Loan Wolves 5 - Private Is- 33

For our fourth game of the season the Loan Wolves took their first 'professional' trip south of the river to Earlsfield and the Battersea Ironside sports ground. Despite the almost continual rain up until Thursday lunchtime the evening was warm and bright and the pitch looked good.

Contrary to what the scoreline may suggest I think we all came away from this encounter will lots of positives. We warmed up thoroughly and it showed with an uncharacteristically strong start - several bases hits in a row resulting in 1 whole run which I think raised everyone's confidence.

I've not played catcher before, and it's a strange position. You are active in nearly every play, but you're not out there with the team, you are the only one with a full on view of the whole field and you are privy to the umpire's mumblings and the other team's discussion whilst waiting to bat. Very interesting!

Our first innings fielding went pretty well. Some sterling pitching by Ben got the game moving and we got the outs in a reasonable time. There was a great moment later on in the game when Jane C took a big catch and was straight away looking around for the next out. If we'd had anyone on base I feel sure that would been our first double play!

It was great to have Darren there shouting tips and encouragement, and the support from Ben's family and Vic's sister all added to the atmosphere.

After game drinks were slightly surreal, as we were sharing the club house with a group of dog trainers and their untrained muts - but that's the thing with the Loan Wolves - expect the unexpected!

Softball on Broadway

Hi All,

Bought a size 12 and a half glove in Paragon Sports on Broadway. It was $50 which was the cheapest I could find. It seems to be ok. I am very pleased to have my own at last

FAB evening

I was the sole representative of the Loan Wolves to take up the invitation to play with the Finance department's side "FAB" at Regent's Park this evening.
Played in a friendly six-a-side game with a pleasantly relaxed attitude to the letter of the rules. My side won 16-15 (having slipped from our 16-2 lead before the last inning). I made four runs (it's a bit easier than usual with only one outfielder), didn't get out, and took a couple of outs at First (and if I was fielding at First Base, you know the side was short of players). Then had a couple of beers with the others, at the Edinboro Castle. Bit busy, bit trendy, but OK pub. Enjoyed usual rambling post-game conversation.
Looking forward to playing a proper friendly vs these guys with the rest of the Wolves in June.

Loan Wolves 4 - 28 Italian Suede

[X-posted from my LJ]
Third match of the season. Third time we lost by the "mercy rule". One day, one of our games will go the whole distance. One day.
We were at the pitch in good time, and got a lot of practice in. The opposition didn't turn up till 7.15, having been held up coming from South London.
The ground was soft and it had showered heavily about half an hour before the game started, which didn't help our fielding. Manjiv did a good job as pitcher, and Peter got a game, taking several outs at First. I came on after the second innings, got muddy and scored a run, legging it from Second to Home. Earlier, while scoring, I noticed an immaculately dressed figure approaching, somehow making a crutch look like a fashion statement. It was Alison, turning out to support the team. Great to see her back. Sharon and Jane A both played again, and seemed to enjoy the game. Alex arrived late from work, and took over the scoring. We played out a last inning for practice after the game ended, then headed for the pub. Unlike last time, none of the Arsenal fan regulars at the Finsbury took against our Wolves colours. Sat outside till we started to go numb with cold, then went in. Conversation ranged in that random way from softball to indexing for image libraries to the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon series.

Loan Wolves 4 - 28 Meteors

Loan Wolves were playing at home, at Finsbury Park (not that that counts for much, with most teams having the same two or threee grounds as their "home" pitches).
Lovely balmy evening, with London looking beautiful in the sunshine.
The Wolves lost, despite playing well. First time players Sharon and "New" Jane bravely stepped up to bat and took their place in the field. Their heads must have been swimming with all the advice and tuition we were trying to cram into them, but they both took to the game well.
Harsh umpiring calls did our brave and hardworking pitchers no favours, but I saw at least three strike-outs reward their determination. Some great fielding, particularly in terms of players backing each other up and working well together.
I enjoyed batting, getting my first run of the season on the board, and fielded at Centre Right Field, then took over as catcher. Being catcher really takes it out of your knees, ankles and back, but it's an interesting position to play. I tried to shout encouragement to Manjiv, in the manner of a wicket keeper to a bowler. Managed to field a short-hit ball and throw it to Ben for an out.
Then drinks at the Finsbury. Richard's wife turned up later on. They're expecting their first little wolf cub in July.
And no hospitalised players this week. Bonus.

