
DATE: Tuesday, June 3, 1997                 TAG: 9706030473

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   76 lines

VIRGINIA ROADSTERS GET FASTPITCH SEASON OFF TO A WET START SOFTBALL FANS WERE READY TO SOAK IN THE ACTION - AND A LITTLE RAIN - IN OPENER IN HAMPTON.

Call it softball unplugged, or fastpitch without a hard-core sales pitch.

No multi-colored ball, fancy fireworks display or incessant sound effects marked Monday's home opener of the Women's Professional Fastpitch League's Virginia Roadsters. Organizers simply dressed up venerable Peninsula War Memorial Stadium, trotted out the Roadsters and the Carolina Diamonds and let the game promote itself.

A risky premise, perhaps, considering that most of the players in the first-year league are as anonymous as extras in a B movie. But judging from the enthusiastic response of Monday night's fastpitch faithful, the Roadsters' no-frills approach was a bigger hit than Michelle Carlson-Neveling's second-inning two-run single.

Despite rain that sent fans scurrying for cover early in the game and a game-long mist which hung in the air like cigarette smoke in a neighborhood bar, a majority of the announced 2,379 fans stayed to see the Roadsters polish off the Diamonds, 7-3.

``A big success,'' Roadsters general manager Ron Rado said. ``Sure the weather is bad, but we're really excited with this kind of turnout.

``Our idea was to get some of the best players in the country, have them put on a good show and let that speak for itself. So far, it seems to be working.''

Stripped of many of the trappings of the modern game, what took place Monday was a throwback to the days when fans headed for the ballpark not so much to be entertained but to simply root for the home team and insult the home plate umpire. Monday's game offered a perfect foil in Jim Morfino, whose delayed strike call confused and annoyed many in attendance.

``Get a clue!,'' one leatherlung screamed. ``Haven't you ever seen a softball game before.''

Raymond Oliver hadn't. The a 71-year-old Newport News resident called himself a lifelong baseball fan who until Monday had never seen the women in action.

``They sure don't throw like girls,'' Oliver said as Carlson-Neveling fired a throw to first to cut down a Diamond by two steps. ``Man, they can really whip that ball.''

Oliver said he spent many a night in War Memorial watching the now-defunct Peninsula Pilots minor-league baseball team. Now, with this new game in town, Oliver expects to become a ballpark regular once more.

``Baseball, softball, I'm just a ball fan,'' Oliver said. ``I think I'm going to like this fastpitch.''

Of course, area softball players, the Roadsters most natural constituency and a significant part of Monday's attendance, couldn't get enough of the Roadsters and Diamonds.

``It's like a dream,'' York junior pitcher Jaime Hogge said. ``It's all our dreams to one day be able to do this.''

Still, while stripped down proceedings worked splendidly Monday, the Roadsters aren't banking on the return-to-the-old-days feel alone to fill the stands. The sound system for between-innings jams, which broke down early Monday, should be working tonight, and the on-field fan games canceled due to the rain will be introduced soon.

But if they listen to the diehards who were willing to be soaked in the rain to soak up Monday's action, a lot of that stuff simply isn't necessary.

``We don't need any gimmicks, special tricks and fancy things,'' Hampton's Barb Grabowski said. ``We came to see the women play fastpitch. Just let 'em go out on the field and make it happen.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Ben Riddle sells a ticket at Peninsula War Memorial Stadium in

Hampton Monday to one of the 2,379 fans who turned out for the

fastpitch softball season opener between the Virginia Roadsters and

Carolina Diamonds.

It's a bird, it's a plane . . . it's a fly ball. Virginia Roadsters

pitcher Ali Franzen, 18, points out one that's getting away. Rain

didn't dampen the Roadsters season opener, which Roadsters general

manager Ron Rado described as ``a big success.''