We are the champions, my friends

Despite freezing temperatures and a brutal wind chill, El Guapo was en fuego Thursday night for the semi-final and finals for the MOKC WAKA kickball championships.

Our semi and the final went into extra innings! There's weird rules for extra innings in kickball. It's not like baseball where you just keep playing like normal until a team ends an inning scoring.

I got the call from GM - I had to come out of the bullpen and pitch during both games, in the extra inning. I'm pretty sure when they told me that, I probably looked like the proverbial deer in headlights. I prefer anonymity in my kickballing - I don't want the responsibility of pitching. Especially on the night we're playing for the league championship!

What if I walked four kickers in a row? What if somebody kicked it back to me and I didn't catch it? What if I couldn't make the throw to first? What if I died of insecurity right there on the mound? Okay, well, it's really more of a "spot" than a mound.

I took a few practice pitches. I took a few deep breaths. I heard encouraging words from the sidelines. I focused. I became one with the ball.

First kicker up? A dude. I STRUCK HIM OUT - LOOKING! Sucker.

That was the confidence builder I needed. I was still scared shitless, but it was a lot more fun after I knew I could get the job done. I'm pretty sure after that first strikeout, I celebrated like I had just won the World Series. Seriously. I was jumping up and down, hooting and hollering; Rita, playing third at this point, ran over and hugged me.

Yeah, I probably looked silly, but here's the thing - everybody else was cheering too. Pretty sure they were cheering out of relief, not excitement as I was, but I'll take it anyway!

I'm not gonna lie - it was pretty freaking cool.

Dave and Andrea celebrate!

Duuuuuude - We Rule! Check out the game ball, the sombreros, and the Championship Belt there in the middle. The league folks were there shooting video of the blessed event, so as soon as I hear of the link, I'll put it up here, so you can relive my, I mean, our glory...

I'm so glad that Azie and I happened to be talking one day and kickball came up. I have had so much fun this fall playing with this team. Playing co-ed rec softball in Wichita really helped me make some of the best friends in my life to this day, and I hope that my kickball relationship with El Guapo is long and strong.

Of course, I'll be out of town this Thursday for the end-of-season party, but I think we should totally have our own team end-of-season party in a few weeks.

Viva El Guapo!