in disbelief, “We won?!” It was shocking. It was senseless. It was incredible.
I can’t describe the love and the amount of pride I have for my teammates. For a team that no one ever expected to win, every player added something special, whether it was donating gloves to others or barking like dogs to rev up the team.
That night we went out and celebrated. We talked about our winning strategies and lineups. Actually, that didn’t happen. There was just a lot of screaming and high-fives.
If you’re like me and don’t know the first thing about softball, basketball or even floor hockey, don’t let it stop you from signing up for intramural sports.
It may be one of your most defining college experiences. I know it was for me.
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