NPC Softball

No Championship, but a Big Win

Jonathan Salant — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:03:29 +0000

The NPC softball team concluded its 2008 season by winning one of three games in the MMSL playoffs, losing to Allbritton and knocking out top-seeded Gazette before succumbing to Atlantic Video.

In game 1, NPC scored three runs in the top of the first, only to have Allbritton score four in the bottom of the inning. The score stood 4-3 until the fifth, when Allbritton put the game out of reach with four more runs. Final score: 9-5. In game 2, Big Blue scored four in the top of the first and never trailed, defeating the Gazette, 8-4. In most of its wins this season, NPC used strong defense to hold down its opponents, and this game was no exception. In game 3, Big Blue failed to score in the top of the first despite getting the first two runners on base, and wound up trailing, 4-0, on four unearned runs after four. AV broke it open with four in the fifth and four in the sixth, winning, 12-2.

The victory against the Gazette was Big Blue’s first playoff victory in more than a decade, and ensured that the playoffs would be as big a success as the season was.

Come Join Us

Jonathan Salant — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:41:16 +0000

Press Club members are invited to come and watch the softball team in action this weekend in the annual Metropolitan Media Softball League playoffs. The games will be played at Cabin John Regional Park, near Montgomery Mall and the same park that hosts Shirley Povich Field and the Bethesda Big Train college baseball team. Come on out!

Final Layhill Division Standings

Jonathan Salant — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:59:18 +0000


#Atlantic Video	10-4	9-1	–
#National Press Club	9-5	7-3	1
#Team Video	7-7	6-4	3
Assocated Press	7-7	5-5	3
Examiner	3-10	2-7	7
City Paper	0-13	0-9	10

#- clinched playoff berth. First column is overall won-lost record, second column is divisional W-L record, and third column is games behind the division champion.

Playoffs Preview

Jonathan Salant — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:51:40 +0000

National Press Club

2008 Record: 9-5/No. 11 seed

2007 Record: 8-8

Coach: Jonathan Salant

Key Returning Players: IF/OF Sarahanne Driggs, 3B Frank Fuhrig, 1B/OF Mike Diegel, P Ryan Donmoyer.

Valuable New Additions: IF/OF Clay Kaufman, IF/OF Henry Brier, P/OF John Domen, 2B Dana Brown, C/OF Melissa Robinson, OF Ken Giglio.

Key To Success This Season: The addition of Brown enhancing an already strong female core, and the return of Clay Kaufman and wife Melissa Robinson, as well as Ken Giglio, who added depth and helped both offensively and defensively.

Likely Key to Success in the Tournament: “It depends on how many of our best players can make it,” says Salant. “We will be missing some key players, including Domen, our second pitcher; Staci Maiers and Ken Giglio. But we had only eight men show up when we defeated Team Video and AP on the last day of the season to make the playoffs, so if we have good players at the most important positions, we’ll be competitive. The other key is that we need to bring our A game defensively.”

Team Other Than Your Own You Think Will Win the 2008 Tourney: WRC

Fun Fact: Big Blue notched two huge wins over Team Video and AP on Final Day to earn its way into postseason.

The Skinny: If this bunch can get past Allbritton in its first game of the day, watch out. Won’t get rattled in low-scoring matchups, and its female players are a good bet to come up big.

Playoffs

Jonathan Salant — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:39:16 +0000

The National Press Club returned to the MMSL playoffs in spectacular fashion, scoring six runs in the first and five in the second en route to a 13-2 pasting of Team Video, including five strikeouts (four swinging) by Ryan Donmoyer. NPC had its first six batters reach base, and a series of Team errors gave Big Blue extra outs in a reversal of the first game between the clubs. Frank Fuhrig, Clay Kaufman, Dana Brown and Jonathan Salant played a flawless infield, and Ken Giglio’s snag of a smash line drive to left field cut short any hope of a Team Video comeback.