First Match of Season

The Loan Wolves struggled bravely against the more experienced Finsbury Dazzlers. Ben managed to get round for our solitary run.

The team improved during the course of the evening. There was some fine batting from Alex. Ben made a good catch. Kate did some good pitches. I quite enjoyed being the catcher.

I think it was helpful for us to play a good team.

The team shirt looked impressive.

A great shame that brave Alison was injured - I hope she'll be playing again soon.

Wounded Wolf

First game of the season, away to Finsbury Dazzlers. We all had our spiffing new team shirts - no logo or anything, but in the team colours (black, and a nice bright orange). And we lost. Didn't play badly, but the other side's experience told. The "run-ahead rule" (aka the Mercy Rule, or, less kindly, the Slaughter Rule) meant that the game was stopped after the third innings, as the bad guys were so far ahead (25-1), but the teams elected to play on for practice. We ended up wishing we hadn't. Running between second and third, Alison fell suddenly. She had dislocated her knee. One of those situations where all first aiders can do is call an ambulance and try to stop people doing more harm than good (a woman on the other team who reckoned she was a first aider herself was offering her painkillers - that's a bit of a no-no). The ambulance didn't arrive within the first half-hour. Still not one available. I regretted not laying it on a bit more heavily, and claiming it was more serious than it was - then I thought that if I'd claimed she was going into shock or unconsciousness, they might have diverted an ambulance that could have been going to someone with life-threatening problems, so it was probably as well I hadn't.
Alison's knee fell back into position, and she wanted to go home, and it was getting dark, and the ambulance still hadn't turned up. Alex and David carried her off the park, and we tried to find a cab. Eventually, the ambulance arrived before we could find a taxi, which was perhaps as well. Brave soldier that she is, Alison wanted to go home rather than to A&E, but her knee still wasn't right. Jane, a first aider, was trying to persuade her to go to hospital just as the ambulance turned up. The paramedics turned on their bedside manner, reassuring her (as Alex said, they seem to be trained in babytalk, but in a good way), and looked her over. they saw the swollen knee, and took her straight off to hospital. At any rate, she'll have got proper treatment for her knee straight away, and that's a good thing. Rotten luck for her, though.

Going batty at Northwick Park

Today, after seeing the weather brighten up, I decided to head off to try out Northwick Park Golf club's batting cages. http://www.northwickpark.com/playgolf-northwickpark-baseball2.htm

I had been told by Manjiv, that they were worth a visit, so I went trekking the whole way across London on the trusty Bakerloo line. Once there, after a short walk from South Kenton tube station, I discovered that they have a really great set up. There are 3 baseball cages (1x Fast, 1x Medium and 1x Slow), and most importantly for us softballers, 5 softball cages (3x slow pitch, 1x medium pitch and 1x fast pitch)

The main building was reminiscent of the 'hub' in Regents park (where Andy, Alison and I did our Softball umpiring course) and inside I stumped up my money to buy 5 tokens. I even managed to get 10% discount for mentioning 'Baseball Softball UK', and signed up for a permanent discount card.

The way it works is each token is used to feed the machines in any of the batting cages (I wimped out and headed for the slow pitch softball one). Once inserted, a button is pressed, and then you have 10 seconds before the first of your 15 balls is launched at you. I must admit the first one did take me by surprise, but from then on I did do fairly well in cracking a good percentage of balls into left field (mostly with line drives or ground balls). Speaking with an experienced softball player in the next cage, he told me to try and take the ball as late as possible over the plate, so as to enable me to hit into right field. After taking the advice, I started hitting them straight back from where they had come from, but eventually I did manage to pull a few to right field.

The other thing to mention is that the machines don't use proper softballs, or even indoor ones. They launch hard, dimpled plastic ones, that although feel strange at first, are still substancial enough to jar your arms, if you miss hit one.

After exhausting my first lot of tokens, as it goes pretty quickly when you get into it, the bug had definitely bitten, and so I felt the need to count up my change and get another couple of tokens. By then the other cages were filling up, with everyone from dad's and their children to amateur baseball players, to professional looking American's who were ripping the balls into the back fence with regular aplomb. I stood and watched the someone in the 'Fast' baseball cage in wonderment as each ball rocketed out of the machine at great speed, whacking into the backstop mat, before the poor baseballer had a chance to wave his bat at it. I think eventually after a couple of tokens, the guy was getting a nick on a ball or two, but I thought that he should probably try his luck with a 'Medium' speed machine at least to get his morale up.

