It was back to work today, where I discover that I am running out of June. How can this be happening?

(Yeah, I know. Softball. :) )

Well, it was a noble try.

Katie's team lost 6-2 to the team from Niles today in the finals and finished second in the league, which was pretty good. :) But they were missing two players and it was the balls that were hit to the places where there were no fielders that resulted in most of the margin of victory.

I'm very proud of them all.

Gretchen says that the end of today's semifinal softball game was like the end of a movie and that I have to write it up for my blog. I, of course, will attempt to comply.

But I don't have the scorecard. All that I have is my faulty memory. It will have to suffice.

We resumed the game at both teams' home field, Chippewa Park, after the game was called on account of darkness after seven innings with the score tied 2-2. I don't know how well the managers and coaches of the other team slept, but comparing notes on our side, we discovered that none of us had slept well and we were all up early.

There was barely enough chalk left in the locked supplies bin to chalk the infield foul lines -- certainly not enough for the batter's box! And why should there be? The season was over and there would be no more games played there.

Well, there was another theory blown to heck. :)

One of our co-managers, Laura, had called in and made sure that we would have an umpire for the game. He showed up shortly before the scheduled start at 10 AM. We compared notes on the rules -- a darned fine idea after yesterday's game, where a critical play turned on an extremely fine interpretation of an ambiguous rule (which was, in my opinion, ultimately called correctly) -- and we were off!

Both teams had blown through all the available innings on their best pitchers, since pitchers at this level are limited to three innings per game. So it was into the depth on the pitching staff. Happily, we had some. Sofia had pitched a good seventh the previous night and proceeded to give us a good eighth and ninth inning. Both teams had scoring chances, but neither scored.

I had told the girls before they started today that all they had to do was play good defense and they would win, because they were good hitters and they would eventually hit. And the defense on both sides was being just good enough. Coach Michelle had set our lineup with the best infield defense, which put tall, reliable McKayla at first, quick Katie S. at second, and strong-armed Elia and my Katie at short and third. Outs were recorded in all manner of ways. Katie snagged a foul pop-up at one point. At another time, a hard shot bounced off her and into foul territory. The third-base coach for the other team called for the runner who had just advanced from first to second to run to third. And Katie recovered, grabbed the ball, and tagged her out easily.

I recall too that the opposing pitcher caught a short pop-up on the infield with two out and the bases loaded when I came in for coach pitch in the bottom of the ninth. And their catcher caught a foul pop. There were good defensive plays all around.

Came the tenth inning and we knew that Emma would need to come in to pitch, Sofia having exhausted her available innings. I had looked at the lineup and had realized that we could keep the infield defense intact by rotating up the middle, bringing Emma in from center to pitch, moving Sofia from pitch to catch, and sending Ava from catch out to center. So that's what I told them to do, not having actually consulted with Coach Michelle first. (I apologized later.)

I don't remember exactly what happened in the top of the tenth, but we got through it without giving up a run, although there were at least a couple of base-runners. I remember the bottom of the tenth pretty vividly. :)

I need to pause to explain to you about "coach pitch". At this level of our local girls softball, when a pitcher gets a four ball count on the batter, instead of issuing a walk, the opposing coach is called out to pitch. The coach can throw three pitches; the batter gets up to three swings, getting as many swings as they had strikes left on them in the count. So if the count was 4-2, then the coach throws three pitches and the batter gets one swing. A foul ball on the last strike is a do-over.

Watching Katie and later Julie as well play at this level last year, I reached a conclusion about coach pitch: a large percentage of the difference between the teams can come down to whether or not the coach can throw hittable pitches. And my theory about hittable pitches is pretty simple: not too fast, minimal arc, and in the strike zone. And please do not bounce the pitch on the plate, because that is going to require a miracle to hit.

(Come to think of it, one of our girls actually did hit a pitch from the opposing pitcher on the bounce today. I forget which girl... :) )

So I don't want to buzz the ball in there, but I do want it moving fast enough so that it's not dropping rapidly as it crosses the plate. It's a fine line. But I am an old junk ball softball pitcher from my days of pickup softball in grad school, so I can usually get two of the three pitches in the right zone. And that means I can usually avoid striking out my own team. :)

I had started the season handling the coach pitch, then had been moved to first base coach, then I got bronchitis and lost my voice, and went to keep score on the bench. As scorer, I used fifty years of experience at filling out a scorecard to help us position the girls better on the second time through the order, because girls at this level have a strong tendency to hit the ball to the same zone all of the time.

