David Freze return to the diamond cut

What better to do in the spring than play softball? The smell of the glove leather and the green grass rival the sound of the ball hitting the bat are my favorite memories. For 30 years, I played softball. Softball is about testing yourself athletically, but more about making and spending time with friends and their families around a ballpark.

Over the years, I played for quite a few teams, but most of my time on the field came as a player for the "Old Timers." Our players were from the rural areas of south and west Rowan. Welaughed often and enjoyed reveling in the fact that we were playing ball through our 30s and into our 40s, and were still pretty good at it. Our skills might have eroded a little bit, but a huge experience edge gave the "Old Timers" just enough to win most of our games. It was fun, even great fun, to spend all day Saturday and sometimes Sunday afternoon playing softball. Getting a big hit to continue a rally, or catch the deep fly ball to save the game, were still big thrills.

Last year, a neighbor and former softball foe named Gary O'Neill told me how much fun he had playing for the Rowan County 60-64 softball team. He told me that the hitting was still good, but that the defensive play lacked a little bit. The defensive play had little to do with the mind, but more with the muscles that just don't respond quite as well as they "used to." "Used to" is a phrase uttered fairly often around these games. Gary also mentioned that all of the players had some kind of injury. Playing sounded like a ton of fun to me, but I didn't get signed up in time last year. Of course I am "not nearly" as old as Gary, so I couldn't have played for his team anyway.

Late winter when it was still very cold outside, George Kluttz, who does a great job coaching the Rowan County 55-59 team, called. Either Gary or Joe Overby, another friend, told him that I might play. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I told George to count me in. A friend gave me a new glove, and I bought a new pair of shoes. And then, as Paul Harvey often said, "Here's the rest of the story!"

The night before our second practice, old friend Alan 'Buddy' Hoffner, called and wanted to play too. We agreed to ride to practice together on Saturday, March 20. Buddy and I "used to" to play on the same team some, and he was doing just that while running out a triple at Frank Liske Park in Concord. Buddy suddenly pulled up lame with a severe hamstring injury. As it turned out, he didn't play again for years until March 20.

As we rode together to the practice, I counseled him on how to avoid another hamstring injury. It seemed OK to tell a friend how to run and stay injury free, since I have run just a tad over 62,000 miles in my lifetime. Never with a serious injury. I bet you are starting to get an idea of what's coming.

Practice was going well, and we were all having a good time. Near the end of practice, we decided to hit some and then run as if we were in a simulated game. Right before we started, I told Buddy again "Now take it easy, you don't need to run hard today!" He agreed, and then we started hitting. Buddy and I were in the group that got to hit last. He hit well and didn't try to run hard. I hit and tried to run hard every time. After all, I run nearly every day, some of it quite hard. Buddy never runs.

I am writing this column on April 2nd, and it has now been 13 days since MY hamstring injury at that practice. It seemed I could make a double out of a single while running hard. To make it all worse, Buddy got to play my position during a couple of games in Charlotte last week. I got to watch him do it. The hamstring is a hard injury to heal, especially for someone who thought it could never happen to him. That big muscle has to lift the leg. I still can't run, and it has been a very humbling experience. One thing that I have learned after all this is that I will never take for granted any chance to practice softball or go for a daily run. I can't wait till I can do both again. Buddy isn't even sore.