News and Announcements
June 28, 2008
7 games were scheduled to be played on June 28. After using the shop vac and another bag of Diamond Dry, games started on time and all games were played as scheduled. 4 of the 7 games were close with Union Chapel, Sugar Grove, Centerville Christian, and Bethesda Ministries picking up victories. In fact, both Sugar Grove and Bethesda came from behind to win in the bottom of the 7th inning. Hagerstown and Richmond First also won.
We were fortunate that the field dried nicely, and only a few brief showers fell. I'm beginning to think we're not going to have any Saturdays this season without rain. Thank you for supporting the Diamond Dry fund.
At the 4th of July break, New Life Holiness is the only undefeated team. 9 of the 11 teams are at or above a .500 percentage. Based on the results so far this season, any team can beat any other team in any game.
There are no games are scheduled for Saturday July 5; I hope everyone has a safe and blessed 4th of July holiday weekend. Also, there will be no practices or games at the Frakes Field (WNC) church ball diamond Monday July 7 through Friday July 11 due to Vacation Bible School at Williamsburg Church of the Nazarene.
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June 27, 2008
It has been raining this evening. We will not make a decision about the games scheduled for June 28 until 7:30 Saturday morning. We'll be at the diamond around 7 am to check things out.
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June 22, 2008
8 games were scheduled to be played on June 21. We started on time, without having to use the shop vac and Diamond Dry, which was a nice change. 4 games were close, 2 were forfeits, and 1 was a run rule. During the 6th game, a line of storms with lightning rolled through which resulted in a rain delay of around 40 minutes. The Bethesda Ministries - Galilean Baptist game was suspended after 3 innings with Galilean leading 9 to 7. At 4:45, softball started back up with Union Chapel and Galilean Baptist playing in what turned out to be one of the most exciting games I have seen. Union Chapel ended up winning 22 to 21 in 9 innings. Both teams played with a lot of heart. Other winners of close games included Williamsburg and Sugar Grove.
Several people called after 4 pm to ask if we were still playing or didn't show up for the last game because it was raining in Richmond and Centerville. The bottom line is, if Aaron, Doug, or I do not call coaches to notify them that we are canceling due to the weather, we are playing ball. We call coaches and I post notice on this website if we are canceling games due to the weather. If there's no call, we're still playing ball. It rained for about 40 minutes, but no puddles formed in the infield; the diamond absorbed the moisture.
The game times listed on the schedule are tentative. We won't start before the scheduled game time unless both teams are present and agree to start early. However, due to rain delays or games running long, games could begin after the scheduled start time. If it turns out that a game goes long and a team (or teams) ends up with players and/or coaches having to leave, you either play with who is left or will forfeit. If it's going to be an all day rain, which happened on June 7, we'll make the decision to cancel. If it appears to be a short term rain, which happened on June 21, we will go to a rain delay and will resume play as soon as possible. We will not play ball if we deem the field is not safe. I will not ask you to play if I would not be willing to play myself.
I still am asking coaches to let me know when you might be able to play during the week. There were 7 games rained out on June 7 and I'm not sure when we can play those. I may still revise the schedule so each team plays 8 of the other 10 teams during the regular season. I'll let you know.
We have collected enough money to buy 4 additional bags of Diamond Dry; thank you very much for helping us out!
Chris
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June 15, 2008
It turned out to be a beautiful day to play ball on Saturday June 14. Aaron and I spent 90 minutes removing water off the diamond using a shop vac, and applied 2.5 bags of Diamond Dry to the infield so games could start on time. We've used more Diamond Dry the first 2 weeks of the season than we used the entire 2007 season. Thank you to all who contributed money yesterday to allow us to purchase more Diamond Dry. I hope we don't need to use it each week.
5 of the 7 games yesterday were extremely close. Picking up wins were Williamsburg, Sylvan Nook, Union Chapel, Richmond First, New Life Holiness, and Bethesda Ministries. 5 players hit home runs. There were many outstanding defensive plays turned in.
