2005 FBC Softball

[nc0ffey]

Its that time of year! Church league softball! Last year our team went 2-14 and finished 7th in a league of 8 teams...in our first season in 13 years, with only 2-4 guys with softball experience on the roster. This year we're looking pretty good and have lots of young talent and lots of guys from last year have stepped up their game.

Here is our schedule and the final ranking of each team from last year...

4/26 9:00 C.O.R. (N/A, new to the league)
4/28 8:00 Midway (4th)
5/03 8:00 Our Lady (3rd)
5/05 7:00 B. Heights (5th)
5/10 9:00 Langford (1st)
5/12 BYE
5/17 7:00 Macedonia (6th)
5/19 9:00 C.O.R.
5/24 8:00 Midway
5/26 8:00 Our Lady
5/31 7:00 B. Heights
6/02 9:00 Langford
6/07 BYE
6/09 7:00 Macedonia

Unfortunately I will miss tonites game due to being stuck here at school with car trouble...but hopefully this will be the only game I miss.

I will post updates here after each game.

[nc0ffey]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

Tonites game...our team won 19-9...a few HRs were hit by our team...thats all I really know...from what I was told the other team wasnt that bad, we just outplayed them. I'm so ready for Thursday so I can start playing.

[nc0ffey]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

Tonite we lost 17-16 in an extra inning...we were down 16-11 but in the bottom of the sixth we tied it up and held them in the 7th but couldnt muster up any runs ourselves. So we went to an extra inning and lost by one run. I didn't do too bad, had one ball go over my head in the field but handled the other one or two that came my way. Batting I reached base both times up, both times on errors...one I stretched to a double (got a nice strawberry on my leg from the slide).

We had some issues with getting people playing time which cost us the game in my opinion...we had this girl who is a friend of my girlfriends that was there that only wanted to hit until she got some practice in the field but the coach misunderstood or something and wasnt even going to put her in to hit. So in the 6th I talked to the coach to put her in and get her some action, she led off the inning and struck out, then she ended up being the final batter in the game and struck out again....I felt bad and kinda take blame for the loss for putting her in that posiition...she had practiced with me and another guy on the team before and was getting solid base hits...but this was her first game experience so she was pretty nervous. But I think this could have been solved had she started the game as the EH (extra hitter) and then come out when the substitutions were made before the start of the fourth. Its hard to handle the lineups when you have 23 people on the roster, only 10 on the field at a time, and not knowing until game time who is gonna be there....next year I'm gonna try and solve some of these issues since I am the one in charge of getting the team together.

So on the early season we are 1-1 and I'm batting 1.000 if you count the errors as hits...but basically I'm .000 reaching twice on errors.

[nc0ffey]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

Big win tonite against Our Lady who was looking like they would be teh 2nd toughest team in the league. We got them 11-7 led the whole game. I played the entire game in right field but had 2 nice catches that I had to haul *** to get to and had to reach to catch at about knee level. Hitting I am still struggling, my first AB I hit to short and made the mistake of watching the ball instead of focusing on getting to first and got thrown out by a step, my second AB I popped up to 2nd, then for my 3rd and final AB I switched to a crappier lighter bat and made solid contact sending it deep to RC for an out...had I made that contact with the bat I used in the first 2 ABs I wouldve probably hit the fence.

Next we play a team that is struggling to get 10 people on the field each night and isn't playing too well. Hopefully we can pull out another W to break our total # of wins from last season.

Side note, we had one guy quit the team tonight since he will miss half the games anyway so he doesnt want to pay the $30 especially since he only got to be the extra hitter the first 2 games for only 3 at bats. Sucks, cuz he's my boy and I think he could really help out in the field, but I completely understand where he's coming from.

[fsquid]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

lots of defense

[Steelerfan2k1]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

You have 23 people on one softball team?

Man - that's hell on earth.....

That means you guys are basically playing one-third of a game.

