I purposefully joined an adult kickball team as a free agent, despite my friend wanting me to join his team

I’m a lonely guy, I don’t get out much despite wanting to. I really only have two close friends who I’ve met through work. With that said, I’ve been looking for ways to expand my social circle. I learned of adult sport leagues in my area roughly two months ago and figured that would be great for me. I mentioned this to one of my friends who told me that he and his girlfriend are already part of the league and would like for me to join their team. I agreed and thought it would be fun. But we never talked about it again for the past two months. In the meantime, I’ve been thinking. I would like to join this league as a free agent and be placed with a team of people I’ve never met before, nor do I want anybody to introduce me to others. I want to use this opportunity to meet others on my own and build my lack of social skills. I also know that if I were to be on a team with my good friend, I would use him and his girlfriend as a crutch, clinging to them rather than doing what I intended to do originally, that being making new friends and expanding my social circle through my own efforts. So I went ahead and signed up on my own a week ago and thought nothing more of it until today when my friend texted me, asking if I was going to register today as it’s the last day to signup. I still haven’t responded because I’m not sure what to say or how he’ll handle my decision. I feel like an asshole, but I feel like this is what I need. Can I get some thought and/or opinions on the matter before I respond to my friend in question.