It’s a sight everyone can see, but those who play can truly appreciate it. A freshly cut outfield paired with a nicely dragged infield and lines on the field meticulously drawn with titanium white chalk. Can you hear that? It's as if the field is alive; calling out to teams saying, “It’s time to play ball.” For me, looking at a baseball/softball field brings me back to my youth. It takes me back to being 11 and playing baseball with my friends in the summer. I didn’t have a care in the world and had nothing to worry about except what to do if someone laid down a drag bunt to third with a runner on first or what the “team mom” was going to provide for us after the game. Flash forward 20 years and while I have changed, the rules and the game have not.
Due to scheduling conflicts, contract negotiations gone awry and unruly fans, The Lions almost didn’t have a team playing softball this year. Manager/Director of Team Relations
Emily Pearson nipped any thoughts of not having a team in the bud and told me that “We will have a team this year.” Eventually, The Lions decided that it would be a good idea to merge with another law firm in Charleston. Enter
The McNair Law Firm d/b/a The Mighty McNair Machine. Jim Trabert from McNair and I had a few discussions at the end of last season about joining forces, but never really acted on them until we both discovered when it was time to pony up this season, both teams didn’t have enough horses to fill our respective stables. After the “Commissioner” of the league agreed to the merger – the
team of McWhaley was born – the Commissioner chose that name, we didn’t.
On Thursday, May 21st among dark clouds and scattered showers McWhaley’s season began against
Clawson & Staubes and The Joye Law Firm d/b/a The Good, Bad & Ugly (GBU). We lost the coin toss so we were the visiting team. Even with the merger of two teams, we found ourselves short one woman. I think it was because of real estate (yeah, like that’s BOOMING now), kick ball (uh – what?) or atty-type work. In any case, GBU allowed us to take an out for the missing woman so we did not have to forfeit.
In our first at bat, we couldn’t manage to score any runs and GBU jumped out to a 0-5 lead on us after 1. It just took an inning to get all of our players to get familiar with each other’s style of play. After 2 innings, we managed to score a run and so did GBU making the score 1-6. The third inning, our bats started to come alive and we managed to stop GBU’s scoring onslaught to tie the game 6-6. Our defense tightened up after the 1st inning and the game remained tied until the top of the 5th inning – when McWhaley turned the dial up one more notch on their bats. After the 5th inning, the score was 14-10 and the McWhaley bats remained hot and the defense did its job in the remaining innings. When all the dust settled and the final out was recorded, the final score was McWhaley 22 – GBU 12. This was a pretty impressive score especially being one woman short and having to take an out every time “she” was up to bat.
Since we have so many new players, let’s meet the line up from last night’s game:
Jay Harper (McNair) – Jay played third base and was a helluva lead off man. He hit really well and showcased his wheels (that’s speed for you lay-people) solidifying his spot as lead-off man. I want to say he had an in the park home run in the game. He also played heads up ball in the field – one such instance prevented GBU from scoring a run when Jay left his position at third to cover home and was able to tag the runner out at home.
Mel Mason – Familiar face for The Lions. Mel played as a Rover in the outfield. She made a pretty good catch for an out, but was even better was her bat in the game. Mel usually blames poor pitching on her lack of hitting. I guess the pitching was spot on this game because I think she went five for five. Good job Mel!
Donn Ilagan – Hey, that’s me! I was the Designated Hitter in the game. And I pitched some.
(Such Modesty Donn-for the record, I believe Donn was 4-4.-JET)
Andre Ilagan – Yes, we are related. Andre played in left field and played solidly out there managing one assist to Jay Harper at third for an out and making grabbing a handful of popups for outs in left. He also was hitting the ball really well – with the exception of one where he dropped his shoulder. Basically, it was his usual performance. I think Andre is going to be a contract player for us. Contract negotiations are still ongoing.
Jay Alexander (McNair) – Yes, when Jay Jones finally shows up for a game, we will have THREE Jay’s. Jay Alexander is a helluva player. He dug in at short stop and had an impressive showing there. One play that stands out to me was when he cut off a throw from center field and threw a pea home to Jay Harper allowing Harper to tag the GBU player out preventing the run from scoring. He also swings big lumber – I want to say he had an in the park home run in one at bat as well.
Jim Trabert (McNair) – Jim is the Co-Captain of McWhaley. He played in Right Field and was also my pinch runner. He had a good game in right complete with a shoe-string catch for an out. His bat was also solid – errr, well, except for one running bunt – but he got on base and eventually scored. He does need to remember who’s in front of him when he’s running bases though.
Bryant “Nails” Pearson – Bryant played Center field and did well there. I heard a rumor that he said he was too old for this, but he didn’t show it in the field. He grabbed three or four pop ups for outs in the field and his bat was pretty solid too. The only thing that was missing was that “Charlie Hustle” that we’re used to seeing. It was only the first game so there’s still time.
Matt Cavender/Blake McKie – Matt and Blake are BWPH’s summer law clerks. Matt played the first half of the game at 2nd base and Blake took Matt’s place in the second half. Matt hasn’t played ball in a while so he was a little rusty, but it’s like riding a bike – your mind always remembers. He had a decent showing both in the field and at the plate. Blake also had a good showing in the field and at the plate. He hit the ball hard. I’m not going to bag on Blake because I don’t know him very well yet, so all I will say is this – just watch the ball in play.
Karen Clark – Karen played Catcher and was the team’s cheerleader. (Actually, we did have one fan in the stands last night – We had a Shirley Cosmos sighting) Karen surprised many of the GBU players and had a couple of decent hits.
Shawn (I don’t know his last name, sorry – but he’s from McNair) – Shawn played first base and pitched to me when it was my turn to hit. Shawn did a good job at first when the ball was actually not thrown over his head and he hit the ball well. AND he also managed not to strike me out – that’s always a plus.
Mystery Girl – Well, she didn’t play well because she wasn’t there. She didn’t interact well with the team because she wasn’t there and she didn’t hit well – because she wasn’t there. What she DID do was get an out every time she was up to bat. But I’m not bitter – we still won, but it would have been nice to put someone’s name in the spot.
After the first game, the outlook for McWhaley looks bright and the merger so far is a success. The main issue will be consistency. Will we be able to remain consistent in our play with the people who will show up to each game? Let’s hope so.
If this first game is any indicator of what the rest of the season is going to be, you can expect great things out of McWhaley. Our next game is Thursday, May 28th against the Solicitors at the Navy Base. Game time is 6:00 – hope to see you out there!
- Donn
