League Standouts (Good and Bad) at the Halfway Mark

Major League Baseball marked the halfway point of its season with an exciting All-Star game Tuesday. Unlike MLB, softball in Washington, D.C., doesn’t hold such a game to mark its midway point.

Rather, it’s the calendar that functions as the unofficial time keeper of the season’s progress. While the second half is now under way, the first provided a preview of which teams are likely to shine and which need work.

In the House Softball League, the Texas Republic continues to stand head and shoulders above the rest. The team is currently on a 15-game regular season winning streak and is in first place with a solid 7-0 record. On Thursday, it’ll square off against the Liberty Square Sliders, a rematch of the 2010 league championship in which Texas Republic breezed to victory. Other teams, such as the 0-7 Swift Justice, haven’t been so fortunate. Full story

Rounding the Bases

(Patrick Curran/CQ Roll Call)

Miss any of the action down on the Mall this week? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a quick recap of the week’s action:

• The blistering heat that had plagued Washington for nearly two weeks finally broke on Monday, but it came at a price: A violent thunderstorm ripped across the Mall on Tuesday night while your trusted correspondent was covering the ACLU vs. Department of Transportation game at the Washington Monument. The game was cut short after six innings (the DOT prevailed), but not before everyone involved was thoroughly soaked. Full story

For Alphabet Soup, Softball Is a Family Activity

There’s no crying in softball — on the field, at least. The Alphabet Soup fan section is a different story.

Since 1996, the Congressional Softball League squad has seen seven marriages, 10 children and more agency affiliations than we care to count. In a softball culture dominated by interns and 20-somethings, the veteran squad features a sideline full of rambunctious toddlers sporting team colors. And they root for a winner.

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RNC Edges DNC on Eve of Health Care Ruling

(Patrick Curran/CQ Roll Call)

The last time a contest between Republicans and Democrats was this close, the Supreme Court had to resolve it.

The Republican National Committee softball team used a thrilling seventh-inning rally to score its seventh-consecutive victory over the Democratic National Committee, 8-7, at Watkins Turf Softball Field on Wednesday night.

Pink-clad Republicans and their blue-shirted counterparts packed the Capitol Hill recreational complex, exchanging chants — “Yes we can” vs. “No you can’t,” “Four more years” vs. “Five more months,” etc. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus made a brief appearance at the beginning of the game, but DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz could not attend.

With the Supreme Court set to rule Thursday on President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, you could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

OK, so that’s not exactly true — this is still Congressional softball, after all. But the annual game is always one of the softball season’s most intense, as evidenced by the crowd’s jeering. Full story

Softball With Chris Matthews Gets Lopsided Win

(Aaron Guerrero/CQ Roll Call)

Tuesday night’s matchup between Big League Chu and Softball With Chris Matthews ended with a score that resembled a football game rather than a softball game, as the latter pounded the former, 38-17.

The two Congressional Softball League teams started out with a bang, combining for 13 runs in the first inning, as Big League Chu, a team with roots at the Department of Energy, held a slim 7-6 lead.

But in the second inning, Softball With Chris Matthews revved up the offensive engines, putting up a 12 spot and cementing a permanent lead. The team’s big inning was marked by the two-run homer of Chris Matthews, who is the nephew of the MSNBC pundit.

By the bottom of the third inning, Big League Chu closed the gap to 19-13, but the opposition was bound and determined not to let its Murderers Row-type performance go to waste, tacking on an additional six runs. Full story

Coach Hits for Cycle in Losing Effort

(Aaron Guerrero/CQ Roll Call)

On a breezy Monday night in Washington, Ryan Ozimek completed a rare feat in Congressional Softball League history in a loss against the previously winless Get Off Our Lawn.

Unlike other softball games, where a home run generally comes by way of a deep line drive or a collection of errors from the other team, the coach of the Softballer$ hit a three-run homer actually over a fence.

The homer was followed up with a hard-hitting triple in the fourth inning. Inching ever closer, he added a double and a single in the fifth inning.

“It’s bittersweet,”Ozimek said after the game, noting that losing in an exciting fashion sure beats getting blown out. Full story

Rounding the Bases

From left: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Donna Edwards and Laura Richardson give high fives as the Members' team is introduced at Wednesday's Congressional Women's Softball Game featuring Congress vs. the media. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

A quick recap of what we learned this week out on the diamond and from behind our laptops:

• Humans aren’t the only ones the humid and nasty heat can have an adverse effect on. During their mob-off, the Hitmen and the Bada Bings had to halt play after a tree in the outfield “spontaneously” caught fire. The episode was bad enough to prompt a firetruck to come out and quell the flames. Thankfully, there were no reported injuries. To check out a live shot of the incident, click here.
• The Bad News Babes, aka the press, handed Members a 13-10 loss in Wednesday’s fourth annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game.  Unlike last year’s 5-4 final, this year’s game was a high-scoring affair, as Members put 9 runs on the board in the final two innings, only to fall short of completing the comeback. Roll Call’s own Abby Livingston was named MVP for the Babes.
• The Congressional Softball League now has a new first-place team after weeks of Bings’ dominance. Booze, Win or Lose is now occupying first place with an impressive 8-0 record. Judging by their name, its easy to imagine how they might have celebrated the feat. In the House Softball League, Texas Republic stands alone in first with a 6-0 record. As for the Senate Softball League, well, it’s hard to gather a definitive answer based on the league site. But the Duelers and the Pacurs lead all teams with five wins.

Open Field Left Untouched

(Aaron Guerrero/CQ Roll Call)

A chief complaint of many teams this season has been the difficulty of finding an available playing field.

As of this week, the real estate crunch seems to have worsened, at least on the National Mall. Come out the the Smithsonian Metro Station, and you’re greeted by a long line of white tents, similar to ones used at outdoor weddings, on each side.

