Written by: Julian Tay
Edited by: Adriel Leong
It was the 13th February 2011, a Sunday and the eve of Valentine Day – a common day of rest or celebration for most people; yet the softballers of KE VII Hall were already up awake early in the morning and busy readying themselves armed with a mission in hand: to clinch a medal at the ongoing Inter-Hall Games (IHG) and bring glory to not only to themselves but more importantly the hall. After having fought two intense matches against Eusoff Hall (EH) and Kent Ridge Hall (KR) in the preliminaries – with a win against KR but a lost against EH – the team was set to challenge Sheares Hall (SH) in the semifinal rounds today.
As per usual, our softballers were already out in the field warming up with their usual routine pitches and passes way before the match even commenced, at 9 am. Unlike the previous two matches 2 weeks ago, the field and weather conditions were a stark contrast today. There were no dark overcast clouds or chilly breezes but instead the sun shined unrelentlessly, with even the slightest shade not to be found from amongst the sparse clouds. The field, on the other hand, was just nothing but dryness and rock-hard, dismissing any concern of slipping accidentally like in the previous matches.
The team line-up for the defense position was very similar to the other two matches except with only one exception; Jerusha was replaced with Wen Chean. The rest of the players on the field were Mafer, April, Unnaa, Jason (pitcher), Ashish, Jamil, Ruth, Kazu and Merrill.
Our Softballers in their Motivational Huddle
The match began with our softball team taking the offensive and SH taking the defensive, but not before each team had their own motivational huddle and inspirational words by their respective team captain. Like the previous matches, the whole team which sported the hall official colour – red, ended with the familiar rendition of “KE whack their balls” before roaring off to their respective positions.
In the top half of the first inning, our softballers were off to a slow start with only a point from Jason’s run, credit to Kazu’s excellent batting which sent the ball way past their outfielders. The tone of the match switched drastically in the bottom half of the first inning when the SH team completed their turn with 4 points from a combination of several really good battings by their players and honest mistakes by players on our team.
Jason’s controlled throw in one of his many excellent pitching
Our players were undaunted and went on to up their ante in the second inning. Merill scored a point courtesy of Jamil’s good swing and it seemed that we had a good chance of recouping our losses. All of the bases were filled with players but alas the opponent made a save that caused the third person from the team to strike out, which was truly a waste indeed. The SH team then fought back harder and widened the margin by an additional 4 points to leave the score tally at 2-8 by the end of the second inning.
From then onwards, our softball team was unable to clinch additional points while the SH team garnered even more points with excellent battings by several of their players. The game was stopped at the fourth inning as time ran out and the final tally for the match was a 14-2 loss against SH.
Out Softballers After Their Gruelling Match
While there was certainly dissapointment displayed on the faces of our players, they managed to brush it off and gave each other pats of encouragement. They may not have won a medal for the hall but their spirit and efforts out on the field today should be lauded. Despite SH having many experienced players on their side, our softballers never once succumbed to their nerves.
On behalf of KE VII Hall, I would like to say “Thank you softballers for your effort today and for putting up a good fight!”
