Club coed softball team wraps short season with new players looking ahead to 2022
The National Press Club's Big Blue coed softball team made it to the Metropolitan Media Softball League's playoffs for the 12th consecutive season this past weekend, the longest active streak in the league, but fell short of winning the league championship in this COVID-19 pandemic-delayed season.
The team defeated the Washington Post team in the first game of the tournament, 13-4, but then lost the next two games in the double-elimination tournament and were eliminated from further contention.
In game 2 on Saturday, Aug. 7, the Press Club, which had handed the NPR Microphones their only loss of the regular season in Week 1, lost the rematch, 9-4. And then the team from Al Jazeera, home of former Club president Jeff Ballou, ousted Big Blue, 14-4.
The team was coached by Jim Rubin and included Del Wilber, a member of the Club's Board of Governors, as well as -- to name a few, many of whom are veteran Big Blue players -- Chris Teale, Laura Faul, Ben Lasky, Abby Cruz, Robert Furlow, Andre Forte, Amy Fickling, Karen Naumann, Tom Dunkel, Jeff St. Onge, Andy Valerio, Ryan Grizzle, Kirk Bado, Kim Velez, Mike DeSenne, Paul Mulholland. Former Club Board member Ferdous "Danny" Al-Faruque also joined the team this year, and played softball for the first time ever.
The league championship was won for the first time by a team of MMSL alumni nicknamed the Pink Slips, made up of players who worked for news outlets no longer fielding teams due to the ongoing contraction in the journalism industry. The Alumni team is coached by another former Club president, Jonathan Salant, who also plays for the team.
Rubin commented to the team after the tournament that "On the plus side, we have a slew of new players, who participated with great enthusiasm and, I trust, got some valuable experience for next year and beyond."
As the team filled an outdoor table for the traditional post-game lunch at the Ledo Pizza parlor nearby the Cabin John Regional Park, where the tournament is held each year but not the regular season games, he noted that new players and long-time ones this year fit right in with each other and the socializing, too: "Our post tournament gathering at Ledo underscored that camaraderie."
Watch The Wire for updates and recruiting for the 2022 season, which may start in April, if conditions ever return to normal.
Big Blue enjoys some big pizza after hard-fought MMSL softball tournament games Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, at nearby Cabin John Regional Park in North Bethesda, Maryland. Photo courtesy of Laura Faul