Team of the Week: What Exit?
September 4, 2:22 pm by jpfinlay
Usually the phrase “bubble team” gets tossed around in March when college basketball teams from across the country compete for a spot in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. However, on Capitol Hill in September, bubble teams are those looking for a spot in the House Softball League tournament.
The top 48 teams make the tournament, and Roll Call’s Team of the Week, What Exit?, hopes to be one of those squads. What Exit? ends the regular season with a 12-8 record, their best in three years, hoping for their first ever playoff berth. The squad had been ranked No. 38 when the standings were frozen late in the season.
“We’ll have to see,” captain Tuley Wright said. “I don’t think we’re a sure thing but the record is pretty good. I don’t want to count the chickens.”
Wright has coached What Exit? since 2006, and the team is showing encouraging signs under his leadership. In 2007, the record was poor, 5-13, but improvement came in 2008 with a 10-10 record. This year, What Exit? has a winning record and quality wins over other bubble teams, No. 42 Southern Aces and No. 37 Bases Loaded.
The worry, though, for What Exit? is a string of losses since the league froze the standings on Aug. 21. Of the three losses, two will reflect well on the team’s ratings power index (strength of schedule factors in the rankings). Those losses came from No. 20 Scared Hitless and No. 8 Dukes of Haphazard. The other loss will hurt, a 13-12 heartbreaker to No. 60 Curve.
“I’m not sure what happened,” Wright said of the Curve loss. “But they were a pretty good team.”
What Exit? is a collection of players from various New Jersey Democratic House offices. The team has been around more than a decade and was one of the original teams to join the House league when it broke off from the Congressional Softball League.
“We are a big team. Sometimes we have over 20 people,” Wright said. “It shows the enthusiasm we have. We are all looking to have a good time.”
The team is led by Marc Levasco in center field and Matt Riggins at shortstop. Levasco is legislative director for Rep. Steven Rothman (D-N.J.) and Riggins worked on the Hill prior to moving on to other avenues.
Love is also in the air for What Exit?: Riggins and teammate/fiancée Daniela Renfroe scheduled an October wedding, eliminating the possibility of a conflict with the softball playoffs.
What Exit? is anxious to find out its playoff situation, which will be revealed Sunday night at Capitol Lounge. Considering the results they have seen during Wright’s three years at the helm, What Exit? seems poised for a playoff berth not only in 2009 but in the future as well.
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