CI Softball - '98 Season News

This page is for all team news, game summaries and highlights, and new information on anything else remotely related to our team or of interest to our players. Check for updates every week or so, all year round.

Nov-19-98 (updated 7:14pm)

Site news update

I've been pretty busy lately, so off-season updates of this site have been non-existent. Sorry. I'm planning on doing it over the Thanksgiving weekend. Plus, I lost track of the photos I was planning on scanning and posting so hopefully they'll turn up by then.

Oct-30-98 (updated 11:53am)

21-6 Loss to CKD in season finale.

Game notes
Ummm...errr...Just read the game notes from any game in the last two months, and you'll get the picture.

The final stats for summer are online now. I'll be posting the combined season stats, some '98 pictures, tidying up the website for the Winter, and probably ranting about something or another in a few days.

Oct-27-98 (updated 8:55am)

15-3 Loss to Eastown Lounge

Game notes
Our best game in the field to date. Unfortunately, it was also our worst performance at the plate. Once again we had no-shows, but this time we recruited a USSSA World-Series player for the game to fill in.

Our last game of the season is next week at 9:40pm.

Eddie Ailed?
Barry D. emailed with a message that Eddie "The King" Feigner had a stroke. Mark Warren said he read the same thing somewhere, but he's up and moving around a little. I'll try to confirm this somewhere and update with the details.

Oct-14-98 (updated 12:17pm)

17-7 Loss to Papa Refrigeration

Game notes
This was a reasonably close game for three innings against the 1st place team. We had 3 or 4 no-show players last night, so we went with three outfielders. The highlight of the game was LaRue's over the shoulder running catch at the fence.

Don't Forget
Party at Malloy's on Saturday, 2:00PM. Kids welcome. He mentioned something about a keg too. Contact him if you need directions to Farley Acres (remove the ".thishere" spam-proofing in his address).

Former player buys the farm (updated 12:17pm)
As confirmed by his death notice, former mid 80's team member Carl Maskey did indeed pass away on October 7th, at the age of 36. Anyone who knew Carl as I did is probably saddened but not overly suprised by this news, given his lifestyle.

Oct-7-98 (updated 9:23am)

16-8 Loss vs. Rezur Machine Co.

Game notes
Umm...not enough hitting...again. Absolutely horrible umpiring got Danny tossed in the final inning on a called strikeout, after Malloy got a called strikeout. Problem was, Danny wasn't even in the batter's box. The called strike on Malloy was rediculously low.

This umpire's attitude was absolutely horrible, as he commented at the beginning of the game to the Rezur catcher "This is senseless, it's a meaningless game, your playing for nothing." Liberty Park league officals were pissed when they heard about it in our complaint to the league. In our complaint we also notified the league that CI will not play any more games with this particular umpire.

Anyway, it was nice having Mark C. and Gerry back in the lineup last night.

Update-12:42PM
I botched a few items on Runs Scored column of the stats this morning, so it's fixed now, I think.

Etc.
Well, Barry D. was more correct that I was in the Lions-Bears prediction. But how was I to know the Lions where going to knock off early for the day?

Sep-30-98 (updated 8:40am)

23-12 Loss vs. Sponsorless

Game notes
We just left too many runners stranded last night. 13 of them. The game went to the bottom of the 7th before it was decided, so it was a pretty close game. Fielding was decent for both teams. Hightlight of the game...hmm...I went 4 for 4 again, a HR short of the cycle.

Etc.
As most of you know Eddie "The King" Feigner, and His Court of course, have challenged us to a game. Course, the biggest challenge is finding 2 grand and 3 hotel rooms, but we're gonna see what we can come up with...

Team Party October 17th
Email from Malloy: "I have the 17th of Oct. set for the team party, If you would put it on the web page. I'll try to get flyers out tonight or tomorrow. Let Cliff and John know and also Barry R. if you'd like, And Barry D."...Let me (Bill) just add a little something to that...All you anuses better plan on being there this time!

