Back by popular demand...

It has been over a little over a year since our last post on the WW blog. After that last post we have received a steady stream of mail demanding that we activate the blog again. Through time the requests have become a little more desperate and in some cases threatening. We have also seen internet traffic reports for the site and we noticed an increase in site traffic since the last post. We would like to give in and start the site back up but if we were to do that, the terrorists would win. Instead, we have opened up a new siteand imported the old posts in so it's like we never left... Except for the fact that there hasn't been a post in over a year. I would like to thank all of the loyal fans who have waited patiently. Hopefully, we won't let you down.
Now it's time to get everyone caught up on the past year for WW softball. If I remember correctly, we lost the very next game after the last post. That loss demoralized the staff at HOTG and contributed to some of the factors that led to the shutdown of the old site. Despite the loss WW still won the league to make it 4 straight Friday A Championships. WW played well through the fall and summer but took some difficult losses and broke the championship streak. Since we won the spring league we were eligible for the end of season Tournament of Champions, but due to some paperwork issues WW was denied entry. There was an investigation into the rejection of the WW team and the official result was a technical glitch that affected the WW roster. An unnamed source (We can't say his name cause he was our lawyer and we wouldn't want to do him like that) close to the investigation said the problem was due to the mishandling of some paperwork at Plano P&R. We ended up settling out of court but it was pretty crazy.
The 2009 Winter meeting was a success. We picked up a full time player in Chris Heinrich, a power hitting infielder with speed. ZB was promoted to full time duty and is currently patrolling the outfield. Jay Jamison has committed to the team full time after spending a season with Austin Ave. Jay is an infielder that has been contributing in a utility role and is what we like to refer to as a 'softy'.
WW kicked off the season in the Pre-Season Tune-Up Tourny. Despite the 50 degree temp and winds of 30 MPH WW managed a 3-2 record. WW is currently 6-0 in the spring league. With two games to go WW is two games ahead of the 2nd place Budweiser. WW will face the queen of beers along with DHR next Friday (5/15) in a double header. WW will wake up early the next morning to play in the A league End of Season Tournament. We are still trying to decide how to handle the bye week this weekend since we don't play this Friday(5/8). There is some early talk of having a light BP session on Saturday and then recover at someones house nearby to discuss strategy and rehydrate.

And that's how you open up a season

WWSB started it's defense of three league championships Friday March 14th against the queen of beers. WW has done a pretty good job of handling Budweiser in the past and this past Friday proved to be no exception. Every WW player in the lineup reached the plate in the first inning putting the game out of reach for the brew crew. The game was highlighted by a breakout out performance by Big Daddy Rik. Riky went 4-4 with at least 5RBI and made a spectacular diving catch in the centerfield gap to rob extra bases and also had an outfield assist. I was nice to see Rik hitting P rods again as this will help boost the lineup while WW waits for Chris W. to come off of the disabled list. Next week will be a off week for WW and then we will take to the field again March 28th against ESI who has always played us though in the past. Questions surround the pitching staff as both Mike and Pete will not be available to make the start. The coaching staff may have to look to the young phenom JW to deliver Friday night. This would bring Rik in from the outfield to play short. Either way you slice it, the shorthanded WW team will have their hands full.

HOTG Blog : Your source for WW softball's latest breaking news... Two weeks later

After a lengthy off season WW softball hit the field in the Plano Pre-season Tournament. This Event combined A level with competitive AA giving us some of the toughest competition I have seen since I've been writing for WW. The boys opened up against Long Gone ( I think ). After a rough first inning where some IF errors spotted LG a couple of unearned runs WW offense was boosted by a Towering Bomb of the bat of Mathew Jenkins. WW was able to take a commanding lead and hold of a late surge from LG which included to HRs off of WW pitching. A two hour break in the action sent some of the guys over to Brooklyn's for a couple of pizzas and a cold beer to 'prepare' the team the long road ahead.
This is where things start getting a little fuzzy for me... Yeah, One beer will do that to me. While waiting for the next game to start Byron was traded to Long Gone (the team we played in the first round) as they were down a man... Hilarity ensued. Byron was stuck out in left field where he looked like a retard trying to hump a door nob. After getting burned a couple of times, he missed a routine flyball with a runner tagging at third and 1 out. Byron's comments about the play. "I felt pretty good out there, I beat the ball to the spot, I had the timing down for the throw to the plate and then the clouds parted for a brief second and the sun was right in my eyes. There was nothing I could do about it". This beats his last excuse of "I was running an a gopher just popped up out of the ground and tripped me". Byron hit well for LG sparking a couple of rallies sparking a late comeback and a LG win. The error machine that is Byron was then sent packing back to WW.
The next game on the clip for WW was against a AA team that hit lights out. These guys were pretty good and WW looked a little dead... Even though Pete brushed of a bruised elbow from a wild through throw during warm ups it wasn't enough to hang with what ever the hell that team was named. Needless to say we lost that one.
That loss pulled the team together as they were now 1 loss away from elimination. We played WW style softball for the next couple of games, stringing together hits and playing tight defense.
With a shot to make it to the final four WW faced off against Last Call. LC was beaten at the hands of WW twice last year and was hungry for revenge. Fatigue had started to set in for WW whose line drives were turning into fly outs. We were never able to really mount a comeback attempt or a late rally. If you ask me, I think we were all ready to pack it in and head over to Pete's for the cookout.
WWs finished the Tournament 5th place which isn't bad seeing as this was a combined A and AA tournament. The Defensive Player of the tournament goes to JW who was constantly make plays that a man wearing 3 leg braces should not be able to make. The Offensive Player of the Tournament is going to go to Mike C. It seemed like every time I came up to bat he was on base.
After last weeks rain out WW will play it's season opener March 14th against Budweiser at 8:00PM.

