This At-Bat Captures The Sublime Ridiculousness Of Men's Slow-Pitch Softball

Literally dozens of people came out to ASA Hall of Fame Stadium tonight in Oklahoma City to see the USA Futures defeat the USA National Team in a 38-37 win, decided on a tag out at the plate on the final play. However, the first two outs of the inning came when two players hit home runs, actual fair balls over the fence. You see, that's because the team had already hit its 10 home runs for the games. That's all you get.

Check out the above clip, which ended the National Team's fifth inning, in which they scored 20 runs. (They scored none in the third.) The batter is penalized for hitting a 415-foot home run, and then he goes to throw his bat in disgust, as if he never meant to crush the pitch into oblivion. It seems antithetical to everything we like about baseball and its various offshoots.

However, I'll confess I kind of loved this whole spectacle and was completely sucked in as soon as I started watching. And any ESPN2 programming that doesn't involve Skip Bayless can't be all that bad.