PRACTICE - THURSDAY, MAY 12

This is a reminder about Thursday's practice at Pinole Valley Park at 5:00. If you don't know how to get there, click here for directions and a map. You can also check the "Park Locations" listing over in the right column. Scroll down a little and you'll find it



MONDAY NIGHT"S PRACTICE SESSION

Last night’s practice under the lights at Fernandez Park was a good one. Those in attendance were Nina, Carlos, Mandi, Gary, Rita, Richie, and myself. We fielded some flies and grounders and had a couple of rounds of batting practice before calling it a night.

We looked pretty solid for our first time out. The only negatives to report are some minor bumps and bruises and the annoyance of the numerous gnats that were drawn to the area by the lights.

I thought it was a good diamond for us to practice on until Nicholl Park opens up. What do you think about practicing here on Monday nights each week until our season starts?

FIRST TWO PRACTICES SCHEDULED

We have two practices scheduled next week. The first will be 8:00 PM Monday night at Fernandez Park in Pinole. Please try to arrive a little early so you'll have time to get your equipment ready and loosen up before we take the field at 8:00. We have the field rented for two hours and it would be a shame to waste any of that time on anything other than playing ball. I expect to arrive around 7:30.

Our second practice will be 5:00 PM Thursday at Pinole Valley Park. Again, please try to arrive early so we can maximize our two hour rental.

ROSTER UPDATE

As most of you have heard by now, James has opted to join the TSC Outlaws this season after three seasons with the PC Bricks. Also, Lena has decided not to play this season.

Chiniqua informed me that she most likely won't be able to play this year because of injuries and time constraints.

We picked up a new player as we added Kedi Seyoum to the team. She works with Nina and Brandon at FO 976 in Berkeley. (How much longer before they boot Brandon back to Richmond?) Welcome to the team, Kedi!

LEAGUE NEWS

There's going to be a vote on some important issues at this week's league meeting. Here are the notes I received from our commissioner, Paul Martin:
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"We have some items to vote on for next week:
1- Allowing each team to have up to 2 outside women play this year.
2- Allowing the “Untouchables” to have 1 outside man this year only.
3- Game days to be on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of Wednesdays and Thursdays.
4- Allow the City team to participate this year? (If not allowed and we only have 9 teams, each team will have 1 bye week during the season, and the last place team will have to be eliminated from the playoffs.)

During the meeting, 4 teams had a need for about 2 additional women, prompting the vote for next week to allow 2 outside women per team. Darriel’s requesting a woman’s husband be allowed to play as his team is short men due to last minute roster losses. (He states he’s not a “ringer”)

We are looking for registration fees by May 13^th (payday).  The fee is $35 per player.  I’m looking into what days we can have practice fields secured and will get back to everyone.  A few teams were requesting Thursday only games, thus is why we are voting for Tuesday instead of Wednesday game days next week.
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Any thoughts?

SCHEDULING OUR FIRST PRACTICE

I'm off work this week for my daughter's spring break but I'm still working to get some practices scheduled. Brandon is going to get things sorted out with the diamond at MLK Memorial Park. If it won't be available to us right away, I'll resume my efforts to get us a diamond in Pinole. I expect our first practice will be next week at the latest.

ALL-STAR D30 INNER GLOVE - SoftballJunk.com



The d3o Inner Glove by All-Star



I saw this inner glove for fielders at SoftballJunk.com and wondered if anyone on the team has tried one. I wear a batting glove inside my softball gloves to protect the lining from the perspiration on my hand. It occurs to me that a glove such as the one shown here would be much better than a batting glove. A batting glove isn't always an easy fit inside the softball glove and this glove has padding to protect the wrist, palm and fingers from hard hit or thrown balls. Also, the fingers have a tacky surface to provide a better grip inside the softball glove. I think it's a very good idea and I might just have to order one..

IS IT PC FOR US TO BE THE PC BRICKS?

I wasn't involved in the naming of our team. I was told the name Bricks was inspired by the brick facade of the Frank Hagel Federal building. I'm not sure why "PC" was added to the name. The majority of us work in the WNPSC ("PC" for short) but we also have employees from the Richmond TSC and now the Berkeley FO.

Before the 2009 season I suggested that we drop the "PC" part of our name and just be the "Bricks." However, nobody else was interested in changing it. Brandon and I were talking about this last week and he agreed the "PC" part of our name doesn't really fit. He suggested I bring it up again.

Has the time come for us to stop being PC? We don't have to order new uniforms to drop it. We can do it in name only for now and drop it from the uniforms the next time we order a new style. What do you think?

