Pre Season Part Two Winter 2005

Sunday 2nd January 2005
Christmas has come and gone, and is the tradition of this year, I have resolved to keep up this diary a bit more frequently. Though to be fair, as it’s not about work and about the softball team not much has really happened. The team so far consisted of a pitcher, just need a catcher, an infield, a complete outfield oh and a few reserves wouldn’t go amiss either. This could be an interesting year, so time to start chasing up a few leads.

Thursday 13th January: James Baker
Lesson One for 2005: Want a softball team? Then scour the internet.
James had placed an advert on the local softball forum, but, due to that fact that he is a bloke meant he received no responses. Softball teams don’t need men, because all men who play softball are all great. They do however need women, because of course if a team isn’t doing well its because the women aren’t good enough. It’s precisely because of attitudes such as this that certain teams are short of women mainly because the blokes are total egotistical jerks and drives them away. Have to admit that in previous years I am guilty as charged, but that was the old me, new Billy is going to be all inclusive, even maybe warm and cuddly. Anyway back to James, his CV sounded impressive, he claimed he played baseball as a youth in the states, but when has the internet ever been the paragon of virtue and truth? Well, always worth a look, so e-mail sent and replied, agreed to meet up in the next few weeks.

Tuesday 18th January: Hayley Butt
Lesson Two for 2005: Reap what you sew.
In 2002, I agreed to help coach the Lloyds TSB works team, an extremely useful insight into how good or bad I can be when it comes to management. The first year they were awesome, the second year they disintegrated. Amidst the rubble stood Hayley Butt, who should have been playing Div One, fleet of foot, madness bordering on bravery when fielding at second and a good swinger. I was pretty determined to get her involved. If you don’t believe everything written on the internet, then Hayley clearly didn’t trust the content of my e-mail. Very self deprecating of her abilities, but the perceived flattery worked and she agreed to ‘give it a go’.

Monday 7th February: Steven Bunce
Lesson Three: There is always the mate option.
Arranged to finally meet up with James who was bringing a mate along, also interested in playing. We arranged to meet at the Hogshead in the Arches at the bottom of Gloucester Road. We ended up meeting at the Bishops Finger in the Arches, the venue hadn’t changed just the name. James and Steven are both doctors aged 27, married and eager to play softball. As stated in his e-mail James used to play short stop in Little League back in his stateside childhood. seems a confident chap, though when have you ever met a shy and bashful Doctor? Steven also comes across as a really nice guy. With respect to their marital status, there was no need to sell this on the dating angle, so having to sell softball to sportsmen was to be the tack of the evening. Steven plays rugby and goes running, so I guess that’s one of the outfielders sorted. Small world time, James’s wife works with my boss Kieran. Both agreed he (Kieran) needed to lighten up a bit, ‘takes things too seriously’.

Both were asked to look into female options, as for every boy there needs to be a girl. Which is a mantra I am beginning to repeat ad nausea.

Monday 14th February: Chloe Meitle
Lesson Four for 2005: It’s just a case of history repeating.
Every softball team needs a good first base, and they do not come any better than Chloe. Missed the last two seasons to injury, well, according to our old first team captain Piers Bentley pregnancy is an injury the 32 year old Paramedic didn’t take too much persuading to convince that a return to Softball was a good idea. Chloe and her slightly mad friend Henrietta Ridgeon were the heartbeat of the Leftfield Softball Deviants, they left at the very same time it began to get all too serious and the coincidence is not lost on me. Abiding memory of this now respectable married mother of one? Definitely the one when she found herself dancing in the roof beams of our clubhouse during the Bristol Softball Tournament in 2000. Not only is it a practice now officially banned by the ground authorities, but it is the benchmark that all future softball parties across the UK have been judged by. Now just have less than three months to sort out shift patterns to make her available for Softball, and also to work on persuading Hen to play along with us.

WEDNESDAY 16th FEBRUARY 2005 Michael Robinson-Moltke
Lesson Five: This is what we will call the Muppet Show
The Leftfield Softball Deviants is not my only legacy to the Bristol sporting scene. During the same time that I set up the softball team, I had gotten into my head that Oxfam would benefit greatly from the staging of rugby matches in University towns across the country. Until 1996, such contests were the preserve of Oxford and Cambridge, but during that year I spent an inordinate amount of time persuading Uni’s that it would work in their town. The first match was November 1996 between Bristol University and University West of England (aka Bristol Poly) and over the previous eight contests over 27,000 have paid their £5’s to various charities. The Bristol match was followed by a whole succession of matches around the country, either directly established by myself or heavily influenced by the Oxfam series. I genuinely hope that these are still going if any child of mine goes to University. Cos their aged dad is going to look cool.

Michael Robinson-Moltke was the captain of the UWE team during a four year period when overturning years of tradition they beat the Bristol team three years out of four, Bristol drawing the first one in the seventh minute of alleged injury time. Known to all as Muppet, the six foot seven inch second rower was always very polite and courteous when our professional paths crossed. During the last summer Muppet chanced upon me playing softball and also across a stunning woman called Tania, who was in the opposition. He stated he liked what he saw, and I think he didn’t mind the softball either. So, during the course of a typically raucous occasion not only did Muppet confirm his interest in playing he also reckon he could also get three netball girls to come along, which would have a pretty dramatic affect on the recruitment process. Bristol University won, but all in all it was a goodnight. Though, for the first time ever I didn’t go to the post match party, I have reached the point in my life when being in a room full of scantily clad 20 year old women just didn’t appeal. God, I hope it’s a temporary point.