A playoff berth in hand, NPC didn’t let up in game 2, defeating AP, 15-3 in six innings. NPC jumped off to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, scoring nine runs in the last two innings to win by the slaughter rule. Keiron Greenhalgh made his season debut with a pinch-hit single, and virtually the same lineup, offensively and defensively, held AP in check. Sarahanne Driggs turned a terrific double play with runners on first and third and one out, and then combined with Kaufman, who went deep into the hole at shortstop, for a force at second to kill another rally.

More details will be posted on the press club softball blog next week.

Playoff seedings will be posted later at mediasoftball.net. But this much is certain: We’re in with a 9-5 record.

Three Inches

Jonathan Salant — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:49:31 +0000

About three inches is all that stood in the way of a doubleheader sweep and a first-place tie in the Layhill Division for Big Blue Saturday. With two outs and the bases loaded in a tie game in the top of the sixth inning, Bill Holland launched a line drive over third base, only to see the third baseman grab it at the top of his mitt. A few inches higher and it would have been a two-run single. Instead, Atlantic Video got a run in the last of the sixth and won, 5-4.

In game 2, NPC overcame some early errors to rally and defeat the Examiner, 14-11, scoring four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to come from behind. The big blow was Mike Young’s grand slam home run.

NPC now stands at 6-4, tied with Team Video and AP for second place in the Layhill Division, one game behind Atlantic Video. (AP defeated Team Video last weekend.) More importantly, if the season ended Saturday, we’d be in the playoffs.

That’s what makes this weekend so important. We play the Gazette, which is having a terrific season, and Washingtonpost.com, which is not. AP has the same two opponents, so we need to match them in order to ensure that a playoff spot is in the balance when we play them in the last game of the season. Team Video plays AOL and WRC, and Atlantic Video has Comcast as an opponent, so we could pick up some ground with a strong performance. We beat the Gazette two years ago to win the division championship.

Big Blue at the Halfway Point

Jonathan Salant — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:50:35 +0000

After winning two of three games in 98 degree heat last weekend, the National Press Club went into the second half of the season with a 5-3 record, good for a tie for first place in the Layhill Division and good enough for a playoff spot if the season ended today.

Newcomers Melissa Robinson and her husband Clay Kaufman, Henry Brier, Kevin Mooney, Mike DeSenne, Ken Giglio, John Domen and Dana Brown have given the club a major infusion of talent. Brown, along with returnees Mieko Endo, Sarahanne Driggs and Staci Maiers, has given the NPC one of the strongest female corps in the league. and Domen has shared mound duties with Ryan Donmoyer, including pitching a 12-0 shutout against City Paper in game 3 last weekend.

NPC lost the opener of the tripleheader, 19-10, to Atlantic Video, on a lot of shoddy fielding, before beating AP, 5-1, thanks to an all-around strong defensive game led by third baseman Frank Fuhrig.

Six games are left in the season. Should NPC run the table, we’d be guaranteed the Layhill Division title.

First off are games against Atlantic Video and the Examiner this weekend at Layhill Park. NPC lost to AV and beat the Examiner earlier in the season. (The Examiner beat AV last weekend.) A sweep keeps us in the first place.

Believe it or not…..

Jonathan Salant — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:18:27 +0000

Yes, it rained again Saturday. NPC got one game in, defeating City Paper, 18-5, before game 2 was rained out. Looks like tripleheaders are in our future.

For our opponents’ view of things, check out their posting at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2008/06/02/shadows-softball-2008-in-which-god-emerges-as-a-city-paper-fan/

Maybe? Possibly?

Jonathan Salant — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:39:40 +0000

Who’d think that the Media League would go through the second month of its season without a game being played? The month of May ends this Saturday, and between one week off, two rainouts and the Memorial Day weekend, there have been no games played in more than a month. The weather forecast so far is favorable for the season to resume, and, if so, Big Blue has a doubleheader against City Paper May 31 at Layhill Park. A doubleheader sweep puts NPC right in the middle of the playoff race. Game time is 10:15 a.m.

Postponed Again

Jonathan Salant — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:44:04 +0000

For the second time in two weeks, the media league softball games were postponed due to wet fields. With the league off for the Memorial Day weekend, the next games are scheduled for May 31, weather permitting.