We still have not made a firm decision on how to take care of the games that were rained out June 7. I have asked each team to let me know if they might be able to play during the week. The possibility exists that the July schedule will be revised and that each of the 11 teams will end up playing 8 of the other 10 teams. Playing on August 2 is not a possibility.
Again, if we need to postpone or cancel games due to the weather, coaches will be called and I will update the website as soon as possible. If you don't hear from me, we're playing ball and on schedule.
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June 13, 2008
4:15 pm. At this point in time, games scheduled for Saturday June 14 are still on. We will be at the diamond by 7 am tomorrow morning to look it over. The diamond holds up pretty well. We are going to try to play ball if at all possible. Any changes to tomorrrow's game schedule will be announced in the morning and we will call coaches of teams that play early games first. I'll also update this page as soon as I can.
Chris
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June 7, 2008
8:09 am. All games scheduled for today have been canceled due to the weather. Information on how and if to reschedule the games will be announced. Next Saturday, June 14, we will play the games scheduled for June 14.
Chris
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June 1, 2008
The 2008 Williamsburg Church Softball League season began on May 31, 2008. After an hour working on the diamond to get water off the infield, play began at 9 am. 5 games were played. Hagerstown, New Life Holiness, Centerville Christian, and Richmond First started the season with wins. In 5 games, 13 home runs were hit. It turned out to be a beautiful but windy day. 7 games are scheduled for next Saturday, June 7. Check for the schedule on the Schedule page.
Thank you, Aaron, for your work getting the diamond ready for play.
We are giving each church the opportunity to sign up to sell refreshments at the ball diamond one week. Bethesda Ministries has reserved July 19. Hagerstown Nazarene has signed up for August 9. United has signed up for June 28. Union Chapel has signed up for June 14. Current open dates are June 21, July 12 and 26, and August 16. Please e-mail Chris at carter.chris@yahoo.com to request a date. Refreshment reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis.
The following is the reservation schedule for softball practice this week: Monday: Hagerstown. Tuesday: Williamsburg. Thursday: Richmond First. Friday: Sugar Grove and Galilean Baptist. I am contemplating using 2 90 minute blocks for practices during the week (5:30 - 7:00 and 7:00 - 8:30. More details to be announced.
May 31, 2008, 6 am
Games are still on for today. I'll be at the diamond by 7 am. If today's game status changes, I will post the announcement here.
Chris
May 30, 2008
After 7 hours of work, the regular season schedule is now posted on the Schedule page. I reserve the right to verify that the printed schedule matches what is posted, and to modify it if it doesn't. In the event of rain, we will contact coaches, and the league softball board will make a decision as to if or how to reschedule games.
May 29, 2008
I have a rough draft of a 55 game schedule completed. I need to verify that I have each team playing 10 games and need to balance home and visitor game assignments, which I will do tomorrow. Assuming I've got each team playing every other team once and only once, I will publish the schedule on Friday May 30. It's not easy to play 55 games in 8 weeks when there are certain weeks that certain teams have requested to either not play or to play a specific time. I'll also distribute a printed copy to each team on Saturday May 31.
There are still a few teams that have not paid their $250.00 entry fee or contacted us to say you'll bring it to the diamond on Saturday May 31. We're counting on you to submit your entry fee by the deadline we established in April. The repairs to the fence (posts, rails, and concrete), new plate, pitching rubber, and gasoline (for material delivery) and Roundup have been more than I anticipated. We still will need to purchase 2 dozen additional softballs for the season and tourney.
May 24, 2008
Field maintenance is almost done. I'd like to say "Thank You" to Aaron McMillan, Milford Horner, Randy Calvelage, and Richard Butler for all your help today. We installed a new pitching rubber and home plate today, and have installed a mat in the batters box. It was great to pitch batting practice off a new pitching rubber.