Bizaar Predictions
From Barry D:"I wish I was there to taunt you guys. Bears vs. Lions, at Chicago. So far, I have correctly predicted the Bears 0-4 start. However, I have predicted that this week will be the Bears first win on their way to a 3-13 season. Why, you may ask? The Bears always lose in Detroit, and generally beat the Lions in Chicago. Why, according to Barry, you may ask? alot of it has to do with the "Barry theory". Barry doesn't think Barry runs anywhere near as well on grass on he does on turf. Hmmmmm...Bears 27, Lions 24."

Haha, not even with a whole team of GIANT Ditkas will this happen. I think I know another Barry who doesn't handle his grass too well, if ya know what I mean. Watch for Jason Hanson to kick 3 or 4 field goals, and Charlie Batch to finally have his breakout performance with 2 touchdown passes, and one rushing TD by Barry Sanders. Lions 34, Bears -2 (or maybe just 3).

Sep-23-98 (updated 8:40am)

22-6 Loss vs. Regal Lanes.

Game notes
Regal had two 9 run innings. They hit nothing but line drives almost every at bat. And we helped them out a number of times with errors, bad thows, a couple of walks, etc. Pretty poor fielding effort on our part, and hitting was lousy too. Our best performance was probably from Mike G. at 3rd.

EMail from Jeff Kullenberg this morning
Hey boyz.......

Whats going on? Just wanted to drop you a line on our softball night to let you all know that I'm still thinking about ya!

Works been crazy, I think that I have been in the state a total of a week since the last time I played with you guys....Ya, I actually miss it...alot :( I hope you guys are all doing well........Say hey to everyone for me......CONGRATS jeffrey and clair (I never thought that you had it in ya baby!!!!) Billy, tell Jules I said hi :)

Maybe I'll be able to make this game....only as an observer....
Be good ladies, and I see you whenever I'm in town.....

Peace,
Jeffrey #2

Sep-16-98 (updated 5:39pm)

15-14 win over Wisne Design.

Game notes
We managed to pull out another win, on what was a drizzly, soggy evening. Our hitting was decent last night and we took a 1st inning lead, and never lost it. Wisne came back in the later innings however, and were one hit away from scoring their runner on third. A nice inside pitch to the final batter who was hell-bent on hitting to right produced a nice bat-handle foul out to Danny. the night's highlight was Malloy's three run homer. I went 4 for 4, for the first time in recent memory.

The Stats have been updated.

Lions
The Ann Arbor News is reporting this morning that the Lions have announced they will bench (and demote to 3rd string) Scott Mitchell and start Charlie Batch this sunday at Minnesota. Anyone care to give me odds on my prediction that Mitchell will be playing in the Superbowl this year for Minnesota?

Sep-9-98 (updated 4:17pm)

16-6 win over Lamb Technicon.

Game notes
Finally! I had a good feeling about this game going in. We played a team that has never beaten us, though all the games have been decided by one run---except this mercy decision. Lamb had a severe case of the "dropsies", blowing more routine infield catches than one can count. Everyone participated in the hitting fun for us, and the highlight of the game was Danny's game ending, mercy-invoking 2 run homer in the 5th. The lowlight was the completely obnoxious 2nd pitcher for Lamb, who was irate over us not swinging at his rediculously high/wide/deep pitches.

Condolences
Gerry's dad passed away this past weekend. Services were this morning. Everyone at the game was dishearted by the news, Gerry, and you and your family were in everyone's thoughts last night.

Congratulations
Jeff and Clare are the proud parents of a brand-new 7+ pound baby girl, named Mikayla (I hope I remembered the spelling), born last thursday.

Etc.
A reminder that the 21st annual Dally In The Alley is this saturday, and several players & wives will be going if you want to join us...LaRue gave me copies of some photos taken for him by Kathy at our September 1st game, and I will be posting some of them soon.

Email
This is an exerpt from an email I got from Eric who asked me to reply, but unfortunately didn't leave a complete email address:
my name is Eric and I play for a team in Louisville Ky, called Highview Barber. I hit over 50 homeruns this year from about May until now, with about 30 of them counting and the other 20 going for outs because hit our limit. We use a core 47 ball but with those doublewall DeMarini bats they still carry like crazy....I like your page and think that it is great for softball o)

Eric, we use a the Worth, core 47, and play Class "C", USSSA.

