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Wet and wild weekend in softball

Wet and wild weekend in softball
Games on May 21 and 22 were played on an hour by hour basis because of high winds and continual showers with tarps over the dug outs and tired muddy people huddled in groups to stay dry the days of play often looked more like a shanty village than a weekend of one of Americas favorite pastimes. In all, more than 50 games were played in the Open Division of the Seattle Gay softball league. However, the competitive spirit of the ball players out shadowed the weather and made this weekend one of the most exciting to date. It was the upper division(s) that really pulled out all the stops and put spectators on the edge of their seats up to the very last pitch of every game. The weekend kindled a new rivalry between the R Place A (Wolfpack) and B division (Shock) team as they battled both days and held each other to record season low scoring games for each team. The Wolfpack ended up with the win both times with scores of 7-5 and 11-10. They also brought game against the Firemen taking both with scores of 23-3 and 9-8. The packs player of the weekend was clearly Jeff S. who had an outstanding day on offense and defense Sunday. During those 2 games, Jeff batted .857 with 3 singles, 1 double, 1 triple, and 1 homerun. He was also error free defensively. Gary Carter, the A/B Vice Commissioner, commented after the weekend of play, All of the upper division Seattle teams are strong in their respective divisions and are only getting better as they play each week. I feel they could do very well nationally. All three teams are on an amazing defensive roll and should represent Seattle proudly as they head into tournament play this weekend (Wolfpack in San Jose, Shock in Minneapolis and Firemen in Atlanta). In the C Division the strong seem to just be getting stronger as the division leading R Place Brewers (10-2) and Seattle Sting (8-3) continued their dominance going undefeated this weekend. For the Brewers it was Antony L, Bryon P and Marvin J who rallied the crew past a very aggressive and surprising C division power, the Attack. For the Sting, George A proved his worth at the pitchers mound once again, as they rallied past the only team to beat them this season, the Backfire Chiropractic Blue Sox. The start up team the Strike Zone/Madison Pub Black Hawks, while still winless for the season, are maintaining an amazing attitude and only seem to be getting stronger as the weeks go on. This upcoming holiday weekend will find the 5-5 Manray Titans fighting for hardware in San Jose, CA and the charging Sting in LA, CA to represent Seattle. The D division championship race is still red hot as both top teams, the Cuff/Silverstone Rockets (15-1) and the Madison Pub Maulers (14-2) continued their dominance as they did not drop a game on either day. One of the teams who had a marathon weekend was the West Seattle Diamonds. The Diamonds came out swinging Saturday winning both their games by 11 run margins, against the Kings 16 to 5; and the Jaguars 15 to 4. On Sunday, they squared off against a scrappy Doc Mainards Eclipse team. In their first meeting this year the Eclipse held on to win in extra innings, but Sundays meeting was a one sided affair with the Diamonds beating the eclipse for the first time in two years 21 to 6. Then in a grueling duel of a game the Diamonds played the Timberline Kozmoz, coming back in the last inning with eight runs, but losing by a final of 15 to 14. Finishing the day with one of the closest contests, they played Maulers and again came up shy one run, losing 7 to 6. Eric M hit two home runs scoring half the Maulers runs, and making the difference in the game. On the other end of the spectrum, the rookie team of the mighty Jaguars (4-11) have discovered some emerging stars with James G. whos rocket arm is lifting the team up to new heights, Jay S who turned a number of double plays for the team this weekend and this weeks team hero in De W. who came off an injury to play this weekend to play and continue team spirit despite a record that doesnt remotely reflect the teams energy and potential. In D division tournament play a pick up team spearheaded by Lisa Wright and Justin B (Nutz and Honeys) are headed south to try to reign in the sunshine of San Jose, CA. The entire league will take a break from regular season play during the Memorial Day weekend, but will be back on June 5 as the rivalries and the community continue to grow in Seattle Gay softball.