While this may work against weaker teams, you are going to struggle against teams that have a solid set line-up.

We had this the first time we played. We had 18 people on our team, and our manager tried to be totally fair, and play everyone equally. This led to horrible things, like our awesome clean-up hitter batting 4th one game, and then 16th the next game, since our manager wanted to be as fair as possible with playing time. We barely made the playoffs that season, and ended-up upsetting teams in the playoffs, because only 10-12 players were still playing by the end of the season.

Meanwhile - since this time - we settled on a roster of twelve players (coed), and we have been tearing-up with basically the same squad.

Good luck though man!

Softball is so much fun. I'm going out of the country for two weeks on Friday. I don't even want think about how much great softball I am going to miss.

[nc0ffey]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

You have 23 people on one softball team?

Man - that's hell on earth.....

That means you guys are basically playing one-third of a game.

While this may work against weaker teams, you are going to struggle against teams that have a solid set line-up.

We had this the first time we played. We had 18 people on our team, and our manager tried to be totally fair, and play everyone equally. This led to horrible things, like our awesome clean-up hitter batting 4th one game, and then 16th the next game, since our manager wanted to be as fair as possible with playing time. We barely made the playoffs that season, and ended-up upsetting teams in the playoffs, because only 10-12 players were still playing by the end of the season.

Meanwhile - since this time - we settled on a roster of twelve players (coed), and we have been tearing-up with basically the same squad.

Good luck though man!

Softball is so much fun. I'm going out of the country for two weeks on Friday. I don't even want think about how much great softball I am going to miss.

Yea, well part of the roster consists of pple I basically went out and recruited cuz I didnt want the price to be too steep for everyone, then i got a lot of pple that said no then came back later and said yea...but next year im gonna try to get sponsors to cut costs so i wont have to recruit and i think we are gonna try to limit it to about 15-16 people....also we're keeping the jerseys from this year which were $190 total for this year, so thatll only leave the league fee, if we can get that at least half paid for fby sponsors and do a lil fundraisor we should be set with $. Not everyone shows up and we're down to 22 people on the roster (officially) we still have a few pple that havent showed up for the games but havent said outright that they arent gonna play. we had 19 show last thursday and it was basically hell, tonight was great since we only had 12 so we had 10 on the field and extra hitter and one sub....worked so nice.

[Steelerfan2k1]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

Yea, well part of the roster consists of pple I basically went out and recruited cuz I didnt want the price to be too steep for everyone, then i got a lot of pple that said no then came back later and said yea...but next year im gonna try to get sponsors to cut costs so i wont have to recruit and i think we are gonna try to limit it to about 15-16 people....also we're keeping the jerseys from this year which were $190 total for this year, so thatll only leave the league fee, if we can get that at least half paid for fby sponsors and do a lil fundraisor we should be set with $. Not everyone shows up and we're down to 22 people on the roster (officially) we still have a few pple that havent showed up for the games but havent said outright that they arent gonna play. we had 19 show last thursday and it was basically hell, tonight was great since we only had 12 so we had 10 on the field and extra hitter and one sub....worked so nice.

Ya - 12 really is the optimal for a softball team - especially if they are dedicated. Then - you either play with twelve, or 1 or 2 people miss for random reasons. 22 on one team is just brutal though. Even 19 makes it real hard to play competitively.