Sep-3-98 (updated 6:15pm)

Stats updated. Former player/sponsor writes.

Stats update.

Inbox
Hey Bill, just checking up on you guys WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON !!!. I knew the team was used to some slow starts but WOW !!! You can tell the girls if they dont start hitting tne ball I still have some pre-printed old PMP skirts I will gladly donate in person. "Just giving ya some shit" Good Luck on the balance of your season. Maybe I will try to catch an early game out at Liberty to see you all hopefully Win. Stay in touch no need to be a complete stranger.

Outbox
Hey Cliff.

Thats what happens when your better hitters bolt off the team into premature retirement ;).

It's a rebuilding year, but we're not too happy about our start. Liberty did dump its "C" upper teams into the "C" lower mix though. We finished the 1st half at .500. We are almost certainly going to drop to class "D" next year, where the competition looks more like Softball City-caliber teams. All year I think we've hit one, maybe two, homeruns. An alltime low (although the ball is different this year).

If you can come out to a game, bring your softball gear and we can probably get ya in a game. We miss your bat.

Okay so since I forwarded this to most of the guys on the team, it's time for them to challenge you to come out, Cliff (steel(at)wdl.net).

Sep-2-98 (updated 10:43am)

15-11 Loss to Mirage

Game notes
This was a much better effort that the last two games anyway. Had we not given up 9 runs in an error-infested 1st inning, we probably could have pulled this one out. We made a nice comeback attempt throughout the game, but our hitting remained a bit disappointing.

Once again I've temporarily misplaced my spreadsheet diskette, so there's no stats update until it turns up.

Etc.
I thought I'd mention for Malloy that he's going to have a ton of split firewood available, free to anyone that wants to pick it up.

Aug-26-98 (updated 9:34am)

17-4 Loss to Free Agents

Game notes
Four runs? Way too many stranded runners, and poor hitting performance in general. I think that Danny and Mike C.'s absences last night didn't help. The highlight of this unremarkable game was LaRue's circus catch in deep left center. On an extremely up note, Andy Fisher made a suprise return to the team, playing his first game with CI last night.

Etc.
For those who may have missed this news, Gerry and Kathy tied the knot last saturday. Many, many current and former team members where there... The 2nd Toledo Mud Hens outing of the year is this Sunday, call LaRue or Malloy for details...The 21st annual Dally In The Alley is September 12th this year (heh, the dally has a website...sort of). This is a huge back-to-school/block party at Wayne State University, with several band stages, a large food court, and tons of freaks to laugh at. Mark your calendar.

Aug-19-98 (updated 8:52am)

23-13 Loss to Burkes Sports

Game notes
Well, obviously Burke Sports is not a class "C" team. 6 different players went yard. We're talking LONG, towering, major league HR's. Of course all but one guy's HR's actually counted, and I held him to 1 fer after that. We hung around this game, and avoided the mercy rule. The highlight of the game is usually a standout individual effort, but this week I would have to say it was the whole team's 2nd inning rally where we batted around and scored 8 runs.

Etc.
The Free Agents, our next opponent, beat Burke's last week. Anyhow, the "C" upper leagues from the Spring season have joined the "C" lower leagues, since there are no upper/lower designations this half, nor are there class "B" leagues where these guys obviously belong. Ya can't blame any of the teams, but I kinda question Liberty's wisdom here.

Aug-13-98 (updated 8:39pm)

Stats updated

Oops, sorry. I forgot to update the stats last night.

Aug-12-98 (updated 10:15am)

14-10 Loss to CKD in Summer season opener

Game notes
CKD pounded the ball pretty hard so it's amazing to me they didn't score more, especially considering how rusty we looked in the field. Highlight of the game was probably Danny's homer in the 5th. I struck out 3 last night, one guy twice, and the other on a homerun limit (hey, that counts as a K). New players Calvin and Scott made their CI debuts last night. 13 players showed up, so their playing time was limited.

My stats spreadsheets weren't in my brief case this morning (dang, I hope the're at home), so no stats updates until later this evening. Sorry.