And now, after a long journey, I was back at coach pitch again for the end of the season and the playoffs. I hadn't had to do a lot of coach pitch in the current game, because the opposing pitchers were throwing a lot of strikes. So were ours. And the girls on both sides were hitting or striking out off the opposing pitchers, keeping the coaches on the bench, which is almost always the best thing for the team on defense.

Katie was leading off the bottom of the tenth and worked the count to 4-1. I got the ball and walked out to the mound. (I am too old to "trot".)

"Make it good, Dad," Katie called out. "You know where I like it."

And I tossed it in and got it to a good enough spot. Katie hit a hard grounder through the hole between first and second base, past the drawn-in right fielder onto the outfield grass. With the ball in the outfield, runners can advance until an infielder controls the ball on the infield. And I shouted out, "Go two!"

(Yes, I know this is the job of the first base coach. I am, however, probably the loudest person on the field when I don't have bronchitis. :) )

And Katie zipped into second. So we had a runner on second, nobody out, and now the force was off at second. Force plays at second and third are the bane of the offense at this level, as many hard-hit balls that would put you on base with no one on are much more easily converted into force outs.

Next up was McKayla, one of the two authentic power-hitters on the team. Earlier in the game, McKayla had doubled and Katie had scored the first run of the game from first base, because Katie is fast. Any sort of hit into the outfield was likely to win the game right here.

And McKayla got under the pitch and lofted a pop-up toward second. Katie took a few steps off the base. A crowd of girls converged.

The ball hit the ground.

Katie, listening to Coach Mike at third, scooted over there. McKayla was safe at first. First and third, nobody out. No force at home, and now the infield will have to come home with the throw, because Katie is the winning run.

Alondra was up next. She got in some good cuts and fouled a couple of pitches off impressively, but ultimately struck out swinging. One out.

Elia strode to the plate. Elia has more raw power than any other girl on the team and owns the team's only homer of the season. I badly wanted to get the chance to coach pitch to her.

I didn't get the chance. She found a pitch to her liking and lined it to short left field. It was hit hard enough that it bounced off the chest of the girl who tried to catch it. Katie scooted home, avoiding the catcher who was standing on the plate.

I was standing right behind the plate on our side of the fence and I wasn't sure she had actually touched the plate as she danced across it.

"Touch home," I told her.

She went back, tagged the plate, and the umpire signaled safe.

I guess I did have one thing left to do in the game, even if it wasn't coach pitch. :)

The game was over. The Lightning won, 3-2, and are advancing to the finals tomorrow to play the first place team from Niles. They get to play in Bandits Stadium, the professional fast-pitch park over in Rosemont, which will be a kick.

But it was a great game. And either team could have won. They both played their hearts out.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow. One of the other coaches on our team characterized this game as being like the U.S. vs. Russia semifinal hockey game some years ago -- it was the game that both teams really wanted to win.

The one thing that I am certain of: this was the longest game in the league this year. :)

Katie's team played a heckuva game against the other remaining Des Plaines team in tonight's semifinals.

It isn't over yet. The game was called on account of darkness with the score 2-2 after seven innings, one more than regulation.

We'll resume tomorrow at our Des Plaines home field at 10 AM.

Sleep is for the weak and sickly, I suppose. :)

Katie's team played against the Lincolnwood team tonight in their first round of the playoffs (Katie's team had a bye during the play-in round) and won 15-3. This means that tomorrow they will face the other surviving Des Plaines team in the semi-finals.

Fingers crossed! Today, we were blessed with good pitching, good defense, good hitting, and a lot of hustle! That will take you a long way. :)

We had a useful Windycon meeting tonight. Now, we can sort some things out. :)

Tonight, I headed down to Wrigley Field and watched the Cubs beat the Padres.

Tuesday night, there is a Windycon meeting.

Wednesday night, Katie has softball practice.

Thursday night, Katie's team has the first game of their playoffs.

Friday night, if Katie's team wins on Thursday, they will play again.

Whee!

I have spent a fair amount of the weekend trying to finish up some code for the upcoming release at work.

I have also managed to believe that the pitching clinic that Katie was supposed to go to was today instead of Saturday. Saturday, sadly, was correct; I was not.

I am sure that I have brain cells, but I think I need to work on the auxiliary memory.

My recurring sinus infection seems to have recurred. I'm attempting to beat it back with a stick and some pseudoephedrine HCl which seems to be going well so far.

And then there's work, of which there will be some more tonight.

*sigh*

Tonight was the Des Plaines Girls Softball outing to the Bandits game. The Bandits are a women's professional fast-pitch softball team that has won their league's championship two years in a row. Sadly, their luck was not good tonight as they gave up five runs in the first inning and lost 5-0, but everyone -- especially the girls! -- seemed to have a good time.

