As a kid growing up in the 90s you could find me spending my summer playing softball and watching my Cubbies on WGN. Shout out to my favorite player Mark Grace! Last season the Chicago Cubs broke a 108 year losing streak and won the World Series. Like so many other faithful fans I had waited on that moment for years! A few weeks ago Anthony and I had a basketball date. I told you that I became obsessed with the LA Lakers because of my mom. Well, I became a Cubs fan because of my granddad. Our family would live for the Cubs’ game each summer and sing along with Harry Carey during the 7th inning stretch. Along with watching the Chicago Cubs play, I played softball every summer. I started playing when I was 8 and played until I was 18. Those 10 years were pretty amazing. The majority of my softball career I played left field due to my speed. My team travelled during the summer playing in softball tournaments that usually lasted all day Saturday and some were even two-day tournaments. I wouldn’t trade those days for anything. I haven’t yet hit that age where I feel I’m too old to do things I did when I was a kid. Let’s face it I probably NEVER will!

That leads us to this week’s edition of Weeknight Date Night, and it was selected by me.  Anthony and I went to the batting cages. It was such a rainy week, but I was determined to still have our date. We travelled to one batting cage, but it was outside and due to rain it was closed. One of the things we’ve learned with dating every week is that you HAVE TO BE FLEXIBLE! We both sat in the car in the parking lot of the first batting cage and pulled out our phones to ask our trusty friend Google where to go next. She, yes she, seriously we all know Google is a female. She lead us to an indoor batting cage, and I must say it was the best one we’ve visited.

We arrived at Hit After Hit and it not only had batting cages, but it was an actual sporting good store. We spoke to one of the workers and he informed us that they were having a special on their tokens. We could buy 10 tokens for $20, and each token gave you 16 pitches. Before you start counting that up on your fingers I’ll let you know we each had a total of 160 pitches. There were 7 different batting cages and they each had different speeds. There was absolutely NO WAY we were going into the cages with a 70-90 mph speed! We looked around and decided to try out the 55-60 mph speed, but there was a baseball team using that cage. So we settled upon the SLOWEST cage which was the 35-40 mph.

Anthony stepped up to the bat first, and I started talking to some of the little boys on the bleachers. They said, “so yall are really going to use the slowest one.” I mean you gotta love their honesty. I said, “yeah you know we’re old so we gotta warm up first lol.” Can you tell I’m gonna be an awesome parent because I’m quick on my feet? I chatted some more with the baseball team, but every time I would look up at Anthony it wasn’t pretty. I mean we all have our strong suits and let’s just say baseball is NOT Anthony’s! I stepped up to the plate and after I realized how slow 35-40 mph was I readjusted myself and was like an old pro. After a few rounds, the baseball team started to end their practice. Their coach gave them some great motivation and told them that the older they got the less excuses the world would let them make.

After the team headed out Anthony and I moved over to the 55-60 mph cage. This was definitely more my speed. While Anthony was in the cage he said, AND I QUOTE, “baseball just isn’t my sport.” Meanwhile every time I stepped to the plate I was like Hank Aaron and swinging for the fences. Anthony was quoted as say, “I can tell you were a great player back in the day.” I mean it feels good to be recognized *pats self on the back*. Remember those 160 pitches I told you we had. Well, Father Time plays not only with your mind, but also your body. We got TIRED and didn’t use all our tokens. We made it through a grueling 128 pitches. We were both out of breath and sweating like crazy!

Hit After Hit was a really nice facility. It’s opened 7 days a week. When you get finished having fun in the cages you can head back up the steps to do some shopping in their store. The staff is friendly, and they have great quality products!

A few days after our date Anthony and I were both limping around the house. I blurted out, “dude, I don’t know about you, but my butt is sore.” We laughed as we both continued to limp around the house. In A League of Their Own Tom Hanks told us there’s no crying in baseball, but if my backside doesn’t stop hurting there might be some crying soon.

Until next time loves…