Well Swung, Indeed: ’08 Champs Secure Another Senate League Trophy
September 28, 1:05 pm by jpfinlay
Pitching his final game as a member of Well Swung, Andrew “Rook” Moon walked off the field a champion. As rain poured down, Well Swung won its second consecutive Senate Softball League title with a 19-5 victory over Hawk and Dove.
The championship game featured two of the best teams in the league: the defending champs and the 2005 trophy winners. For four innings, the game was a defensive showdown, with the score 4-2 prior to a two-out Well Swung rally in the fifth. Well Swung put seven runs on the board in the frame, none of which would have happened if not for an outfield error.
With the third out an easy fly-ball catch away, the Hawk and Dove fielder dropped the ball, allowing Well Swung first baseman Chris Sarley to reach first base and bring the bats to life. Allie Bowman, one of many stellar Well Swung hitters, followed with an RBI single. Four hits and four runs later, Nick Falvo stepped to the plate and smashed a bases-clearing triple, bringing the score to 11-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, Well Swung cemented its 2009 championship. With two runners on base and one out, a ball was hit hard toward second base. Making a tremendous running stab, shortstop Mark Chandler stepped on second for the force out and fired the ball to first for the double play.
The inning over, Well Swung returned to the plate swinging hot bats. Captain and tournament MVP Canon Sobay started things off with a double, and then the combination of Sarley, Bowman and Chandler started another offensive barrage that ended with seven more runs and the lead stretched to 18-2.
“Winning back-to-back titles feels great,” Sobay said. “We got great pitching and our girls really picked us up a lot.”
Hawk and Dove was congratulatory in defeat. “It was a long day and a good tournament. We lost to a good team,” captain Michael Carr said.
While Hawk and Dove played great team ball, middle infield — shortstop Pete Boyle and second basewoman Kathleen Gillooly — stands out. Carr’s team advanced to the championship game by beating the Bayh Partisans in the Final Four.
The Partisans’ appearance in the Final Four was a surprise to some. The team, consisting mostly of staffers from the office of Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), scored one of the biggest upsets of the day when it knocked off the Lucky Spuds in the second round, 13-5. The Spuds went undefeated in the regular season and were considered by many a favorite to make the Final Four.
“That was huge,” Partisans third baseman Wylie Chen said of the victory. “We were shocked.”
Captain Jon Stahler added, “There is nothing moderate about our offense.”
The Bayh Partisans were not the only Cinderella story of the weekend. The Palmetto Pineapples advanced to the Elite Eight, knocking off the Regulators and People of the Sun, two teams with a combined regular season record of 19-2. The Pineapples, a self-described “ragtag bunch,” would not have advanced so far without what may have been the best play of the day.
Pineapple outfielder Steve Hartell slapped a ball into the outfield, and second basewoman Andrea Gillespie made a wide turn around third and headed home. The throw to the plate was in time, and People of the Sun pitcher Josh Brown dove to tag Gillespie out. Instead, Gillespie leaped in the air, jumping over the outstretched Brown and safely tapping home plate for the run.
The Pineapples’ run ended when they faced the Capitalist Tools in the Elite Eight. Earlier in the day, the Tools scored a quality win of their own, knocking off 2007 champions RBI’s of Texas in the Sweet 16. That game was the best played all day, ending on a walk-off hit by Keith Hall. With the game tied at seven in the Tools’ last at-bat, Hall hit a deep shot to center field, bringing in the run to win 8-7.
“I let my team down pretty much all game, so I knew it was time to come through,” Hall said after the game. The Capitalist Tools comprises Heritage Foundation employees, but their tournament ended when they faced the Well Swung buzz saw.
“We felt pretty good about it. They are the same team that beat us last year,” Capitalist Tools captain Brian Darling said.
Well Swung won all of its games by double digits, including an intriguing Elite Eight matchup with the LC Miller Lites. Both Well Swung and the Miller Lites, a team representing the Library of Congress, were undefeated going into the game, which Well Swung won 16-5.
“They’re a good team,” LC captain Al Wallace said. “They beat us fair and square.”
The entire Well Swung lineup hits well. Kate Frawley, Dave Liola and Patrick Bransford could be the best players on many other teams; however, on Well Swung they are cogs in a run-scoring machine. Both Bransford and Sobay hit home runs that cleared fences more than 250 feet away.
If Well Swung was the headliner at the Senate League tournament, cold rain was the understudy. Falling sporadically in the early morning, the rain grew steadier as the day progressed. By the time Well Swung faced Hawk and Dove for the championship, it came down hard and the few fans in attendance held blankets over their soaked rain gear.
Despite the bad weather, the fields held up remarkably well. The facilities at Bolling Air Force Base are top-notch, as was the hospitality of the Air Force staff. On a clearer day, the well-manicured fields on the bank of the Anacostia River would provide a scenic backdrop for the trophy presentation.
Instead, Well Swung players accepted their second straight trophy while caked in mud and soaking wet. The conditions did not affect the players’ celebratory mood, proving smiles and high-fives must be waterproof.
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