The Smithsonian website reveals that the tents are connected to the annual Folklife Festival, which kicks off June 27.

On Tuesday, however, something rare happened: The softball field sandwiched in between the Monument and the Vietnam Memorial on 20th and Constitution was vacant.  Indeed, just before 7 p.m., the space was devoid of a single aluminum bat or set of players arriving early to stake out the territory. Full story

Steal at Home Hands Team First Loss of Season

(Aaron Guerrero/CQ Roll Call)

All Vols third baseman and left fielder Andy Steele put his last name in action on Monday night when he stole home against the previously undefeated Howard Bitewings (4-0), leading his team to a 23-16 victory in a classic Congressional Softball League game.

Down by one run in the bottom of the sixth, Steele hit what looked like a routine fly ball out. But the outfield of the Bitewings, a team of dental students from Howard University, couldn’t come up with it.

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Scott Ibaraki’s Big Day Lifts Bada Bings Over Read the Fine Print

The Bada Bings (8-0) shook off an up-and-down start to post a 20-13 win over the Government Printing Office’s previously perfect Read the Fine Print (4-1) in a 90-minute epic tonight.

The contest, which pitted two of the Congressional Softball League’s best teams against each other, lived up to its billing early on. Sluggers from both squads exchanged rips to the outfield, and the teams traded leads in each of the first three innings.

The Bada Bings’ fielding experience started to show as the game wore on. The Microsoft-based squad held its opponents to only a run or two each inning, while repeated errors from Read the Fine Print allowed countless extra bases for the home team. The GPO squad even credited their opponents’ pitching, a rarity in CSL play. Full story

House Softball League Thrives Under Anthony Reed

House Softball League President Anthony Reed led a highly publicized rebellion from the Congressional Softball League in 2006. Six years later, the HSL is going strong and boasts an active website with features to highlight the social aspects of the game. (Courtesy Anthony Reed)

“Three leagues? But there are only two chambers.”

Try talking to anyone from outside Washington, D.C. — heck, even outside the Capitol Hill softball scene — about softball and chances are this is his first thought. It’s understandable, really; the 2006 Congressional League split that resulted in the three-league system has left a confusing landscape for casual observers.

That story’s been covered from every possible angle. More interesting today is the fact that the renegade House Softball League is not only surviving — it’s thriving.

We sat down with the softball world’s resident George Washington (or Jefferson Davis, depending on your perspective), HSL President Anthony Reed, to explore the inner workings of perhaps the most remarkable success story in Capitol Hill sports.
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Experience Bests Youth in Wednesday Showdown

If the San Antonio Spurs were paying attention to Wednesday’s Congressional Softball League action, they’d be feeling pretty good about their chances right now.

Veteran-heavy Alphabet Soup (3-1) demolished the Naughty Fingers (0-2), 19-3, at East Potomac Park Field No. 15 on an unusually chilly Wednesday night.

The Naughty Fingers, a group of college friends who named their team after their favorite dance move, got off to a quick start by knocking in a run in the top of the first. It was all downhill from there, though, for the young Arlington-based squad.

Bolstered by a cheering (or crying) section of 10 infants and toddlers decked in in team colors, Alphabet Soup scored multiple times in nearly every inning en route to the 16-run victory.

“We had a tough break in the first inning, and then it just snowballed,” the Naughty Fingers’ Danny Johnsen said. “We were not ready for their right-center onslaught.” Full story

Everyday Softball Gear

While a bat and a glove work great out on the diamond, they aren’t very practical at the office or around the house.

It’s unlikely that players are going to show up to their Capitol Hill office wearing cleats from the game played the night before. The odds are equally slim that someone will attend that all-important business meeting wearing their team shirt, especially if it promotes a certain type of beverage.

Thankfully, the Amateur Softball Association of America, which has connections to the Congressional and Senate softball leagues, features an online store with items that allow softball lovers to take the game with them everywhere they go.

For example, players with a smart phone or iPad can purchase a case that features red stitching against a yellow backdrop, a mirror image of the softballs some teams use during their games. Full story

Bada Bings Join Twitter Fray

Want to follow a winner? Now you can.

The first-place Bada Bings, a team based in the Congressional Softball League, is now on Twitter, joining the social networking site last week.

The Bings’ Twitter tenure kicked off  last Friday, and while the team might joke around on social media, it is all business on the field.

The team with the Sopranos-themed team name is an impressive 5-0 this season and sits alone atop the CSL standings.

If people follow winners, we’re hoping the Bings’ decision to join Twitter has a chain reaction, leading to more softball teams establishing their own feeds. So far this season, we’ve been able to track down 14 teams to follow on Twitter. And some of the “active” accounts are only sparingly updated.

F’n Amendments’ Spirit Not Enough as Notorious L.B.C. Cruises to Win

Mike Tartaglia of the 1st F'n Amendments takes the plate Tuesday as storm clouds roll in. (Patrick Curran/CQ Roll Call)

Today in Washington, a bunch of lefties ruthlessly attacked the defenders of our nation’s civil liberties. And no, it’s not what you’re thinking.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Notorious L.B.C. (3-1) came out firing Tuesday night and never looked back, beating the ACLU’s 1st F’n Amendments (2-3), 26-16, in a good old-fashioned Congressional Softball League shootout.

Notorious L.B.C. jumped out to a 9-0 lead early on behind a barrage from its arsenal of big left-handed hitters. The 1st F’n Amendments’ fielders scrambled to adjust, but not before giving up a few huge innings, including a 10-run bloodbath that ended because of the mercy rule.

F’n Amendments captain Mike Tartaglia indicated that this was nothing new for his team.

Full story