Getting to First Base

The Cy Young of softball, and thwarter of violent crime.

[Ed. note: Trying something new here, getting inside a slow-pitch co-ed softball team, just for the heck of it. Because every sports teams - not just the professional ones - need a beat writer?]

Right-handed pitcher Brad Haas had a career night tonight. Granted, his career has spanned three games, and he’s in a co-ed softball league, but don’t tell that to the six batters he embarrassed with strikeouts tonight. They may as well have been facing Zack Greinke.

Haas, in just his third-ever pitching appearance, rolled through his opponents in Thursday night’s complete game win. It’s the first win of his career, and an increase in control and arc on his pitches could lead to more.

Haas said his first two attempts at pitching were marred by flat pitches, which are easier for hitters to watch and to hone in on. A high-arcing pitch moves around more, and its movement can fool an unsuspecting batters. But an adjustment came without much fuss for the tall righty from Nebraska. “Last week a couple of people told me I needed to put more arc on the pitches,” he said, “So I did.”

Co-ed softball pitchers are somewhat limited in their possible arsenal, as legal pitches can only be between 6 and 12 feet high at their highest point. So pinpoint control is key, Haas said. “The pitches I throw pretty much all the same pitch. It’s just a matter of location and arc.”

“Nobody wants to be ‘that guy’ and strike out in a co-ed softball game,” Haas said. But six of his opponents became “that guy” Thursday, and his teammates were thrilled. Haas said he had one strikeout in the 2nd inning and two in the 3rd, and after that his teammates “started going crazy.”

It’s no wonder the team took notice of all the swings and misses Haas was inducing: he only had three career Ks before Thursday.

Haas’s on-field success was followed by a dramatic event outside his home later in the evening. Through his open front door, he heard a robbery in progress, and bolted outside with his bat, which was right at hand because of the night’s softball game. The would-be robber saw the bat and fled empty-handed, and the drivers of the getaway car were rewarded for their part in the crime with a broken car window.

Star pitcher by day, crime fighter by night? Sounds like a winning combination.

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(P.S. Everything above is true, even the crime-thwarting part. In the interest of full disclosure, the victim of the attempted robbery was…me. I’m fine, though, thanks to Brad, who – again with the full disclosure – is a great and protective big brother!)