Before leaving, I was asked by one of the staff there to sign a petition to keep the batting cages from being removed by the local council. I signed and would recommend anyone reading this who is thinking about going, to sign it (see me for a form). It is such a great resource and it would be a real shame to lose it so soon after discovering that it existed.

"introductory" umpiring course - 22nd April

Jane and myself pitched up bright and early to the 'Hub' in Regent's park for what we thought was going to be a gentle introduction to the whys and wherefors of softball umpiring. It turned out that instead we were getting the full 2-day course squeezed into one day! Ok, a few of the finer details were left out and we didn't do very much 'practical' but still.....my slightly hungover head was ready to explode by the end of it.

All in all though, it was very useful. I think we have picked up some hints and tips which will help with our game - for example, when you have more than one forced out, always go for the runner who is furthest around first and work your way back to the first base runner. Not only because they will be first to score, but also to avoid taking the 'force' off the other players. Also, in order to get an out the ball has to make it to the base before the runner. Therefore, if both ball and runner get there at the same time, the runner is safe as the ball has not beaten them.

We were both quite surprised and intrigued by the 'in-field fly' rule....which I think I just about understand the logic behind...but am not going to attempt to explain here.

Informally, it seems that the umpires let a lot more go in division 4 games, (for example, I don't think they enforce such rules as 'if one player is wearing a pink cap then the whole team must also wear a pink cap!) and the trainer admitted that he is as much a coach as an umpire at these games.

It was good to meet people from other teams, and reassuring to know that even players from teams in divison 2 were unsure about a lot of the rules!

The trainer explained that it is the umpires job to 'look for the out', get the game 'over with as soon as possible', and stay in control. In other words, don't mess with the umpire, they can remove or eject you and they are always right - much like librarians!

Barn Elms tournament (Xposted from my LJ)

Demonstration softball tournamment, as part of a "touch rugby" and netball event. As it turned out, the expected four teams didn't make it - just us Loan Wolves and the Barracudas, plus a couple of guys from Oblivion (both experienced sides). We ended up with the Oblivion guys on our team, as we were short-handed (our captain having decided to go sailing).
Weather was good - mostly sunny, though somewhat chilly, but not the overcast and rainy day which had been threatened.
We had supporters, which was nice - Ben's dad and brother were there to encourage us from the sidelines.
The "tournament" effectively became a series between the two teams. We lost the first game conclusively, paying the price for our relative inexperience (only three competitive games played before yesterday). The second game, however, was much better. We were actually ahead by two runs after the first innings, then level after the second. The Barracudas pulled ahead, but we managed to level the scores again (with 10 runs made in one inning), though in the end they won in the bottom of the last.
Third game, after lunch (£2.50 for a sausage in a bun), soon became a practice session for both sides, with no meaningful result. Some of the Barracudas, and the Oblivion guys, had left, and various rugby and netball players came in to try the game for twenty minutes at a time, with spare players (and organisers Darren, Tim & Wendy) filling in for whichever side was short of players at any given point.
Acting-captain had Ben put in a lot of work drawing up team lists for each game to try us out at different fielding positions, and working out a batting line-up. I played at second base, then short stop, then at left field. I was also lead-off batter, opening our batting line-up. We had Julian, Alison and Manjiv as our pitchers for the three games, all gaining vital match-play experience. Manjiv was flattered to be told by Darren that she had "real potential" as a pitcher. Paul, our most experienced player, was a real asset in the field, and Jane did some tremendous batting. Alex made runs, and, importantly, batted a lot of other runners in, and Julian learned that he favoured a lighter bat, and did well with it. I think we all did well, individually and as a team. We scored runs (including a home-run made with my bat - though not by me], took catches, made double-plays, struck batters out (nice work Alison, who also proved to be very much at home at third base), and were far more aware of the game and how to play it than we were six months ago. We also became less self-conscious about shouting out where the "play" is (which bases to throw to for forced outs), and shouting encouragement to each other, like the other teams tend to. e.g.:
[batter swings wildly at a pitch and misses]
Runner on base [to batter]: "Nice swing!"
Me [to Julian, the pitcher]: "Nice pitch!"
Runner [to me]: "Touche!"
Having novice players in the last game meant we got to be the "experts", which was fun. It was quite gratifying acting as base-coach to a rookie player, and getting her round to score. Explaining how to use the glove to catch safely, I found myself comparing broken fingers with someone who'd fractured hers playing netball. Sport, eh - why do we do it?
My fielding contibution was nothing special (what a surprise), though calling out plays from short-stop was cool. I did enjoy batting and base-running. Put a line drive cleanly through the infield, ran to base, and the baseman commented ruefully; "you found the hole there!". Also was complimented by a scorer on my speed running in to home past a fielder going for the ball. Also managed to trip over the bat when setting off at one point, but somehow scrambled to my feet and reach first base.
The pre-season game experience was really valuable for us all, in many ways. Not least that in that second game we were able to give a credible account of ourselves against a superior side in a competitive environment.

