41st SEASON SET TO BEGIN

2011 M Street Softball - schedule (WORD doc)

The start of the 2011 softball season is finally upon us as twenty-two teams are preparing to get their uniforms dirty while competing for the elusive M Street title. The league will start play on Monday, May 2nd with the first pitch being thrown at 6pm. Games will continue to be played through the week with start times at 6pm, 7:30, and 9pm. Aside from the usual drama that takes place during the course of a season at M Street, this year will be even more interesting to watch as the league board met during the off season and decided to make several changes. The one with the most impact was the hiring of a new crew of officials to work the games at M Street. For years there has been talk of bringing Amateur Softball Association (A.S.A.) umpires to the league but it never materialized until this year. On March 20th, the league committee unanimously voted in favor of making the switch to the ASA for the 2011 season. The ASA regional commissioner, Ray Alfonse, has assigned Jim Fanning and John Brooks to our league. We here at M Street extend a warm welcome to them and look forward to their continued professionalism both on and off the field. With the hiring of the ASA umpires, this also means the teams in the upper "A" division will be required to wear batting helmets while on deck, on base, and of course while batting. The league realizes this change may not be accepted by all but please understand it's for the safety of our players and is required by the ASA insurance company. Another key issue that was voted on was the banning of composite bats. Folks these bats are lethal and we are seeing more and more serious injuries to softball players in other leagues around the country. Batted balls come off these bats at 140+ MPH which leaves little to no time for a pitcher or corner infielder to protect themselves. Thankfully, the committee agreed and limited the bats to alloy/aluminum only. These bats are restricted to speeds of 98 MPH - that's an enormous difference which will certainly benefit the fielders. One rule change that we hope we don't have to invoke is the rule dealing with ejected players. Basically, the rule says that any player who is ejected from a game receives an automatic additional game suspension pending an appeal. Along with the rule changes we also saw two additional teams join the league for the 2011 season. Shenanigan's outfielder, Brian Pacheco, is leaving the defending champions to bring his talented team from Fairhaven and will compete in the top division. John Buckley is taking his Ole Rebels team from the Roslindale league and bringing them to M Street. We welcome both entries and wish them many seasons of enjoyable play. There was also some shuffling of teams within the three divisions. After enjoying two great seasons in the "B" division, Bob Carlson's Quencher Tavern team proved that they belong competing in the top division and have been placed there with the league's elite. Meanwhile, the Stingers and the Brewers will now battle in the "B" division while Clarke's and Murphy's Law will do battle in the "C" division. Last weekend, many of M Street's top players traveled to Windsor, Connecticut to compete in the Connecticut Invitational softball tournament. Players from Shenanigan's, The Nexus, Sidewalk Café, and Makepeace had great showings and represented the league well. In fact, it was the team (Hurricanes) mostly made up Nexus & Makepeace players that defeated team Thunder to win the tournament. Way to go guys! In closing, it's the 41st season of M Street Softball and it's shaping up to be one of the most competitive in years. With the rules changes made to protect the players and the hiring of the ASA umpires we feel that all of the necessary steps have been made to make this a memorable season. Games are played Monday through Friday starting at 6pm, 7:30, and 9pm. Have a great week and we look forward to seeing you at the field.