Etc.
Player-sponsor Jeff G. brought out our team hats last night. Pretty nice Jeff, thanks... Party this Friday, August 14th with Gerry N. in East Dearborn. Big fun; email for more info... The 1998 Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise is this Saturday, August 15th. A few players plan on coming by that evening, and all are welcome (BYOB, BBQ, hotdogs provided). Shame on you if you've never been to the cruise; it's truely a unique Detroit experience. Give me a call ahead of time...A 2nd Toledo Mud Hens team outing is planned for August 30th.

Site news
Monday marked the 3rd anniversary of this webpage. Ah, I remember back then there were maybe 10 or 12 sites total with original slo-pitch softball content. Today, you can't count them all there are so many.... The Spring '98 pages have been moved to the archives... The United States Professional Softball League has added a link to our website this week (thanks, Janice).

Aug-4-98 (updated 12:46pm)

1st game of Summer season is scheduled; Practice on for tonight.

Our first summer season game is August 11th, 8:30 PM, on Diamond #1.

Practice tonight in Livonia is on for 6:00 PM, rain or shine. BBQ to follow. See map for directions.

July-29-98 (updated 9:04am)

One more practice.

Next tuesday, August 4th 6:00PM in Livonia at Five Mile and Inkster. We will BBQ afterwards. Here's a map with directions to the field. Don't forget your $30 if you haven't paid up yet.

July-25-98 (updated 11:34am)

Summer Season Update

Our first game of the summer half will be on August 11th. LaRue will not know the time/diamond until the 4th.

We will try to have another practice on July 28th, and possibly August 4th. We got washed out last tuesday :( I'll send you another email regarding the next practice soon, hopefully by the end of the weekend.

Barry D. has a new email address, and is back on the mailing list. daniels_barry(at)isus.emc.com (change (at) to @).

July-15-98 (updated 12:19pm)

13-8 Win Vs. Mexican Industries

Game notes
Creative Impressions hit plenty of line drive and ground ball singles last night in a nice season-ending victory over Mexican Industries. Mexican hit an awful lot of flyouts, which kept them scoreless in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th innings. We scored in every inning except the first. This win put us in 5th place alone, as we finished the half with a .500 record. Cheers Softball (suprise) took first place.

Season Notes
A .500 finish was our minimum goal for the spring half, which is indeed a good improvement over last year's performances. We really hoped to finish over .500 and had a good chance to do it. But considering all the personnel changes and the loss of some big hitters, I'm reasonably pleased. Of course, we expect to do better in the Summer season.
LaRue Williams and Jeff Ko. share the Batting Title for the Spring half, with a .667 batting average. If we had to break the tie, it would go to LaRue since he had more at-bats and played 4 more games than Jeff. Nice going, boys. Honorable Mention to Gerry N. who finished right behind them, batting .605.
We seemed to break our trend of playing terribly in the month of June. This is the first season in 2 or 3 years where we had a winning record in June, winning 3 out of 4 games.

Practice Scheduled
Next tuesday, July 21st 6:00PM in Livonia at Five Mile and Inkster. This is a mile or two from Malloy's house. He will host a BBQ afterwards. Here's a map with directions.

Site
I did some softball site surfing off our links page over the last few days, and all I can say is "WOW". There sure are a LOT of sites out there that must really like what we've here, because... well...immitation is flattery I guess. So I've revised our index page's welcoming paragraph to better introduce our site:

"Welcome! You've come to the right place. We're one of the Internet's first, and certainly most original, slo-pitch softball team websites, formerly known as PMP Softball. Much of what you see on most other team's websites (like news diaries, game countdown tickers, halls of fame, gameday weather banners) was done at this site first. So stick around and see what the other teams will surely be doing tommorow, today at CI Softball!"

July-8-98 (updated 12:59pm)

Double header losses to J. Edgars, 13-12, and 18-9

Game notes
That sucked. We led most of the 1st game until the 5th inning when they rallied for 6 runs, which we did not answer. I really thought we'd take them in the 2nd game. Unfortunately our hitting didn't improve, but theirs did, aided by quite a few pop-up singles in shallow outfield territory. Unbelievably nasty, humid conditions, the worst I can remember in quite a while. Hightlights...hmm...Gerry N. went 6 for 7 on the night, and moved to the number 3 spot in the stats. Too bad we could only hit him in once all night.

