If only I'd known about rule 5.10 (C) (1) - and assuming it applied to softball - I would've faked a more serious injury.
To this day the vX spouse likes to joke about the horrible outcome of the biggest clutch hit I ever made.
It was the summer of 1988, and it was an extremely hot and dry summer in the northeast. It was a playoff game in our co-ed softball league (I said it was a clutch hit, not that it was important in the big scheme of things).
Down by a few runs in the last inning, there I was at the plate - a slapper rather than a power hitter, slow runners on first and second, and one out against a good fielding team - they were just waiting for me to hit into a double play.
Hitting to left was out of the question - their fastest and best fielder was there, and the fence was too far away to risk not hitting it far enough.
So, I picked my spot and clobbered one of the best hits of my life to deep right center field. If I'd hit that one to left I'm sure it would've cleared the fence, but in right center it came down steeply and rolled just a bit. Even so, it was going to be a slow running, almost trotting, run around the bases. Then I rounded second.
On the parched dirt of mid summer the cheap K-Mart base shout out from under my toe. I stumbled once towards third, stumbled again, pushed once more as hard as I could to get my center of gravity going back up instead of down, and finally belly flopped in front of the shortstop.
Stupid me ... wind knocked out ... bleeding from the mouth ... really dazed pretty badly ... I got up and tried to run to third. For the lack of an outfield fence in center and right field they tagged me out before I got there.
I sat out the rest of the game with the all-over-pain you get from something like a car accident. My 2 RBIs started the rally that won the game - although we lost the next championship the following week. But I looked the fool ...
Now I read about the application of rule 5.10 (C) (1) in the September 14 Red Sox - Blue Jays game. On a home run, the lead runner tore his Achilles tendon on the way from second to third and could not continue. In this case, play is stopped, the injured player is helped from the field, a pinch runner is substituted at the point of injury, and play continues with the players finishing their jog around the bases.
If only I'd known ...