[nc0ffey]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

Played in the rain tonite...lost 9-6 after being down 7-1 at one point. We were without our 2nd baseman, 3rd baseman, RC fielder, and Pitcher, our LC Fielder had to pitch...we only had 11 guys thre again tonite...just not really the 11 i wouldve wanted there if i had to pick and choose The four guys that were out are also very consistant base hitters and all are solid in the field. I feel with them there we win this game by a few runs, and the other guys don't score as many. Our OF was weak at best, our center fielders are solid but with them not playing out there in the same game it was aweful. I had one error where I lost my footing in the wet grass trying to get to a ball and was about a step shy of getting to it and it dropped and went through my legs as I ended up sliding to the ground, the guy to the side of me didn't back me up so that was an easy triple. Hitting I am still slumping something aweful, I finally got on base without it being off an error, but I still got out 2 times...just cant seem to get in any sort of rhythm....I also made the mistake of doing some long throws before the game without stretching or warming up...so now my arm hurts like I pulled something (stupid of me not to warm up since it was kinda chilly) and also when I got to the field i was walking down this steep hill to get from the car to the field and busted my ***, my back landed on my bat bag (thankfully i have some extra jerseys in there that helped pad the fall, otherwise i wouldve felt the balls in my back, but apparently when i fell i tweaked my ankle cuz i noticed it was hurting when i started playing tonite. Hopefully taking a break for a few days will give me time to heal up before our next game on Tuesday, even though I was hoping to get out before then and do some bat work with the new Freak 98 me and a couple other guys went in on.

So we're sitting at 2-2 and im like 1-7 batting, reaching base 3 times on errors (since they are errors should I be 1-4? and not count the errors against me or count them as hits and be 4-7?, or just leave that as is?)...and one error in the field in 3 games played.

[Steelerfan2k1]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

Man - that sucks about your arm!

I always strain my arm a few times a season - especially when playing outfield when a team is crushing the ball against us.

When I strain it, I can usually work through it by stretching my arms for the next few days. There are lots of arms stretches on the internet. So - figure out what exactly hurts and find some stretches. You'll be OK in no time.

I am going to France tonight, which means no softball for the next 16 days (along with a ton of work). I was just starting to hit well too....

[nc0ffey]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

Yea, I know my problem is with my release, i just dont correct it, i do but i always end up going back to the original way....i release the ball to high causing the ball to go higher than needed and making my arm have to work harder to get the ball where its needed....im just not working hard enough on my throwing, im more concerned with my bat....im hoping i can get something started offensively cuz i think once i get some momentum ill be fine

sucks about having to go out of town, have fun though.

[Splitter77]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

What do you guys use for bats? What is considered a good softball bat? My team has 3 bats. One is the orange mizuno bat, which i dont like because the handle is way to thin. Then we have the black B52 Demarini. Which I use. Ive hit some bombs with that one, but I still dont think it had the pop of the Demarini Fatboy made in 2001. Then we have the weird looking bat. Not sure who makes it, but the barrel is blue, and halfway down, it is silver. Looks like its a two peice bat. Strange. But I hit a 340 foot bomb with it last night.

[nc0ffey]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

What do you guys use for bats? What is considered a good softball bat? My team has 3 bats. One is the orange mizuno bat, which i dont like because the handle is way to thin. Then we have the black B52 Demarini. Which I use. Ive hit some bombs with that one, but I still dont think it had the pop of the Demarini Fatboy made in 2001. Then we have the weird looking bat. Not sure who makes it, but the barrel is blue, and halfway down, it is silver. Looks like its a two peice bat. Strange. But I hit a 340 foot bomb with it last night.

I have a worth supercell and a powercell, but me and a few guys went in and bought a freak 98 from a guy for $140 cuz he couldnt hit well with it (and last year dude was dropping bombs consistantly with whatever he was swinging) the bat ur describing sounds kinda like a worth pst or est...could be wrong...i do love the pst with the black handle and silver barrel i hit with that a few times and got some good hits.

[nc0ffey]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

Well...an interesting night tonite. We won 20-2.....the game was called after not even 2 and a half innings...