Etc.
The consensus on the team is we will stay on tuesday nights for the Summer season... We're meeting at Malloy's on Sunday at 11:30am, and leaving for the Toledo Mud Hens game at Noon. If you are planning on going, make sure he knows so we don't leave without you...Jeff Ka. offered tickets to any players interested in going to the Buick Open next month; that may turn into another team outing if there's enough interest.

July-1-98 (updated 9:07am)

24-22 Win over Mexican Industries

Game notes
In spite of continued no-show personnel problems, we managed well enough with 9 players and hung on. After nearly mercying Mexican Industries in the 4th with a 12 run scoring spree, they came back nicely in the 5th with 13 runs of their own, and closing to within 3 runs. But we held them to one run in the 6th and the game ended on time limit. Highlight of the game had to be the play where LaRue rushed in from right field for a pop fly, and got enough glove on it just in time to bounce up and into Mike C.'s glove. I struck out their number 7 batter twice, the 2nd one coming in the pivital 6th inning. We had an outstanding hitting performance from just about everyone.

Upcoming Tournament
USSSA Class D NIT, July 18th-19th at Liberty Park. We're seriously considering this one, so let LaRue know if you're gonna be free that weekend.

Etc.
Our remaining 3 games are against .500 teams, so we have an excellent chance of finishing out the season in 3rd place...Almost on cue with our tournament plans came a new, interesting comment on our guest book...We're working on recruiting a new player to compensate for the imminent status change of a player or two in the very near future...Don't forget next week we have an unscheduled double-header, beginning at 6:10.

Have a nice holiday weekend.

June-24-98 (updated 5:50pm)

10-9 Win over Lamb Technicon

Game notes
Low scoring defensive game last night. We played these guys much better than our first meeting with them, when we also won by just one run. Nobody really stood out enough to highlight here, except perhaps Mike G. who made a number of pretty important plays at 3rd.

<sarcasm>
It was sooo nice to see everyone there last night. Nothing good on t.v., and you had nothing better to do, so ya figured "what the hell, it's nice out". Man, that's commitment.
</sarcasm>

Corrections
The roster that was distributed last night had a few errors on it (e.g. Jeff Ka. was completely missing) , and I'll probably have a corrected version for you next week. Email me your corrections, pagers/cell phone additions, etc.
Someone (usually Mark C. or Gerry) usually catches stuff like this, so I was suprised to find out that my stats spreadsheets haven't been calculating team totals properly since the May 26th game. The bottom 2 player's data was always excluded from the totals calculations, so I fixed it (=SUM(C6:C20)). There was also a mystery player in a hidden row on a few sheets (anyone remember a player named "Scott", going 4 for 5 on our June 2nd routing of Dawg Pound? I sure as hell don't, and he wasn't on the score sheet). I think it's straight now.

Etc.
Once again a reminder that the team's annual Toledo Mud Hens outing is still scheduled for Sun, July 12 vs. Charlotte Knights (2 PM)...The 1998 Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise is August 15th, and all team members will be invited to drop by my house that evening, BYO.

Sites
Blaine Pasquales Pirates (Blaine, Minnesota) has moved to http://209.32.68.143/softball/.
Since Janice L. Mayfield, Vice President of USPSL Properties, asked so nicely "Would you consider adding the United States Professional Softball League to your links page?", I did so. Last time they asked a link, reciprocation wasn't part of the offer, but this time it is, so keep watching for it for me :)

June-17-98 (updated 8:32 am)

Rain out. Wings Win!

I can't think of a better night for a rainout, as it allowed all of us to stay home and watch the Detroit Red Wings become repeat-sweep Stanley Cup Champions! Parade tommorow, two blocks from my office :).

Update (10:08pm)
Makeup game, Tuesday July 7th 6:10pm, Diamond 1.
This will be a double-header, as we have another game that night at 7:20, same diamond.
Please acknowledge.

