Bits & Pieces

Kim J. Harmon

 

Lao Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching that, “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” Now, having been born more than 2,200 years ago one can surmise he knew nothing about baseball, but he still makes a lot of sense.

The Newtown High School baseball team has begun a long journey back to respectability and as young and as inexperienced as the Nighthawks are, no one can expect them to reach the end of their journey this year … or even the next.

But maybe their performance last Friday against Immaculate was the first step in that journey.

The ‘Hawks were just one catch or one key hit (take your pick) away from beating one of the toughest teams in the South-West Conference. As it was, the ‘Hawks still only lost by a count of 2-1 when the Mustangs scored twice in the bottom of the fourth.

Ron Isler pitched a brilliant game, scattering eight hits while walking two and striking out three. For Isler, it wasn’t just a matter of throwing gas but a matter of mixing in the curves and the changeups, changing deliveries, and hitting spots.

It was crafty.

Peter Oggeri hit the ball well, Ron Shimko made some nice scoops and throws at shortstop, and if Zack Long of Immaculate doesn’t make the diving grab on Ted Rocca’s bases-loaded liner in the bottom of the second inning then the Nighthawks would have won their first game of the year.

A journey of a thousand miles.

A single step.

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Maybe the baseball team used up all the good karma that was floating around that night because right after the baseball game (and right after stopping off for a couple of hot Texas wieners – thanks for the advice, Helen), I was on my way back to Newtown to catch the Newtown-Joel Barlow boys’ lacrosse game when the timing belt on my wife’s 10-year-old Mazda snapped.

On top of that, I realized (at that moment) that I had left my cell phone in MY car – which my wife presumably had somewhere in the parking lot of the Bronx Zoo in New York – and that I was uncomfortably short of cash (should have had only one weiner).

I missed the lacrosse game, of course, so maybe if I HAD made it back the Nighthawks would have won.

Hmmmmm. All this time I had wondered if I was a jinx to some teams. Can the opposite be possible?

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Don’t you just hate the way the Gods of golf work?

As I feared, I was having a pretty tough time in my first round of the 2003 season (while playing with my two brothers and uncle at Tunxis Plantation – white course) and then, almost out of the blue, I hit a beautiful tee shot on a par-3 water hole and then drain a 20-footer for birdie.

After that, things were better but I still had some rough times.

And then, on the 18th, I hit a 210-yard drive (which, for me, is dang good) and then popped the approach on the green, about 15 feet away. Two putts later – in a round that finished at 110 – I was walking off with a par.

Gosh, now I HAVE to go back. I was all ready to quit.