They only had 9 guys how up, we had I think 5 on the bench. We started off scoreing 7 in the first innings and they scored 2. Then in the 2nd inning they switched up their pitcher and shortstop (who was having a bad game, having balls come off of him left and right) well one of our guys blats a HR off him, so one of our coaches tosses in a new ball that barely goes over the pitcher, but he doesnt even try to catch it and just stares at the coach, the coach says something and the game continues. That inning we score 13 they score none. Then in the top of the 3rd one of our guys fouls one deep so we have to throw in another ball, so one of our guys tosses it to the pitcher and lets it roll to him, he just watches it roll by and then stares at the guy that threw it....the coach from the original incident was coaching 1st base then says something, then the pitcher says something to him causing the coach to turn his hat backwards and go up to him....the 2nd baseman and base ump intervene and hold the guys back and the 2nd baseman tells the head ump to call the game, so he does. I think the guy was just frustradted about his bad game and their players not showing up and let it get the best of him, he is a real nice guy normally and even came to me and a friend after the game and apoligized and said that he just didnt know what happened. I'm glad cooler heads prevailed and that nobody else tried to get involved cuz it couldve been bad. I am thinking that if the Rec. Dept. hears about this both guys might be suspended for a game cuz its in the rule book, but I hope nothing more comes from this.

As for me, I didn't even play, I was about to go in the next time we were to take the field but they called the game....I'm just happy with the win. We have won more games this season than all of last (2) and we aren't even half way into the season. We get a bye this Thursday so my arm should be completely healed come our next game.

[nc0ffey]

Re: 2005 FBC Softball

Well, I found out today that my arm still isnt completely healed, but it does feel much better. We lost tonight by 2....ended with 2 guys on base in scoring position. So we are 3-3 after the first half of the season. I am still not doing anything offensively, hit a crap ball to short for an easy out. Then in the field I had an error that gave up a run, I was in right field and I swear on anything the ball hit foul just outside so I slowed and as it went by everyone started yelling, so I chased it down and the guy made it to 3rd. Between that error, my bad offensive slump, and only getting to play 2 innings in the field and one AB tonite after not getting to play the last game I am feeling pretty frustrated. Right now I am just looking forward to 2 new coaches next year....possibly me and my friend (the 1st baseman who isnt even a member of the church) I just think that we need coaches that can make most practices and games and that don't have jobs that keep them from doing so. I understand they have to make money and that comes before softball, but when I had to set a practice time both of them...along with most of the team said that anytime Saturday would be good....but neither coaches have made any practice and we have only had 2 practices with more than 2-5 people, and both those times we had 9, and a few of the people that showed up arent even playing anymore. We started the game with 5 guys on the bench tonite (counting the EH, so really only 4 not in the game) me and one of the others on the bench got 2 innings in the field and 1 AB....the other guy on the bench only got 1 AB and no time in the field....but the girl on our bench got no time at all....this after she had a few soild base hits the game before....not making much sense to me...as well as shes been doing and as bad as Ive been doing I wouldve rathered her go in instead of me. The count of people who have quit the team has grown, we started the season with 24 on the roster, weve lost 6 from the original roster, and I had one guy interested in playing but decided against it when he found out we had 24 pple on the roster, so thats 7 people that wouldve played. 3 maybe 4 of those are due to not getting playing time. I figure it should easily be at least 3 innings of play for everone and some will get in 4 innings. This past Saturday at practice there were a grand total of 3 people....me (who was coming after not sleeping for 27 hours straight due to an all night cancer walk thing, i took a 15 min nap sitting in the parking lot at the field just before practice), this kid who just started playing 2 games ago, and one other guy (who came just to watch cuz his shoulder was hurting). I discovered its hard to get out of a hitting slump hitting off of a tee and no live pitching....cuz in practice we just hit off of a tee since neither of us were even decent at pitching....but I was smacking them deep off the tee.....I am taking this Saturday off from practice to go to the beach and get away from softball...I dont even care that i have the equipment for practice on saturday, if anyone asks at the next game about practice im gonna tell them to talk to the coaches about getting some bats and balls cuz im not going to be here, and im not going out of my way to leave my stuff for someone to borrow when they arent even going to practice..........im thinking about sitting out thursday too, maybe the days off will help me out.