Barnes tournament day

The Loan Wolves fielded 8 for this excellent day of match practice. Alex, Ben, Alison, Manjiv, Jane, Julian, Andy, Paul.

There werent enough people there to have a tournament but we were able to have a series of matches playing people from the Development team and I think there were some there from a group called the Barracudas.

It was an extremely useful day for working together as a team. There are real signs of improvement. Alison, Manjiv and Julian all had a go at pitching. Andy gained some experience as a base coach. There was some fine batting from Jane and Alex. Ben was a real livewire organisng everybody. Paul, Alex Ben and Alison all made some great catches. Also thankfully there were very few injuries apart from Alison making a brave stop.

The weather was fine all day although chilly when the sun went in.

Umpiring course

Went on umpiring course this weekend, along with Alison & Ben.
write-up from my
LJ

The library can't afford home-run hitters...

Unshelved strip from yesterday

Saturday training (cross-posted from my LJ)

Softball practice at Clapham yesterday.  We had ten players - a good turn-out, possibly the best this year.  Also had four bats between us. The threatened rain held off, though it was bitterly cold.  Worked on grounders, cut-offs and relays, and played a practice game.  Interesting how a couple of people pointedly walked through the game, giving us dirty looks, as if we had no right to be on their lovely British common playing our wretched American sport - even though we were on the designated softball pitch.  Darren reckoned this happens quite a lot.  The frisbee-ers were back, too - no-one won the extra "Wolf points" Richard offered for hitting one of them with a ball, though.
Afterwards, went to the George, identified by Darren as a bat-friendly pub, for a natter and drink.

Softball training at Clapham Common

Very good session on Saturday at Clapham. Ben, Richard, Kate, Alison, Jane, Emily, Manjiv, Julian, Paul all present. Practiced throwing, catching, pitching and managed to play some small scale matches as well. Useful drills organised by Ben. Afterwards some of us adjourned to the pub.

Another Bat for Team Collection

This cheeky 4 oz bat, was given to me recently by my brother. He didn't bother to scour the depths of the internet looking at US or Dutch sports equipment websites. No, he apparently picked it up for £1 at the local 'Pound store'. Thanks Matt.

Seriously, I'm not sure if it would even survive hitting an indoor 'training' softball, let alone the real thing. However, I believe that it may be useful as a training aid. One can work on the batting stance and correct swing, even using it indoors without risking smashing anything valuable.

In print

The article I wrote for City News ended up in print, after some editing.
The article.

"That's a good weight!"

The opinion of coach Darren on my new bat.
Softball practice on Clapham Common yesterday. A sight easier for me to get to than Finsbury Park (one bus ride away). The softball pitch isn't as obvious as at Finsbury, and it's a little more exposed, but it's good. Better class of mud, too. Nowhere near as squelchy. did some good drills on cut-offs and throwing, got some useful coaching on how to field high balls coming to the outfield. I have to get into the habit of stepping back whenever a high ball comes towards me. My throwing was woeful, I'm afraid. But batting was fun as always, especially using my very own bat.
A load of people turned up at mid-morning to practise frisbee throwing, and colonised over half the softball field. Very odd. We managed not to bean any of them with long balls, though.

[X-posted from my LJ]

Nicknames!

We need nicknames folks! Why not try the "Which Star Trek character are you?" personality test which Andy links to on his Livejournal?

Yours,

Geordi LaForge

Batter up!

My softball bat finally arrived at work today. I'd ordered it from a Dutch company, specialising in US sports, Forelle. They sent a 23 0z fastpitch bat by mistake, so I had to send that back, but the 30 oz one I ordered has now turned up, with a "one big sorry" apology. I was arriving at work just as the courier turned up with it.
Also, an American friend who's over here for work brought a cool-looking book on baseball for me to a BookCrossing meet-up last night. It's occured to me that we as a team have more books on baseball/softball than we have gloves of our own. True to our natures as librarian Loan Wolves, I guess.

[X-posted from my Livejournal]