My daughter's softball team, which I coach, only had four players for today's game, as compared to the other team's nine. That's the bare minimum we needed to play, thanks to league rules that have parents serving as both pitcher and catcher. 

This discrepency in numbers didn't seem to faze the girls on our team at all. The couldn't help but notice all the fielders when they were at bat, but their hits seemed to go where the other team wasn't the entire game.

After several innings in which both teams scored the maximum or five runs an inning, in the span of five minutes we made our first double play of the season on a lineout and caught a pop fly to retire the side after allowing only one run.

We scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead, and an inning later, scored three runs to win the game by a run. It's interesting that the parents talked a lot about the difference in numbers, but the girls didn't mention it. In fact, rather than looking at the small lineup as a disadvantage, they were glad to get to bat more often than normal.

Parents in this situation would think the odds of the smaller team winning would be too much to overcome, but kids don't think that way, and it showed on the field. That's why they play the game, as the old saying goes, and I couldn't have been prouder of our team for their effort today -- win or lose.