Material was added to the infield, foul lines, outfield line, warning track, along the foul line fences, under the bleachers, and along the backstop. We'd like to say "Thank You" to Steve Burge for allowing us to use his truck to haul 60 tons of material to the diamond, and to Barrett Paving for the material. We'll add some lumber to the bottom of fence in a few places, but other than that and cutting the grass before next Saturday, it's time to play ball! Thanks to all who have helped with the diamond maintenance this season. Frakes Field is in the best shape I've seen.
I should have the complete regular season schedule available on May 30.
May 23, 2008
The May 31 Schedule of games is as follows:
9 am Centerville Christian (H) vs Bethesda Ministries
10:15 am Williamsburg (H) vs New Life Holiness
11:30 am Galilean Baptist (H) vs Richmond First
12:45 pm United (H) vs Hagerstown
2:00 pm Hagerstown (H) vs Union Chapel
Byes: Sylvan Nook and Sugar Grove
If we end up playing an 11 team round-robin regular season, each team will play each other once for a total of 10 games per team and 55 games total (11 teams x 10 games per team/2 teams per game). There will be 6 weeks of 7 games (game 1 starts at 9 and game 7 starts at 4:30) and 1 week of 8 games (game 1 starts at 9 and game 8 starts at 5:45). There will be no games July 5. The season will end July 26. The tourney will be August 9 and August 16. Pray for no rainouts.
If we don't play a full round-robin schedule, each team will play 8 of the other 10 churches, for a total of 44 games (11 x 8 divided by 2). After the May 31 game, there would be 39 more games, and we'd play games over 6 additional Saturdays. Assuming no rainouts, the tourney would start July 26 and conclude August 9.
There are no games or practices on Friday June 13 (wedding), Saturday August 2 (wedding and Community Days) and VBS is the week of July 7.
This Saturday, May 24, is a work day at the diamond starting at 9 am. Please help if you can. We need people, wheelbarrows, shovels, and rakes!
Please submit your $250 entry fee as soon as possible if you have not already done so. Thank you!
More to come... before we... Play Ball!
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May 20, 2008
Greetings one and all... It looks like we are going to be at 11 teams this year after all, so it's going to take me another couple of days or so to get the schedule out. By Friday I will at least have the game schedule for Saturday May 31 posted and distributed by e-mail.
The 11 teams in our league this year are:
1. Bethesda Ministries
2. Centerville Christian
3. Galilean Baptist
4. Hagerstown
5. New Life Holiness
6. Richmond First
7. Sugar Grove (returning)
8. Sylvan Nook
9. Union Chapel (new)
10. United
11. Williamsburg (down from 2 teams)
If you know of any specific days you must have a bye or a certain time game, I must know by this Friday, May 23.
Also, we still have work to do on the field as far as spreading material on the foul lines, outfield line, dugout, and around home plate. We'll also be installing a new pitcher's rubber and home plate and a mat in the right-handed hitters batter box. We are going to have a work session this Saturday, May 24 starting at 9 am. We can use help -- people, wheelbarrows, and shovels and rakes. I hope to see you there.
If we still haven't received your $250.00 entry fee, please submit that by May 28 to:
Williamsburg Church of the Nazarene
Church Softball League -- attn: Aaron McMillan
PO Box 707
Williamsburg, IN 47393
May 11, 2008
Ball diamond maintenance continues. We've had 30 tons of material for the infield and warning track delivered and have 30 more tons coming. It's still in piles; we need dry weather to be able to spread it. Please work around it as you practice this week. The fence repair is done. We hope to install the new home plate and pitcher's rubber next week, after the rest of the field work is done.
Bethesda Ministries will be participating this year; I still have not heard from Richmond First.
May 4, 2008
The organizational meeting for the Church Softball League was held on April 28. Churches represented were Centerville Christian, Galilean Baptist, Hagerstown Nazarene, New Life Holiness, Williamsburg Nazarene, United, and Union Chapel. Sylvan Nook was unable to attend. I have not heard from Richmond First or Bethesda Ministries. If you see someone from either chuch, have them contact me as soon as possible.
