OLD SCHOOL WNPSC SOFTBALL

Donnie Stance of Crittle's Critters.

I located some photos I thought you might find amusing. They were poached from Dave's Mack's AFGE Local 1122 Group on Facebook. (Clicking on the photos will enlarge them.)



When WNPSC relocated from San Francisco to Richmond in the mid-1970s, our office building wasn't home to the San Francisco Regional Office, the Teleservice Center, the Richmond Field Office, the gym, or the childcare center. All of those things came much later as our office was transformed from WNPSC to the Frank Hagel Federal Building. But we did have organized recreational sports. There were track meets, several bowling leagues, a volleyball league, and of course, a softball league.

THANK YOU, PETE SPENCER

I snapped a few photos at Pete Spencer's retirement party today. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get everyone together for a team photo with Pete. We did manage to gather a few members of our Richmond Bombers tournament team for a photo. We can only hope our next Regional Commissioner will be a man of the people (unless he's a she) and a supporter of our softball league the way Pete was. Pete was at Nicholl Park the day before his retirement shindig to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at our league's championship game. I'm adding some photos from the championship game as well as some shots from Pete's appearance at our game with the Mod Squad. So long, Pete.We'll miss you.

STATS

I saw Quinton at the championship game yesterday. He mentioned that some of you guys had a bet on who would have the highest batting average this season. Maybe there were some other bets too. For the record, here are the stats:

BATTING AVERAGE (BA)
.821 Carlos
.771 Quinton
.683 Brandon
.680 Richie
.615 Derrick

PLAYERS CHOICE SOFTBALL

Mariza plays Tuesday nights in Hercules with a team called "Players Choice." Her teammates include several women from our FHFB softball league. Among them are Rachel from the TD's, Khala from SWAT, and former Bricks, Darlene (Str8 Ballin), Lena and Gena (Str8 Ballin). Gena's husband, Darryl (Str8 Ballin), is also on the team. Their league championship game was played last night at Hannah Ranch Park. Unfortunately, they came up on the short end, 13-7. (I thought I heard the umpire say the final score was 12-7. If so, he missed a run, not that it really matters.)

A group from the office came out to show their support. Richie (with son), Mamie, Leretha, Kathy, Mavis, Ken, Regina, The Coach, and myself were in attendance. Here are the photos I shot at the game:

LEAGUE ALL-STAR GAME & BARBECUE

Our annual All-Star game and barbecue were held this afternoon at Nicholl Park. I think we set a new record with our All-Star game starting only about thirty minutes late. Once we got it going, the game was a lot of fun for players and spectators alike. As usual, it was more of a pick-up game than an All-Star game as anyone who wanted to was able to play..

Once the game concluded, the hungry players and spectators marched over to the picnic area of the park to enjoy an enormous selection of ribs, burgers, links, salads of all sorts, baked beans and desserts. The feast was incredible and it was great to spend the afternoon hanging out with our friends and colleagues from the office.

PREPARING FOR THE UNTOUCHABLES

The only feedback I received about this week's practice was four requests to skip practice on Monday and hold a light workout on Wednesday. That's what we will do..I'd like to get everyone a few swings and a few reps at the position they're likely to play on Thursday. We'll be playing without Richie and Mariza throughout the playoffs (as long as we remain alive) so there will be some defensive adjustments.

So let's make every effort to be at Washington Park on Wednesday at 5:00. If we can get started on time, we should be done in time to zip over to Nicholl Park and catch the end of the playoff games.

OUTLAW TOURNAMENT

Another Outlaw Tournament was held this weekend. This time it was in Fresno and several of us participated. We return from Fresno with good news and bad news. The good news is, we won the tournament championship. The bad news is we lost Richie and Mariza for the rest of the season.

It's a pity this tournament couldn't have been held after our season was done. We've already been hit with season ending injuries to Lawrence and Gabrielle and now we have to carry on without Mariza and Richie in the playoffs.

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

The results of yesterday's games confirmed that our opponents in the first round of the playoffs will be the Untouchables. We play next Thursday, 5:15 at Nicholl Park #2.

Our last meeting with the Untouchables was our low point of the season. We had to play with six of our women absent and we lost Gabrielle to a season ending injury before the game was called by the umpire for conduct issues instigated by one of our opponents.

For our rematch, we need to be prepared. We know they have a player who will attempt to disrupt our focus.. It's imperative that we tune him out and ignore all attempts to distract us. We can do our talking with our bats and gloves. If we have a good practice and stick to our game plan, we can win this game and keep playing for another week. If we show up unprepared and let their antagonist provoke us into another meltdown, our season will be over.

TD's 20, PC BRICKS 18

It was a noble effort yesterday. We almost pulled it out despite being extremely shorthanded. A special tip of the cap goes out to Mamie and Stephanie who stepped up for us once again. Without them we would have forfeited the game.

Luckily, it was a game we didn't need. We were going to finish in fifth place whether we won or lost. From here on out, the games mean something. The experimentation time is over.

It's almost a lock that our first round playoff game will be next Thursday against the Untouchables at Nicholl Park #2.

It's important that we get everyone to practice Monday. We continue to shoot ourselves in the collective foot with the kinds of mental mistakes that are common of teams that do not practice. Gentlemen, you know we have a surplus of male players. If you skip Monday's practice, don't come to the park next Thursday with expectations of playing. That goes for all of us.

We have a solid core of about six players who show up to our practices regularly. That isn't enough for us to perform our drills. When you don't come to practice, you are not only hurting yourself but you're hurting your teammates whose sharpness is dependent upon your participation. For your team, PLEASE get to work early enough on Monday to reach practice at Washington Park by 5:00. The same six players can't carry this team through the playoffs on their backs. We need EVERYONE to pull together and contribute.

LAWRENCE'S THUMB SURGERY

The surgery on Lawrence's thumb was performed yesterday. Evidently, Lawrence found the only surgeon in the country who wasn't playing golf on a Sunday morning.