One of the issues at hand is the suggestion of adding a fourth outfielder to the lineup. A vote was taken two weeks ago and playing with the traditional three outfielders won by a 10-8 margin. However, the debate has since heated up as the teams that were on the side of adding an additional player to help keep the scores down is upset at those who voted against it because of the number of high scoring games. Others say that the lack of quality pitching is the reason some of the scores are so high. Personally, I think pitching has more to do with it than anything else but also understand that it takes time to develop a pitcher and if adding a player now will help then I’m willing to try it out.

The second issue is the use of illegal bats within the league. The Association of Softball in America (ASA) released a document on March 21, 2007 that declared certain bats illegal for use in ASA championship play. The reason is a simple one; the bats increase the speed in which a ball can travel by 45+ mph. The legal bats have a 98 MPH max where the illegal ones can generate ball speed over 135 MPH. That’s a huge difference and gives pitchers and infielders very little time to react. This is a safety concern and is currently being voted on by the coaches and will be concluded by this Friday.

Turning our attention to the action on the field, last Monday we saw the Ballot Squad notch their first win of the season against the Dorset Club, 17-12. They then completed the sweep when they trounced the L Street Tavern, 21-13. Coach and pitcher, Ryan de la Buere picked up both wins for his boys and are hoping this is a sign of good things to come. Also on Monday, the Dorset Club quickly regrouped after the loss and squeaked out a 14-13 nail biter against the Isotopes. Mike Sweeney and the Dorset Club were winless last year and have already won three games this year – great improvement boys! In the nightcap, the Isotopes also regrouped and stuck L Street with another loss making it a very long night for the Joe Pillar and company. However, at 3-3 L Street is very much in the race for the Moran division.

Tuesday games saw the Greatest Bar and the G-Hits club locked up in a Moran division doubleheader played on the N Street field. The first game was a see saw battle that the Greatest Bar pulled off in the late innings to remain undefeated. The G-Hits must have been kicking themselves after the tough loss because the Greatest Bar’s offense woke up and smashed the G-Hits on the second game, 31-3. Ouch!! Over on the M Street side, Murphy’s Law picked up another win by knocking of the Bushwhackers, 13-1. The nightcap had the defending champions, Sidewalk Café finally taking the field for their first game of the season. The champs took it on the chin from the El Presidente club, losing 12-5. Pitcher, Joe Venutti mixed his pitches well and kept the vaunted Sidewalk attack at bay.

On Wednesday, the reconstructed Tweeter team was looking to shake their slow start and pick up some momentum in a key divisional doubleheader against the Brewers. They got great pitching from Steve Mills who limited the Brewer attack to just three hits. However, it was the Brewers who regained the momentum when they out slugged Tweeter 17-12 in the second game to earn the well deserved split. On the N Street side, Il Giardino took two games from the Playwright but needed plenty of offense to do so as the Playwright showed that they can score runs in bunches.

Thursday’s games saw the Stadium Club and the Lynx match up in what many thought would be a great night of games. However, the spectators came away only half satisfied as the Stadium folded under pressure and fell hard in the nightcap, 16-2. The earlier game was well played and tightly contested with the Lynx hanging on to the 6-5 win. Lefty Nick French out dueled Sam Acevedo in this one to earn his third win of the season. The week concluded with the Beer Garden using a last inning rally to complete the sweep over Full Tilt on the N Street Field.

Finally, several members of the M Street Softball league competed in the Legends tournament held in Fairhaven, MA over the Memorial Day Weekend. The Lynx brought their team and represented the league well but fell in the championship game to the Legends, 9-4. M Streeter, Mike Hoadley was a key member on the championship winning team. Congrats!! Steve Mills (Tweeter), Peter John (Sidewalk), Steve Couturier (Stadium), and yours truly also participated and represented the league well. It can also be noted that tournament MVP Wiley Billings, who is a great pitcher, stated that he would like to hook on with a team in the M Street League. Wiley, who is a great guy, added that his desire was to pitch for a team that didn’t have an established pitcher. You got to love a guy who wants to play for an underdog team. We hope to see you and possibly Wiley at the park!