June-10-98 (updated 6:41pm)

22-7 Loss vs. TNT

Game notes
7 players showed up. There were 4 no-shows. One, two, three, four. Sorry boys, but this is not a drop-in team. We played with 7, and lost (duh). A win would have put us 1 game out of 1st place. The loss dropped us to around 5th place.

Update
Ok, since my email tirade this morning, the 4 players have been contacted today and we have thier stories. One was truely sick (*barfing*), one had severe transportation problems, one *might* have become homeless one hour before our game, and one is a really big Wings fan. It seems that in at least one instance my email message was way off-base and unfair, and for that I apologized.

June-8-98 (updated 11:36am)

GO Wings!

So I have predicted, and so it has come to pass (again): the Red Wings in six over the Stars. My finals prediction: Wings in five over Washington.

I don't usually wish for this, but a rainout tommorow would be nice as long as the makeup isn't scheduled on a Wings game day. LaRue will be working the Wings game tommorow, so if it doesn't rain, I will be your manager for our game.

I'm told Barry D. has bounced back quickly from his recent employment setback, and I hear he may be playing tommorow if he can get back in town in time.

There's a new entry on our Guestbook.

June-3-98 (updated 9:13am)

16-1 Win vs. Dawg Pound

Game notes
This game almost wasn't, since only 2 player showed for the Dawgs. But by game time enough arrived, the forfeit was recinded, and the mercy drubbing was on. We pounded the ball well. Excellent base running last night too. We weren't too challenged in the field last night, but the outfield made a few nice plays, as did a few infielders on pop-ups. Lots of popups and flyouts for them last night. LaRue and Jeff G. scored 3 runs apiece and batted 3 for 3.

Etc.
The team's annual Toledo Mud Hens outing is still scheduled for Sun, July 12 vs. Charlotte Knights (2 PM). I suspect we will again meet at someone's house and car pool from there at about noon. Someone needs to call the Hen's PR office and get our group up on the scoreboard...Prediction: Utah Jazz in five. Yes, I said five.

Site news
The index page will be pink for a few weeks in honor of the Great American Pink-Out, a campaign by F.R.E.E., intended to heighten awareness of the evils of unsolicited commercial email (aka spam).

May-20-98 (updated 11:42am)

16-6 Win vs. Team 534

Game notes
We really needed this win. This was our best defensive effort of the season, no doubt. Both infield and outfield play was very solid, despite at least 3 very bad calls by the umpire. On offense we were helped by several errors, but our hitting was pretty good last night anyway. Pitchers were allowed an almost unlimited arc, which I took advantage of, much to the detriment of their #5 batter who looked (and felt) silly all night :). Mark Cunningham #6 and Mike Converse played their first games of the season with us. And IMO, they made the difference. Mark went 4 for 4, and Mike went 3 for 4 combining for 5 runs scored. We had a quite a few scratches for the night (Gerry, Barry, Mick, Jeff K, and Mark W.), so these two guys really showed up just in time!

Etc.
No game next week, it's another bye...There are no undefeated teams in our league anymore, which means we are only 2 games out of 1st place...The team's annual Toledo Mud Hens outing is scheduled for Sun, July 12 vs. Charlotte Knights (2 PM). We're also considering a Lansing Lug Nuts game. Please take a look at the schedule for June and July SATURDAY OR SUNDAY games and let us know what's good for you... I won't remind you that my Wings in 6 prediction of May 6th proved accurate...Next prediction: Wings in six against Dallas.

Sites
Added a link to Softball Search's Tournaments Listings page on our links page.
Team Farside, a class "B" team has just launched their website.

May-13-98 (updated 9:08am)

24-12 Loss to Lear

Game notes
We tied it up in the 7th inning, to force an extra inning. Score was 12-12, when Lear banged in 12 runs in the 8th. Yeah we helped them a bit with some missed cut-offs from the outfield, but Lear hit better this inning than they did all game. We were one hit away from winning this in the 7th too :( Danny went 4 for 4 last night, and LaRue and Dale each went 4 for 5. Malloy was sick as a dog, but played anyway since we had three no-show players (Jeff Ka., Mark W., Mick T.).

