Well folks, that wonderful time of year has come around once again. No, I'm not talking about appropriations season, I'm talking about the House Softball Season! It's that precious time of year when, after months in winter hibernation, all of us forgotten athletes can strap on the gear and trudge out to the diamond (or largest available space on the mall) and step into our summer stardom once again.
Heroes of the hill are made every summer and go on to live in infamy as the greatest players to ever touch a softball, at least in their minds. On any given night of the week you can't spit on the mall without interrupting an intense struggle of Goliath's, locked in the most honorable combat in the greater DC area, the combat of slow pitch softball.
The House League season is already well under way, moving into week 4 and already boasting upsets, late inning heroics, league favorites, undedawgs and a competition to see who can best disguise their beer from the park-police.
Over the last week alone, in the game of the week, Blue Mold felt the wrath of interstate rivals the Moonshiners on Thursday night, taking a 17-12 loss at Folger Park Field. A game that nearly turned into more of an old Jerry Springer episode than a softball game by some accounts. But no matter the heat of battle stirred up on the diamond, players from both teams shared a hearty beer and a warm serenade to Bon Jovi's, Living on a Prayer. A theme song some would think to Capitol Punishment, a talented ball-club that simply had a rough run of luck, but will certainly play a big part in the league throughout the course of the season.
Two nail-biters of games happened this week between 4 very strong clubs.
On Tuesday, the Raucus Cuacus, new comers to the House league, recently called up from the AAA "Congressional League", went toe to toe with the Destroyer, a team that finished in the top 15 last year in the tournament and who hosted the game at their home stadium, Anacostia Diamond Field #3. while half the game was often spent trying to find the balls hit into the outfield in the 42' tall grass, the game itself was a sea-saw of excitement. The Destroyers seemingly blew the game open at one point, exploding the score to an 8 run lead and putting the game all but out of reach. But the rookie Raucus Caucus team wasn't about to back down without a fight. Coming up in the top of the 7th, with the sun disappearing behind the gun smoke of Anacostia, the Caucus dropped two grand slams and tied the game up at 16-16 to send it to the bottom of the 7th. Some clutch hitting, the likes of which Bill Buckner has never seen, by the Destroyers resulted in a walk-off win in the bottom of the 7th.
Not to be outdone, Thursday, the 2-0 Strike Place Market traveled to the West Potomac Field #7 to face perennial greats Denny's Grand Slam. The game started off going mostly in favor of Strike Place, a 10-5 lead was built to go into the 6th inning. But DGS dropped 3 runs in bottom of the 6th and took the momentum back. SPM was not going to give up that easily, tacking on an insurance run to make the game 11-8, but wouldn't you know it, the defending regular season champs came up big with 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th to send the game to extra innings. this time the sun was disappearing rapidly behind a haze of Senatorial Rhetoric as the Upper chamber debated it's supplemental bill with fervor, but the real battle in DC was just reaching it's climax down under the shadow of Abe Lincoln. Both teams were shut down in the 8th by brilliant pitching displays, but fate favored the home team once again and in the bottom of the 9th, the equivalent to a 17 inning MLB game, DGS broke through the SPM defense to plate the winning run.
These are just a few of the magical stories that took place last week in the House Softball League. I'll be here all year to tell you more stories as I hear them. If you have a fantastic softball story, tell me, I'll post it. This blog is here to tell the tales of the Summer Samurai's, to publish the feats of the hill heroes, and to bring a little human life to the mechanical numbers on the league standings board.
contact this blogger to share your story at:
HSSblogger@yahoo.com
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