WE HAVE A NEW PLAYER

Nina Makalena, a Service Representative at the Berkeley F.O., has joined the Bricks. She is an experienced player who should fit in very well with our team. Many thanks to Brandon for finding Nina while on his detail to the Berkeley office. We should be able to meet Nina in the next week or so when we get our first practice scheduled. Welcome aboard, Nina!

RUMORS, RUMORS, & MORE RUMORS

Hardly a day goes by without someone coming to me with a rumor about a player quitting our team or our team dropping out of the league. Mostly these rumors are completely false. A few have some basis in fact but have been so twisted and loaded with nonsense, they bear little resemblance to the truth. I urge you not to treat these unconfirmed rumors as the truth.

YANKEES VS PANTHERS

It was time for some Richmond Little League action after work yesterday as Carlos's boys on the Yankees had a game with the Panthers. Actually, Ace was out of action with an illness but Lefty put on quite a show. Here are some shots of the grand slam he hit in his second at bat followed by a video of the game. Oh, yeah. There's a picture of Lefty with his pop somewhere in there, too.

TARA HILLS BULLDOGS

Chiniqua's son, Jeremiah, had another game yesterday. I shot some stills and some video of his two at bats. He wears #10. You'll see some shots of the pre-game warm up with the coach using my Accubat to hit the team some flies.

MARIZA & MANDI WITH THE SMOKIN' ACES

The Smokin' Aces played at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill tonight with Mariza catching and Mandi playing first base. Mariza gave the new facemask a test drive and she reports it was comfortable to play in. Here are some photos and a brief video of one of Mariza's at bats.

RIP-IT FACEMASK FOR INFIELDERS

 Many high school and Bobby Sox softball leagues now require pitchers and infielders to wear facemasks to avoid facial injuries such as those suffered by Mandi, Lena, and Lawrence last year. I found one that came highly recommended by the staff at West Coast Sporting Goods. It's called The Defense and it's made by Rip-It.

Mariza says she would like to give it a try. After some arm twisting, Mandi said she might also go along with it. If this model fits well and isn't a hinderance to performance, I may buy a few more.

WHITHER THE BRICKS?

We got some good news about Richie -- his ACL isn't damaged as severely as was originally believed. His doctor has cleared him to play softball this year.

We also got some bad news. Darlene let me know that she won't be returning this year.

We're now at a point where our roster is dangerously low on women. We're down to Chiniqua, Mariza, Mandi, and Gabrielle. We know we're going to lose Mandi for a few games in the middle of the season when she gets married. Lena might be good for a few games. I talked to Rita Akpan (who played with us part-time in 2008-2009) and she expressed a desire to play. If Rita is firm in her commitment, that gets us close to the minimum number of women we need to play.

LEFTY & ACE IN ACTION

Carlos's sons are playing for the Yankees in the Richmond Little League. I rode up to see them play the Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at Nicholl Park. As circumstances would have it, the Yankees' coach had a last second engagement so the team was left in Carlos's hands. Carlos led the Yankees as if he were the coach all along. Here's some video from the game at Nicholl Park #2. Ace wears #8 and Lefty wears #12. If you prefer to see the video directly from You Tube, you can do so here.

JEREMIAH WAS A BULLDOG....

I went up to Tara Hills yesterday to watch Chiniqua's son, Jeremiah, play. His Little League team, the Bulldogs, beat the Giants 10-0. I shot some photos and got two of his at bats on video. He really belted the ball to leftfield in his second at bat. It was fun seeing the abolute joy on the faces of these kids playing ball. We adults can probably learn a thing or two from them.

SMOKIN' ACES

Mariza is playing on Tuesday nights for a team in Pleasant Hill, the Smokin' Aces. They play on the fields at the back of College Park High by the YMCA. Here is the schedule if you're interested in checking out one of their games.

ROSTER CHANGES

As I mentioned last week, we're losing several players this season. Gena and Lynecia won't be returning to play with us in 2011. There's a very good chance that Tanya won't be back either. Lena's schedule may not permit her to play this year or she may be available only for a few games at best. Marcus Van Hook is forming a new team with a group from his BA class.

GETTING STARTED IN 2011

It's time to dust off the blog and get things rolling for 2011.

Paul Martin called for a league meeting on March 31st to begin charting our course for the new season. Most likely, we'll be starting in June once the Richmond Little League's season is over and the diamonds at Nicholl Park open up. I'll let you know what transpires at the meeting.