Sunday 27th February: Matt Turrigiano
Lesson Six for 2005: The Yanks are coming.
Steeped in baseball, on secondment to Bristol, well, this was going to be a no brainer. Okay, he loves the Yankees, voted for George Dubya, was seconded to the Vineyard, and passionately believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, but he is going to know what he is doing. Had a quick chat on the phone, sounded really keen and said he played third base which meant half the infield is sorted and despite not signing off ‘Oakely Dokely’ he surely will be our teams Ned Flanders.

Sunday 6th March: THE LEAGUE TEAM
Spring training for the league team commences. In the US, Baseball spring training is conducted in the 70°+F temperatures of Florida and Arizona. In Bristol, this is conducted on the Downs, a vast expanse of public space in the middle of Bristol’s more affluent areas.

The sun is bright, the sky is a clear blue and we are enjoying temperatures of about 1°C. I don’t think I have ever played as well as I did today, that is played as well whilst wearing five layers, and a woolly hat. This was the first gathering of the 2005 squad, and it is pretty clear that I have a bit of work cut out if I am going to feature in this team. Gareth Preece, is running the squad and pitches, and the Great Britain pitcher, David Lee fresh from breaking up another Comp A team, is pledging his colours to the project. Ironically it is a project that I started.

During 2002 and 2003 the LSDs were representing Bristol in the Comp A nationals. Having qualified by beating all that Bristol had to offer, we found ourselves having to play teams from all over the UK that were strengthened immeasurably by over a dozen players from other Bristol teams, global gatherings under a convenient geographical name, just like a premiership football team. Historically, Bristol softball is club based, and if you wanted to play Comp A they either joined the top Bristol club, Raiders, Ge Wizz and now the LSDs, who were playing Comp A or as they normally did just join a London based Comp A team. I don’t think it was fair, and boy did it annoy me at times. So, instead of moaning about it, I thought I would do something about it.

In 2004, I changed the plan, and instead of a club side we became a league side. Gareth and Lillian from Orange started the trend and over the course of the summer, people such as Kirstie Leach and Rachel Down pledged a return in 2005. To complete the transition then managed to convince Gareth and Lillian that they would be the best people to front the project. Gareth wouldn’t need much persuasion as I would expect him to take over my position as pitcher after all it was exactly what I did to him in 2004. So, having got Bristol Softball the level playing field I desired cannot really complain if I am not allowed on it.

During the previous week I had a chat with Gareth, pledged my availability then checked the seven dates then find out that I am unavailable due to weddings and holiday for six of them. Looking forward to the one I can make, and Gareth promised I would be selected. He is going to be a good leader of this project and unless David throws the toys out of this pram, I might have to set up a B team or something in 2006.
Really enjoyed the training, mainly due to the cold it was a session dominated by fielding drills. It was the first time I had seen Mike Baptie and things were cordial. Piers, Bob and Leiza were also present. No one asked about the new team, just as well really considering we are a few numbers short of the full team. It does feel a bit awkward all of this, but, I am not going to hide away.

Monday 15th March 2005 Debs Holmes / Alex Parker
Lesson Seven: Experienced coaching and husband
Debated long and hard about this one, but I am going to need help on the sidelines to run this team. So, e-mailed Debs to ask if her and her husband Alex would be interested. I am sure I e-mailed her last Autumn and got no reply, but thought best to persevere. Her value is in her bluntness the ability to cut through bullshit, if I get anything wrong in terms of running the team I am going to be told to my face. What I hope is that the season’s objectives are clear and that she too has had enough of Comp A / Div One to actually sit back and relax. Well, she hasn’t got much option, she’s four months pregnant. I keep wondering about this but I don’t think at this moment I have an option.

So we just get Alex, who spent a whole season watching the LSDs first team and being ignored by most of the team, because Debs’s ex Clive was playing. Piers and myself talked to him, but it was all a bit awkward. What I did remember was that he actually looked good in training sessions he participated in, and, he’s young which again means that he can play outfield and run around.

Wednesday 16th March 2005
Oh the joys of putting a new team together, the following e-mail was received from Muppet in response to drumming up support for tonight’s social.

Billy,
I will hopefully see you at the Picture House later. However I may have had a nightmare on the female front. I've managed to recently have a rather messy split from my now X girlfriend. The result of this, is that in the short term the group of girls I was looking to put in the softball mix, are currently not really having much to do with me. I do however only see this as a short term problem. However I appreciate that's not very helpful for tonight's get together.
Muppet

WEDNESDAY 16TH MARCH 2005 Rachel Coggon
Lesson Seven: Organise a piss up in a bar
I am starting to get a bit worried on the numbers front, mainly that we have still yet to get any of the City Slickers on board. It seemed ideal time to try that and gather as many people as possible in a social sense. Hayley B brought along a work colleague Rachel Coggon. Claims that she played a few times for the Busi Bees but for the life of me I couldn’t remember her, she felt that might be because that she wasn’t very good. Well, we shall see. The two doctors turned up and Buncey said he had managed to get another girl Sonia Barnfield interested in playing. Might have snared a third girl, and all very 1995 as well, she was our waitress and being a Kiwi was up for it. Of course she was going back home for six weeks but when she returned she might be interested. Its like summer transfer speculation in the murky world of the Premiership, I will believe new people, when I see new people.

Texted Muppet during the evening and at 8.30pm received the reply;
‘Trying to patch things up with the Mrs. It may be for the good of softball, hope it goes okay tonight.’

Is it wrong for me to hope that Muppet does sort his love life out, solely because it will bring in three female players? Am I putting my happiness before his? You bet your sweet arse I am!