That being said, I know where my strengths and weaknesses are. I know I'm not the best at any sport and I usually give the disclaimer of, "I'm not great at any one thing, but I'm decent at most"
That is until last week. I used to frequent the batting cages on my lunch break and I got to the point where I was a pretty consistent hitter. Sure they weren't going out of any parks or over any walls, but I was hitting them. I went on a date earlier this year with a guy and I'll happily admit I did much better than he did (much to his chagrin).
So last week I was talking to a super cute dude and bragging about my athletic abilities, as was he. He's big into basketball, which I suck at, and I love softball, which is not his strong suit. So we decided to go to the batting cages. I thought it was humble of him to take me to something he admittedly wasn't very good at, when the risk was that I could beat him. No guy wants the girl to be better at anything athletic!
So we go to the batting cages and he is talking about how nervous he is that he isn't going to do well, how long it's been since he's played. Telling me a story of when he was a tiny tott playing baseball, he always just accepted the walks because he didn't want to swing. Then the coach told him to just swing at the next one, which he did. Apparently had a very loose grip on the bat and just threw it with all his might. That'll stick with ya. So I understood and believed his consternation.
Being the gentleman that he is he followed the "ladies first" rule, and I walked into the cage. First ball comes and FLIES past me! "WHA??? Is this fast pitch???" I look back and he is just laughing away. Next ball, whiff... next ball... whiff... each time he laughed harder and harder. Swing and a miss time and time again. The 20 pitches end and I think I hit one of them, pretty sure it went straight up and I cowered like the girl I am for fear it was going to bop me on the head.
Once he composed himself, after several minutes, he entered the FAST pitch cage, yeah it WAS fast pitch! I sit back and await my turn to laugh. First ball, "CRACK!" outta the park, next ball, "CRACK"!With each hit his laughter continues and I just yell out, "YOU HUSTLER!!!"
To this day, he pleads innocent, that he "really didn't expect to do so well" but the fact of the matter is, I expected to do much better. We did other cages and when I did slow pitch baseball I actually did much better. He later on told me he was impressed that I kept going, that I kept swinging, "even though I was missing everything"
I'm nothing if not stubborn, competative and proud. Glad he found those to be admirable.
Note where the ball is... this was in my early days of playing softball... 'parently not much has changed.
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