While I enjoy watching my daughter having fun playing prep softball with her teammates and friends, I have also had fun getting to know her teammates' families and friends as well as occasionally those on the opposing team.

A perfect example of that occurred on Wednesday when Kelli and the Middleton Cardinals varsity softball team played a home double header at Orchid Heights Park.

Middleton earned a 7-1 victory over Big Eight Conference rival Madison West earlier that afternoon before meeting Waunakee in a seven-inning nonconference game that had been rescheduled several times due to inclement weather.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Waunakee tied it at 2-2 and later grabbed a 5-2 lead. Middleton then rallied for three runs in the sixth inning to tie the game at 5-5 and force extra innings.

After surviving a 12-inning, 2-1 victory at Beloit Memorial on May 1 and an 11-inning, 3-0 victory over Monona Grove the following day, it was déjà vu all over again for the Middleton parents, families and friends who were on the edge of their seats for most of the game.

What made the day even more special was that while I was there watching Kelli play her favorite sport, Waunakee head football coach Pat Rice was also there to watch his oldest daughter, Molly, a junior starting catcher, compete in her favorite sport for the Warriors.

A baseball coach at Waunakee before taking over as the Warriors head football coach and winning two state championships, Pat admitted he was more nervous watching Molly and her teammates playing than coaching a state championship game at Camp Randall Stadium.

I knew how he felt. After being involved in literally thousands of high school games during our respective careers, there was nothing we could do but cheer for our daughters and their teams and keep from doing anything that would embarrass them.

Somehow, though, we knew the game would end with our daughters involved in the final result. After sharing many stories about Kelli and Molly while they were growing up over the past 17 years, Pat and I were having fun watching them competing and enjoying the moment.

As fate would have it, Kelli led off in the bottom of the eighth inning and lined a double to right-center field. Across the bleachers, Pat and I made eye contact and smiled. Two batters later, Middleton's Cheri Pertzborn executed a perfect squeeze bunt, and Kelli sprinted towards home plate and slid in safely just ahead of Molly's tag.

As Pat and I surmised moments later, although we had known each other for nearly 20 years our daughters had never met.

They have now.