Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 24, 1993 TAG: 9307240171
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Leftfielder Billy Myers had the best suggestion.
"Let's just stand on the warning track," Myers said, "and watch 'em go out."
So much for a pep talk.
Nearly 1,000 paying customers jammed Calfee Park to watch - along with Myers and his fellow outfielders - the softballs rocket off the bats of Ritch's/Superior, into the nighttime sky, and over the fences.
Two local teams, Athlete's Choice and the New River White Sox, entertained the softball giants, who were gearing up for a United States Slo-Pitch Softball Association national tournament in Salem.
Both teams made good showings against the two-time defending World Series champ from Windsor Locks, Conn. Ritch's/Superior, which has now won 55 games and lost only two this season, beat Athlete's Choice 17-9 and downed the White Sox 17-8.
Averaging 17 home runs per contest to go along with a team batting average of .705, Ritch's/Superior launched only nine round-trippers in Thursday's two contests.
Of course, the fact that Calfee Park is a baseball facility - its fences are as much as 80 feet deeper in some places than regular softball fences - had a lot to do with keeping the balls in play and the scores relatively low.
Ritch's/Superior hit several balls that would have traveled out of regulation softball fields.
"We hit a lot of balls a long way that were caught," said Dirk Androff, Ritch's/Superior's leading home run hitter with 123 on the season.
"They hit at least 10 [balls] that were legitimate home runs [on a regular field]," said Jeff Reynolds, third baseman for Athlete's Choice.
Androff, who stands in at 6-7 and weighs 285 pounds, smacked three homers on Thursday, each of them traveling some 380 feet and over the leftfield wall, where children scurried after each ball, hoping to keep it as a souvenir.
A festive atmosphere permeated the park. It was as if the circus was in town. In a way, it was.
"You always want to put on a show," Androff said. "You try your best, because people have come out and paid their money" to see lots of home runs and scoring.
Athlete's Choice, the defending Pulaski Recreation league champ which has compiled a 41-2 record in the past two seasons, played the first game, and the players appeared to be in awe of their opposition in the early going.
The teams played a scoreless first inning - an early moral victory - before Ritch's/Superior ripped off eight runs in the second and third innings. Athlete's Choice was held hitless until pitcher Conley Hicks delivered a single in the bottom of the third.
"They were nervous," said Rick Weiterman, Ritch's/Superior's catcher. "Later on, they loosened up. We see that happen a lot."
Down 8-0, Athlete's Choice battled back with four runs in the fourth inning on back-to-back doubles by Jeff Reynolds and Myers. By the fifth inning, Athlete's Choice was playing confidently and trailed just 9-6.
An upset - could it be?
The odds of that happening turned out to be about as long as the home run Androff slugged in the sixth inning.
Its rally quieted, Athlete's Choice left the field satisfied that it had played well against perhaps the best collection of softball talent ever assembled.
"I think we done pretty good," said Hicks, who has won 315 games in 17 summers in the Pulaski league. "It was a thrill for me to play against them. They're the best team in the world."
Ritch's/Superior scored 10 runs in the first two innings against the White Sox. By the second inning, its players had stopped running out ground balls.
Most of the crowd had filed out before the final out of the second game. Some fans stayed around to get their souvenir softballs and T-shirts autographed.
"Do you ever lose games," an elderly woman asked Charles Wright, Ritch's/Superior's third baseman.
"Yeah," he said. "We've lost a couple."
Not on this night, however.
by CNB