Pratice scheduled
LaRue has called a practice for this saturday, 10:00AM at Oak Park.

May-6-98 (updated 9:23am)

19-13 Loss to Eastowne/4M Lounge.

Game notes
We came up short, but it was a much better effort than last week's debacle. We never had a lead, but were within striking distance every inning. It was certainly much more fun than last week. Mike G. continued on his team-leading hitting tear, and Malloy went 3 for 3, scoring 4 runs.

Etc.
In case you haven't noticed, the winner in each of our games has scored 19 or more runs. We're averaging 11 runs per game, so hitting must improve...We had what I believe to be a record 11 players hang out after the game at the Liberty Park lounge last night...Jeff G. has ordered hats for us...He and Clare are hosting an informal wedding reception at their house this saturday...I got some spellings on last names, so two more of the new guys have been inducted into the Hall of Fame...Prediction: Wings in 6 over the Blues (right after I typed this, Mickey Redmond made the same prediction on the radio, so I'm feeling good about this).

Latest Reciprocal link sighting
Thanks XO2's Softball Team of Berkeley, CA., for plugging our site as "a Great Softball page".

Apr-29-98 (updated 8:58 am)

20-1 Loss to Cheers Softball. Practice this saturday.

Game notes
Butt-ugly. Hitting sucked, fielding was pretty poor also. Truely a night to forget. Enough said.

Practice Scheduled
10:00AM this Saturday, May 2nd in Oak Park.

Message to Stephan
You emailed me with a message to phone you at an 800 number in Quebec. For some reason I cannot get through (fast busy signal). So email me.

Latest Reciprocal link sightings
Billing themselves as The World's Largest Softball Tournament, Softball.net.
Nerd World has maintained a link to us for a long time evidently, since we're still listed as "PMP Softball" on this page.

Apr-22-98 (updated 2:51pm)

19-18 Win in season opener over Lamb Technicon.

Game notes:
Manager LaRue Williams picked up his first win last night. While our hitting was decent but not great, Lamb Technicon helped out by playing poorly in the field. Leading 19-9 going into the bottom of the 6th (of 6) inning, Lamb Technicon picked up 9 more runs to give us a real scare. Hitters Larue and Mike G. each went 3 for 3, scoring a combined 6 runs.

Fielding still needs some work. Missing key infielders Mark W. and Mark C. last night presented a challenge for LaRue. There were a few ugly plays that wouldn't have been.

Tourny Notes:
Lost the first game 17-2 to a class "B" team, and lost the 2nd game 11-9 to a class D team. Opening day jitters were obvious in the first game, primarily among the new guys. This went away in the 2nd game. At least we played much better in the 2nd game. I have no stats online as yet, since LaRue still has the scoresheets.

site news:
I changed our site's color theme to Purple, since that is now our team color. Also I inducted a couple of the new guys to the Hall of Fame. More inductees will follow, once I get the correct spellings of their names :)

Apr-17-98 (updated 8:41 am)

Spring league schedule is online.

This is our Spring 1998 league schedule.

Apr-16-98 (updated 10:34am)

First tournament gametime announced.

This Saturday, 9:00 *AM* at Softball City.  No diamond number will be provided until we turn in the roster.  2nd game time will be determined presumably by outcome of our first game.

LaRue wants the roster signed *BEFORE* Saturday.  If you skip practice tonight, don't be suprised if you are called to visit LaRue's house to sign.

Also, notice I added Mike Gaden (Dale's brother) to the mailing list.

**PLEASE reply to this message, with your plans.**

Apr-14-98 (updated 9:00pm)

More stuff LaRue made me say to the team email list :)

From LaRue:
* One more practice is scheduled; Thurs. April 16th, 5:30/6 PM.
* If you are playing in the tourny this weekend, you need to sign the tourny roster before the first game.  So it is **HIGHLY** DESIRABLE THAT YOU BE AT PRACTICE THURSDAY to take care of that.
* Bring $15.00 to practice too.
* As an added incentive to attend the practice, LaRue says he will probably get the uniforms from Jeff for thursday, in the event that Jeff can't make it. Yep, the uniforms are ready!   Thanks Jeff.
* Game times for the weekend will be known on Thursday also.

