Hey ANers, so as some of you may have noticed, I play softball. One group that I play with is a pickup game on Saturdays at Monclair Park. It's 7 innings (unless the game is tied of course) of "fast pitch" although only one of the regular pitchers does the full windmill motion. Last week there was a newcomer and she also did the full windmill. Batting practice/warm up time usually starts around 12 and we try to start the game around 1 unless the person who takes home the equipment from the previous week is late.

This softball group was formed by a bunch of Cal students around 1965, almost all have since retired. The man who, I guess would say, started the group, Lewis Dolinsky, doesn't play anymore but has since taken over the roll of umpire (he's admitted to having learned how to umpire at the school of the blind). Ages of the players the last couple of years have ranged from the ripe old age of 17 all the way to the young vibrant age of 72 (or did I get that backwards?).

You have three groups of players: the consistent almost every weekers (I'm part of this group), the guys who show up a bunch but not every week, and those who maybe show up once or twice to give the group a try. For some people, this is just 1 out of the 4 or 5 games they play a week, for others, this is the only softball they get in. It's a very friendly group but it's also very competitive and can get pretty serious at times, and during some of those times you can't help but laugh when the old guys start barking at each other.

Normally, the group probably averages about 18 players, but we prefer to have 20 players (with Left-Center and Right-Center fielders). Some days we get 21/22 players and we always find a way to get everybody in.

The next week, Lewis always sends out an e-mail synopsis of the game (the team names are usually the name of the team's pitcher, although when Jay pitches, they are called the Unmentionables for some reason). As an example, here's a piece from his email about last Saturday's game:

Aaron's single down the first base line drove in the tying and lead runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Andys came from way behind to defeat the Unmentionables 8-6. The Uns scored all six of their runs in the top of the first inning -- the last three on Ken's bases-loaded double -- and seemed to be headed to an easy victory with Jay and Rachel sharing the pitching. But the A's kept chipping away. And after that awful first inning, Andy gave up no runs and just two hits and a walk

Everybody's welcome, game is free of charge, my name is Casey for those of you who decide to come and I'll definitely be there this weekend!

P.S you'll have to forgive a couple of guys there, one wears almost all Giants (FUCK THEM) gear and the other is a huge fan of them, although he's a rare one that is trying to get into advanced metrics.