We have performed field repairs the last 2 weeks. 2 new posts were installed in left field. All the posts in the outfield from center field to right field were pulled up and put in concrete. We installed several new top rail pieces in the outfield, as well as on the entire fence section in front of the first base dugout. Please help us out by not climbing over the fence; please go around. Please stress this to your players.
We should be having several tons of material delivered this week in order to add to the infield, warning track, foul lines, and outfield line. We will be installing a mat in the right handed batters box to prevent deep holes from being dug. We may be having another work session on Saturday May 17. With Mother's Day being May 11, I don't know if we'll be having a work session May 10.
The outfield line is 73 feet behind the bases which are at 65 feet. The outfield fence is 265 feet from home plate at both the right field and left field foul lines.
Please remit your team's entry fee of $250.00 as soon as possible. I also need to know when you are unable to play so I can make the schedule. I'd like to have the entire schedule done by May 20 and not have to make changes this year.
April 15, 2008
It's time! Batter Up! We will be holding the coaches meeting for the Church Softball League on Monday April 28, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the Church in the Fellowship Hall. Please plan to attend or to have someone from your church team attend. If you can let me know at this meeting certain days that you need to request a bye or an early or late game time, please do so. I try to work those requests into the schedule the best I can.
The season will start on Saturday May 31. There is work to be done on the diamond that will prevent us from playing before then. We're going to have to do significant repair work on the right field outfield fence as well as the first base fence in front of the bleachers on the right side of the field. We're going to have to install a new home plate and pitcher's rubber, and are going to have to do some repair work to the infield in the vicinity of home plate.
The league fees for the year will be $250 per team, up from $225 the last 3 years. This raise is needed to cover the increased costs of softballs, gasoline, umpire fees, and field maintenance, among other things. Unlike other leagues, we purchase and provide softballs from part of your entry fee. You may make checks payable to the WNC Church Softball League, and mail them to the church or bring them to the meeting; we need your entry fee no later than May 28, 2008.
This year I anticipate we will be using yellow 12" Worth Gold Dot softballs that are .44 core and 375 (as opposed to the .47 core 525 we have been using).
We will not play the Saturday over Memorial Day weekend, and with the 4th of July being on a Friday this year, we will not play games on July 5th.
This year, the Church Softball League board consists of myself, Aaron McMillan, and Doug Shilts. I am looking forward to working with them for a successful season. I will be announcing contact information for all of us. I fully appreciate everything all of you have done for me during the time I have been associated with the league, and know that you'll continue supporting the league this year. There are some Saturdays that I won't be available this season, but we'll all be in good hands, in God's hands.
Banned Bat list update: As of April 15, 2008:
The following link contains banned bats that are marked as 2004 certified but are not permitted to be used:
Several bats that have been legal the last few years are going to be on the ASA banned bat list starting next year. Those of you that have used the Miken Freak or Freak Plus bats in the past will not be allowed to use them this season. If you're going to buy a new bat, please do NOT buy one that is on the banned bat list. The list of bats that will be banned starting this season can be found at:
Gift card update:
Thank you once again for gift card I received last September at the end-of-season awards pitch-in. I purchased two hybrid golf clubs to replace the 3 and 4 irons I can't hit. My surgeon told me I need to not play softball this year due to my knee. I need to stick to low-impact activities such as bowling, swimming, golf, and bicycling and avoid high-impact activities such as running and playing tennis.
January 12, 2008
It's been a long time between updates. I pray that God has blessed all of you in the months since our league tourney ended and the end-of-season awards pitch-in.
We had excellent turn out for the awards pitch-in. As always, I enjoyed the food and fellowship. Thank you so much for the gift; I didn't expect it and I greatly appreciate it. I still haven't decided what to use it on. I may not be playing this year, as I had another surgery on my left knee December 18. I'm currently undergoing physical therapy on both it and my right foot.
It is time to start planning for the 2008 season for the Church Softball League. We are 5 months away from the start of the season.
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