From your Assistant Manager (Me):
*FYI it's not called the Free Press Tournament anymore.  It's the Building Trade (something like that) tournament.
* Tournament literature says teams will play a maximum of 2 games per day (though that would suprise the hell out of me, personally).
* Our mailing list grew today, with the addition of new team member Dale Gaden's address on it. 
* We are actually discussing the possibility of playing in the Festiballe Tournament in Thetford Mines, Québec 15-16-17-18-19 July 1998. For this, we'll need some early commitments, so think about it now. 
* I swear I'm going to stop spamming you guys when the season starts!

Apr-13-98 (updated 12:24 pm)

Urgent message from LaRue.

LaRue asked me to email this message to everyone today:

If you are playing in the tournament this coming weekend (April 18th-19th), and are coming to the practice tommorow (Tuesday, April 14th, 5:30/6 PM, Oak Park), then please bring $15.00 so he can pay the registration fee. Also, he will know dates and times of our tourny game(s) on Thursday, April 16th.

Apr-8-98

Another Practice.

Practice
April 14th, 5:30 PM at Oak Park, since our game is a bye that day.  LaRue says this one is manditory.
We had 9 guys at the last practice.

Apr-7-98 (updated 1:54 pm)

First game time scheduled.

Game Time
NO GAME APRIL 14th...It's our bye week.
Our first game is April 21st 9:40 PM Diamond 4.

Practice
Hmmm...the bye gives us an extra week to schedule a practice, doesn't it?
Don't forget about tommorow's 5:30 practice in Oak Park.

Freep Tourny Update
Softball City said the tournament will probably be on the 18th and 19th, since they probably won't have enough teams to require friday games. We don't have to sign up until next Wednesday, and the drawing will be on thursday. LaRue has 10 confirmed players so far, and we suspect we will probably have a couple more by next weekend. The only issue now is figuring out how to finance the entry fee.

etc.
My apologies if you have been having trouble loading our index page lately. The counter was fuxoring something up, but ICNet tells me they fixed the problem.

Tiger Opening day game is going on one mile from my desk right now. So of course all the advertising helecopters are buzzing our offices today, cruely reminding us how terrible it is to be inside working on such a nice day for a ballgame.

Apr-5-98 (updated 1:32 pm)

Last Practice of Spring Training season set for Wednesday.

Practice
Wednesday, April 8th, 5:30/6:00 PM, Oak Park.  This is probably your last chance to practice if you haven't been out already.
Last practice (today), we had 8 players, as we're adding quite a few guys to the roster. Two new guys showed for practice, brothers Mike and Dell.

Opening Day game time
LaRue will have a game time for next tuesday's season opener on tuesday April 7th. I'll post it here, and email you.

Sites
Found this in my emailbox when I got home from practice today:
The first slowpitch softball team in France : Spartans of Lyon
Check our website at http://www.mygale.org/01/spartans.

Apr-3-98 (updated 9:57 am)

Detroit Lions 1997 schedule

The Lion's '98 season schedule was posted today at the The Detroit News. Wow 2 Monday night games, and a total of 5 nationally televised games, the most national coverage of any team.

Apr-1-98 (updated 1:17 pm)

A little website Spring Cleaning.

CI Site news
With Opening Day less than two weeks away, it's a fine time to purge this page of its' Winter (blah) content. As with past seasons, you will find links to all '98 Season schedules, rosters, and stats at the top of this page. Weekly news and game highlights will continue to be posted below the links. The '98 Winter Page has been moved into the Archives.

Practice(s)
There's a practice this weekend, details were emailed to you last night, and also posted on the '98 Winter Page.

Latest reciprocal link sightings:
We're proud to be the very first team site linked to the good folks at Softball Tournaments .com. Mike's working hard over there to bring you a comprehensive, interactive tournament listing site, so check there often.
Also, another new team website has popped up. Check out The Thunderdome, internet home of the Thurlow Thunder softball team from Ontario, Canada. The're offering a great deal on season tickets.

CI Softball Site Index

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Created: November 19, 1995 Updated: November 19, 1998