Softball begins next week!

DWTX EPISCOPAL COED RECREATIONAL SOFTBALL

SUNDAY AFTERNOONS - FEBRUARY 28, 2015 TO MAY 1, 2015 - 1:45 TO 4:00 P.M.

Teams will be Reconciliation, Holy Spirit, Mt. Calvary Lutheran and the "Lost Tribes" (basically everyone else - St. Francis/St. Mark’s/St. Thomas/St. Luke’s/St. Stephen’s/holdovers from the first game/etc.). Here are the first week's games:

Sun. 2/28/16

1:45 p.m. - Reconciliation vs. Holy Spirit 2:45 p.m. - Mt. Calvary Lutheran vs. the Lost Tribes

Time shown gives you 15 minutes for warm up. Games start promptly on the hour.

For the first four games (2/28/16-3/20/16) we will return to our long-time field, Rusty Lyons #2, at 6200 McCullough, 78212, just south of Basse Road. It is the middle of the three fields just east of McCullough, and is a great facility with plenty of parking so we won't have the hassles we had at Brackenridge Park early last season. Some suggested Lambert Field, which is also in Brackenridge Park, but I couldn't be sure we wouldn't have parking problems there on a Sunday afternoon as well. We hope to end the first half of the season with a hot dog cookout before Easter break. Here is a link to a map.

For the last five games (4/3/16-5/1/16) we will return to Dellview Park, where we played the last half of the season last year. It is a neighborhood park with on street parking at 507 Basswood Drive, 78213. It is not as first class as Rusty Lyons, but it worked well enough for us last year. We will have some special "house rules" (see below) to play at this park. We hope to end the season with another hot dog cookout. Here is a link to a map.

We're happy to announce that Frank Sutter, long time player for St. Mark's who served as our volunteer ump last year, has agreed to serve again this year when he's in town. Thanks, Frank!

Many thanks to Jennie Lou Leeder and Corey Mowen, who have volunteered to bring the equipment if I have to be out of town. This is a recreational league so great athletes are not required. If you're looking for competitive, "city league"-type play, this is NOT it. We have to be able to make allowances for all skill levels, because anyone who shows up and wants to play, gets to play, even if they only come once during the season. We play our games on Sunday afternoons between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. Depending on turnout, we have been choosing teams among whoever shows up the last couple of years.

Here are the "house rules." Slow pitch softball is played with a high arc (six to ten feet) on the pitched ball. There will be ten players on the field, and at least four should be female. We can have more than four women, but preferably no more than six men. We can usually use more females than we get. A boy of middle school age can count for one of the female positions. This is a family event, so please feel free to bring your kids. Some teams play more seriously than others, so I would recommend that kids be of at least middle school/junior high age, preferably with some experience in an organized baseball/softball league. There are no leadoffs or stealing bases. Men and women are rotated in the top of the batting order, with the extra men at the bottom of the lineup. If a man takes a walk, the next woman may also walk if she chooses. No team can score more than six runs per inning. We will give three (swinging) strikes to men and four (swinging) strikes to women (unless a woman does not want the extra strike - some of our less athletic players are happy to have it). There will be no walks so there will be no called balls or strikes. Please play in the spirit of Christian generosity. Don't be too picky and let "good enough" balls go by to wait for one right down the middle. Our volunteer ump will call outs on plays at the bases. Once we move to Dellview, this field has a good size outfield, but there is no outfield fence. There is a sidewalk curving around roughly where the outfield fence should be. If the ball rolls past the sidewalk it will be considered out of play and we will invoke the "one base on an overthrow" rule like we do when throws to first go past the dugout to the perimeter fence. There is a fence around the entire park, which is surrounded by homes. If any hits exit the park there is a possibility of damage to cars, so if there are any "macho man" hits over that fence, that will be an automatic out. There is a permanent soccer goal near the right field line. The batting team will need to provide a "spotter" out there to warn the right fielder just in case they are totally concentrating on the ball.