Some additional notes on yesterday's softball game:

Katie had two hits, including one where she hit the ball towards first base, but hustled down the line so quickly that she rushed the first baseman to the point where she couldn't make the play. Thus, the value of speed and the general encouragement to run!

So when you're handling coach pitch, you head out from your dugout and the opposing catcher (usually) flips you the ball. The opposing catcher in this case had been drilled to make her throws crisp, which they were. This was a bit of a surprise coming at me from a distance of less than 10 feet. It was rather worse when one of the throws caught me in the knee. My good knee, or at least the one that has not been surgically repaired. Fortunately, it caught me just to the left of the kneecap, or it might have done some serious damage. As it is, it's just a bit sore today.

The girls on Katie's team did a fine job of hitting off of the opposing pitcher yesterday. This is a good thing. :)

The regular softball season for Katie's team, that is. They won today, beating the Skokie Schwarbies by a score of 8-2. Elia hit a big three-run home run (the team's first of the season) to give the team a 3-2 lead and they scored five runs in the fourth to win going away.

The Lightning finished in second with a record of 9-2-1, going 9-1 after an initial loss and tie. They are an impressive bunch of girls.

Playoffs start on Tuesday, but finishing second in the ten team league will mean a first round bye, so the next game is Thursday. Fingers crossed!

That's about all.

Happily, our A/C guys were able to come by this morning. The air conditioning unit had blown a large capacitor. Once that was replaced (and the cleaning that we should have scheduled completed), we had a functional air conditioner.

I have buttoned up the windows and we are waiting for the cooling to catch up. :)

The good news is that Katie's team won their next-to-last game of the regular softball season today by a final of 2-0. It was mightily hot when the game started; not a whole lot cooler when we finished, but the sun was down and there was a breeze.

The bad news is that the air conditioning at home failed today while I was at the softball game. We have a call in to our A/C guy; I hope we hear from him in the morning. I am sure that he has a million other calls right now.

*sigh*

In any case, I have managed to log into Gretchen's email and extract, print, and fill out (the last by hand) the forms that we need to have for Katie and Julie's dance camp that starts tomorrow morning. There are still a couple of items that need to be added, because for one reason or another, I don't have things like the phone number for the girls' pediatrician.

Because that is not a computer thing. That is apparently a Mom thing. :)

In other news, I think that I have figured out how to solve my computation problem at work. Now, I just need to spend a day or so coding it and testing it out to see if the algorithm that I have in my head actually produces the right results when reduced to electronic impulses.

But I think I have an impulse to wait until later -- like tomorrow -- to sort this out...

One of the problems of having a program that is complex enough to have what I refer to as "behaviors" is when you're trying to figure out why a particular behavior has changed from one version to the next. This problem is worse when you've had major changes between the two releases.

You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.

Katie scored tonight, although not in the way you might expect.

I took her to tonight's Cubs/Rockies game down at Wrigley Field. Having seen me running the scorebook at her softball games from time to time (which I would refuse to give her :) ), she asked if she could help me score tonight's game. And on the way down to the ballpark, I explained how the fielders are numbered from one to nine, and what a "K" meant, and other bits of scoring esoterica.

And then I gave her the scorebook at the game.

She scored about a third of the game with my help, which was pretty good.

Maybe we can keep scoring from becoming a lost art after all! :)

The Cardinals bullpen has cacked up another lead in the late innings.

I'm thinking this is not their year...

Someone elsewhere in the larger group ran a lint-like tool against our Java code today and sent us the list of complaints. Most of them were actually real problems. I fixed the ones in my area and sent the others off to the developers working in the other areas, because I could fix the bugs, but why deny them the valuable learning experience? :)

About the time I was almost finished bug hunting, it was time to take Katie off to her softball game. Her team won 3-1 over another of the local teams, scoring two runs in the bottom of the last inning before the game was called for time.

If I'm counting correctly, her team is now an impressive 7-2-1. This is not good enough for first place, but it is definitely good for second. :)

Take a week off and get up to go back to work in the morning. Slowly. Very slowly.

But I fixed at least one bug today. I think I fixed another massively complex bug, but I discovered that something that someone has checked in prevents me from building the software. I have now sent a message out looking for help, as it looks like there are missing files that weren't added to the VOB somehow.

Maybe by morning, they'll sort it out.

Today was the last day of my short vacation. I had intended to go down to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs / Cardinals game tonight, but my intestine informed me that I had other plans. (It quieted down nicely later in the day, but you really don't want to be at Wrigley Field with an iffy digestive track.)

So not a lot got accomplished. I took Katie to the library to register for their summer reading program. I installed a big SD card into my new phone to hold my music library and I think I've got most of it copied to the new location.

