Never Say Di: Dianne Feinstein’s Team Rallies to First Win

Never Say Di (1-1) lived up to its name tonight, overcoming an early five-run deficit to notch a 6-5 win over the Arkansas Naturals (0-3) in Division 1 Senate Softball League action.

Small ball was the name of the game, as a field reservation mix-up forced the teams to play on a pint-sized diamond next to the Washington Monument. Tables and barriers set up for this weekend’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure bordered the third-base line, and right field was cut in half by a small fence and pedestrian path.

The Naturals, who hail from the office of Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), adjusted to the strange circumstances quickly. Savvy base-running and defensive confusion on the cramped field allowed Pryor’s squad to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead after two innings.

Never Say Di, representing the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), took longer to adjust. Full story

Post-Holiday Return

Along with the rest of us, the overwhelming majority of softball junkies in Washington, D.C., took a pause Monday to honor the fallen on Memorial Day.

Under the “games” section of its website, the House Softball League indicates that no matchups were played Monday.

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Press Hits! Notch Epic Comeback Win in Staffer’s Going-Away Party

Do you believe in miracles? The Press Hits! sure do.

Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) office softball team put up an unbelievable nine-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to knock off the Great Scotts of Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-Mass.) office, 14-13, on Thursday night.

There was no shortage of storylines in the Senate Softball League Division 3 game — liberal vs. conservative, New York vs. Massachusetts, veteran vs. newcomer — but the most entertaining one had little to do with traditional rivalries. Full story

Standings Roundup: Texas Forever?

The House Softball League, unlike the Congressional and Senate leagues, doesn’t rely only on wins and losses to determine its standings. Instead, it uses a “ratings power index” that takes into account a team’s winning percentage, its opponents’ winning percentage and its opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage.

After the Congressional Budget Office scored the numbers this week, Texas Republic (2-0, .775 RPI) rose to the top of the standings, edging slightly ahead of WAM! (1-0, .767). There are a few teams with three wins and no losses, including the Republic’s next opponent: the sixth-ranked Mastadons, based out of the office of Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio).

Meanwhile, the Bada Bings’ victory last week over Pew’s Your Daddy made it the only 4-0 team in the Congressional league. The gang from Microsoft will seek to pad its record when it takes the field against the Energy Department’s Big League Chu (0-2).

There aren’t any meaningful standings to report from the Senate League, where the results of only three games have been posted across the eight divisions.

RAND Slam! Offers Mystery

RAND Slam!, a team from the Senate Softball League, bares the name of Sen. Rand Paul. And the team plays in the league named after the chamber in which the Kentucky Republican serves.

But it appears that the roster’s roots might not be from the tea party darling’s office.

Earlier this week, our “Team Name of the Day” tweet commended the team for its clever fusion of the Senator’s first name and the four-run jack.

Earlier today, Moira Bagley, the Senator’s communications director, tweeted back with a hint of surprise that someone was playing under the banner of her boss’ first name.

“But we don’t have a team! Wonder who it could be,” she said.

We tweeted Bagley back, expressing our surprise that the team was not associated with Paul’s office.

Now, like Bagley, we’re beginning to wonder what collection of individuals plays for the team. And more importantly, who thought of that cool name?

Wooden Bats Cross Party Lines, Promptly Get Smacked

After being rained out three consecutive weeks, Jerry Duty finally got a chance to show its stuff on the Mall this week. And boy, did they show up.

Jerry Duty (1-0), representing the office of Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), laid a 17-1 smackdown on the Wooden Bats of Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) office Wednesday night. Pitcher Will Ruder knocked in three of Duty’s seven homers to spearhead an impressive offensive effort.

“I was just trying to put some contact on it, and it actually worked out. All the credit goes to White Lightning,” Ruder said, pointing at his bat.

Jerry Duty’s big bats were aided by the small field on the corner of 14th Street and Madison Drive.

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Softball Fields Harder to Come By

Other than spring rain, nothing can put a damper on the Congressional softball season like not being able to find a place to play.

Though officials with each of the three Capitol Hill softball leagues differed in assessing how difficult construction taking place on the National Mall will make it for their teams, all agreed that it is problematic in one form or another.

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Bats That Get the Boot

When it comes to proper equipment, the Senate and Congressional softball leagues pull no punches.

On each league’s official sites is a link to a visual of outlawed bats. The policies appear to have been tailored after the Amateur Softball Association’s guidelines.

Some of the bats, such as the Easton Synergy 2 and the Louisville Slugger SB304, were grandfathered out by the association at the beginning of 2008 after previously being allowed 2 mph variance.

All of the outlawed bats are aluminum. Maybe, like Robert Redford in “The Natural,” Capitol Hill’s softball players just prefer a wooden bat.

Diamond Woes

View of softball field 36 in Anacostia. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Other than being organizational homes to the same sport, the Congressional, House and Senate Softball Leagues have discovered another area of commonality: trouble finding enough fields to play on.

The National Mall is the traditional hot spot where dozens of teams gather to play out the season.

But the combination of construction and seasonal events are making it logistically harder for teams in all three leagues to schedule games this season.

To overcome the dilemma, some team captains have scouted out other locations, including Anacostia Park.

Other high-ranking league officials told Roll Call this week that some teams might have to suspend play for a sustained period of time over the summer because of the lack of diamonds.

Check out our map of available fields for Capitol Hill softball.

Welcome to Roll Call’s Capitol Hill Softball Blog

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are getting ready to slug it out on the campaign trail. But those around Capitol Hill are gearing up to slug it out on the diamond.

This week, the House and Congressional softball leagues kicked off their seasons. Looking to get an early start, the Senate league began on April 19.

With the season under way, players have begun to grab their cleats and bats, but we’ll be reaching for our notepads and tape recorders to bring you original news from a sporting event that has become a ritual in Washington.

In this space, we’ll preview marquee matchups, provide scores and highlights of pivotal games, and give readers a look at the personalities and inner workings of each league.
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