Pitchers, Catchers and Old Men Report

WW softball held a small workout this past Saturday at the High Point athletic fields in preperation for the February 23 preseason tournament. Nothing much to report here but here are some highlights.

-Those in attendance, JW, Al, Mike and Byron

-Mike's Z06 kicks some ass. Can't wait to see him and Brian race... what who said that.

-Not throwing for a while and then throwing again sucks.

-Infield looked pretty good, we should be ready in time for the tourny.

-We had a couple of rounds of good BP. Everyones back should be hurting by now.

WW Softball : Winter Meeting

In an attempt to reflect on the year and collaborate on ideas to improve the team for the coming season, WW softball meet at it's headquarters (Hooters) this past Friday. The meeting was also a chance to celebrate Mike C's Birthday who had just turned 50. Some of the guys meet at PESH to watch Mike's son Grayson play basketball for the Varsity Plano East team before heading out to the meeting. GC, a Junior at PESH was in the starting lineup and helped his team stick it to Lake Highlands.

Most of the players made it to the meeting but a small few were unable to break free of their ball an chain. It should also be noted that some players actually managed to bring their ball and chain with them. There actually wasn't too much reflection on this year but we all know that 2007 was a good year for WW softball. On the road to winning all three seasons this year, we only lost two regular season games and we were one win shy of taking an end of season tournament.

The main topic of conversation had nothing to do with softball... actually I don't even think there was a main topic of conversation. I just remember talking about how much I love going to Hooters. As far as personnel is concerned, the general consensus is that our team is just fine as it is and WW is not looking to sign any free agents. In other words no one has meet anybody who plays softball this off season. Also, everyone is hoping that Rory will be good to go this spring. The only important informationt that was relayed is that we will be entering the pre-season tournament in late February. It is the first time Plano has held a pre-season tourny but it should be a good chance to shake free some rust. No seriously... JW you might wanna make sure all of those braces that hold your legs together during the games are free of rust. Other than that everone ha a good time.

I can not believe what I just saw!

In what is being described by some as the greatest game ever played in the history of the franchise the WWs softball team erased three seperate deficits to defeat Last Call and take the outright lead for Plano’s Men’s A Friday League 81138. WW got down early giving up 4 runs in the first and then failed to score a run in the bottom half of the frame. After holding LC scoreless in the top of the 2nd thanks in part to the head games of TJ Campbell, WW missed an opportunity to cut the lead down and hung up another zero. It was finally in the last half of the 3rd when the WW bats woke up and put six runs up to take a 6-4 lead. WW however was unable to hold on to the lead and again found themselves trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh. Somehow the lower half of the WW order was able to scrape a run together in order to tie it up and send it into extras.
In the top of the 8th with two men on, a LC batter hit a sinking liner to left. Brian Macek took an aggressive angle in order to make the catch but lost the ball at the last minute. All runners scored and WW again trailed. Needless to say… Macek will have Boner of the week honors.
The bottom half of the inning had Macek leading off. Eager to atone for the missed line drive Brian led off with a double. Pete followed with a solid base hit moving Brian to 3rd. With Runners on the corners the Byron popped out to left center allowing Brian to score and Pete to advance to second on a pure hustle play by Pete. Scott then popped out to left center giving WW it’s second out of the inning. Still trailing by two JW stepped to the plate. Another basehit put runners on the corners for Mike. A sharp line drive platted Pete and somehow Mike ended up at second. With two on and two out and down by a run, the weight of the world was placed on Ralph Starr’s shoulders. What happened next is a moment that will live in WW history. Ralph singled up the middle off of the shortstops glove and drove in the tying and go-ahead runs. Mike and Ralph are this weeks co-players of the week.
After the game we sorted this all oout at hooters before we started drinking but in case of any mistakes please let me know and as always don’t pay attention to any spelling, grammatical and mathmatical mistakes.

Wow, this is a pain in the ass.

With the fall season underway WW was washed out of thier first game and won by forfeit to Alcatel-Lucent the Friday after. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make the third game and report on it but my sources tell me that Peter Bergan pitched a 1-hit shutout to beat Austin Ave. I am proud to sat that this weeks boner and player of the week goes to Pete. This is the second time Pete has held both the boner and player of the week awards. Congrats Pete!

Player of the week : Peter Bergan - 1 hit shutout

Boner of the week : Peter Bergan - Allowing a hit