LEsoftballdad
DFP Vendor
It's funny that you mention how heavy the balls are and how they can bruise you.Anna used to take hitting lessons from the coach at Belmont Abbey college, she had a lesson one weekday afternoon and the hitting facility is outside behind left center field.
There’s a huge open field where they practice a lot of different sports, the men’s Lacrosse team just happened to be practicing there that day so I was watching Anna hit and that team practice. About that time a Lacrosse ball practically rolled right to my feet, a kid that looked like he was a 1/4 mile away was headed towards me. I picked up that ball and was shocked at how heavy and dense it was, as in something to inflict a lot of pain!
I realized that day I’d much rather be hit with a baseball or softball! I bet Lacrosse players have a lot of nasty bruises!
So, it's 1989, and I am fresh out of HS. My best friend and I liked to hit buckets of balls at the local field with my old Easton Green baseball bat. Mind you, we did this without an L Screen, but we were young, so what did we care? In my bucket of beat-up baseballs was one lacrosse ball we'd hit with the bat and watch fly off the bat like a super ball.
One evening, as the sun went down, we were at our last turn at bat before we ran out of daylight. I let him take the last bucket as I took the mound. I would lob the balls in so he could get his best hacks in, so this evening was no different. I get to the bottom of the bucket, and what's the last ball in there? The lacrosse ball. I said to my friend "Lay into this one, Chris. Give it a ride." I lob the ball in there, and he gave it a ride. It traveled about 57 feet before it hit my left arm about 6" above my wrist. Because of my follow-through on the pitch, my arm was right in front of two other balls. The ball hit my arm and immediately died on impact. I clenched my hand instinctively and amazingly caught the ball on its trip to the ground. I looked at him and said, "Chris, I think you broke my arm."
Amazingly, my arm wasn't broken, but the bone was dented for months. Had my arm not been there, I wouldn't be on this forum because I would not have been able to have kids. Had the ball hit my head or heart, I'd be dead.
Maybe that's another reason I hate lacrosse so much...