And we grilled some Polish sausage and hot dogs for dinner.

It'll do. :)

Katie's team got to play on the big fields over at Rand Park today. They had a good hitting day, scoring 2 in the first, followed by the maximum allowed of 5 runs in each of the next two innings on their way to a 12-3 victory in 3.5 innings.

When they hit, they hit.

Well, actually, upgrading Gretchen's laptop.

Nearly two years ago, I bought Gretchen an HP Stream. Never again. It is now in the process of failing in all sorts of interesting ways. I may open it up and see if a cable is badly seated or something like that, but since the stupid machine will reboot itself when you have booted into the BIOS settings, I'm fairly sure that this is not a Windows problem.

And being an HP Stream, unless the problem is a badly seated cable, the machine is nigh unto unrepairable. For example, if this is a RAM error, you are out of luck, because the RAM is soldered to the motherboard.

But I will take a look at it. Eventually. (I have a litany of complaints about the machine, not the least of which is having to plug in an external hard drive in order to update Windows 10, because the Microsoft-size-mandated built-in flash drive is too small to allow for it.)

In the meantime, I have bought a nice little lightweight Acer laptop for Gretchen on heavy sale. It's only a dual core, but I've now upgraded the not-soldered-in RAM to 8 GB, which should give Windows 10 plenty of room to operate. I have also purged Firefox and McAfee and installed Chrome, Avira, and Alpine.

All of this only took about two hours, the largest single item being installing Avira.

I am sure that the machine will shortly busy itself downloading Windows 10 updates. But it can do that without me.

Sam and Bonnie came by today to finish the fence. With some help from Katie as we hammered in pickets, the fence was finally finished and Ruby the Dog could be released from her tether. This made the poor dog very happy.

Afterwards, I took Katie off to her softball game against the Skokie Indians. Her team won 6-0. Katie did well, getting two hits, driving in two runs, pitching well, and snagging a humpback liner at shortstop for the first out of the last inning. (The rest of the team did well too, but I only need to tell you how well Katie did. :) )

So I'm taking the week off from work. I knew we had a rotted out post on the cedar fence and figured that with a little bit of help from Sam, this would be a piece of cake. We would need to replace one post, rebuild one section of fence, and probably replace some of the pickets that couldn't be salvaged.

We started working on the fence on Monday. The score thus far:

One trip to Home Depot for a new post, a dozen pickets, and nails. Oh, and two new hammers to replace the ones that I had already broken on this project.

The Memorial Day festivities, where we discovered that three posts were rotted out and three sections of fence would need to be rebuilt.

A trip to Home Depot on Memorial Day where we acquired two more posts and another dozen pickets, plus assorted odds and ends, including a drill bit to try to ream out the rotten post ends.

The sad discovery that the ends of the rotten posts were not rotten and were damned if they were coming out of at least two of the three existing concrete sleeves.

The Tuesday lunchtime trip to Home Depot, where a new chuck key was acquired for the drill, the previous chuck key being nowhere to be found. (I trust it is in the basement somewhere.)

The Tuesday afternoon trip to Home Depot after Sam arrived and I suggested using a demolition hammer on the existing concrete footings. Quikrete was also acquired on this trip.

The demolition of 2.5 of the footings and the digging out of the holes. (One of the footings appeared usable once the top section had been cleared, so we left the rest of it in place.)

Sam returned the demolition hammer to Home Depot within the four hour window while I took Katie to her softball game.

On Wednesday around noon, Bonnie rejoined our crew. Sam and I put the posts into the holes and dropped the Quikrete around them. We adjourned for lunch and concrete setting.

Returning from lunch, we tried to nail the loose section of fence to the new post and discovered that section of fence would need to be rebuilt too. We carried it up to the patio for Bonnie and Gretchen to disassemble. Sam and I set out to mount the crossbars. Concluding that nails were not going to do the job after nailing the first set into place, Sam went back to Home Depot for deck screws. I started nailing up pickets to the first set of crossbars on the fourth section of fence.

Sam returns. Nailing continues. I pick up Katie and Julie from school. Ruby the Dog is released from her kennel without being attached to her tether and promptly escapes through the giant hole in the fence. Hilarity ensues, but Ruby is recaptured by Sam, wielding her toy ball, before Gretchen can recapture her, wielding her minivan.

By about 7 PM, we are running out of nails. We have run out of original pickets. A quick count indicates that we will need about a dozen more than I already have. We are done for the day.

So tomorrow will start with another trip to Home Depot. (Lucky number seven!) We will acquire more nails and pickets. With any luck, we will finish reassembling the fence so that Ruby the Dog can have the run of the back yard again.

This has proven to be a rather larger project than I had in mind...