Top Batting Stats:
Most games: A-WOL / Jonathan (11)

Best Batting Avg (male): John (0.893), Kenny (0.826), Austin (0.697)
Best Batting Avg (female): Lauren (0.346), Nicole (0.240), Lindsey (0.133)

Most at bats (male): Jonathan (37), Ausitn (33), Pierre (32)
Most at bats (female): Nicole (25)
Most hits (male): John (25), Austin (23), Kenny (19)
Most hits (female): Lauren (9)

Most runs scored (male): John (19), Austin (18 ), Pierre / Ian (13)
Most runs scored (female): Nicole (6)
Most RBIs (male): Pierre (17), John / Ian (16)
Most RBIs (female): Nicole (6)

Most HR: John (4), Austin / Kenny / Pierre / Ian / Jonathan / Jason (1)
Most 3B (male): Kenny (4), Pierre (3), John / Ian / Jonathan / Adam (2)
Most 3B (female): None
Most 2B (male): Kenny (8 ), Pierre / Ian (6)
Most 2B (female): Nicole (1)
Most SAC (male): Kenny (3), John (2), Pierre / Austin / Jason / Andy (1)
Most SAC (female): Lindsey / Nicole (2)

Most walks (male): A-WOL / John (1)
Most walks (female): Lindsey (5), Nicole (4)
Most strikeouts (male): A-WOL (2)
Most strikeouts (female): Nicole (2), Lauren (1)

Miscellaneous stats:
Runs per at-bat: 0.376
Number of photos taken and processed: 520
John and Austin both ended the season with 10-game hitting streaks.

Top Pitching Stats:
Best RA: Nicole (15.27)

Most IP: A-WOL (38 )
Most CG: A-WOL (4)
Most Wins: Nicole (2)
Most Saves: A-WOL (1)
Most blown saves: None

Most K’s: A-WOL (5)
Most HRs allowed: A-WOL (8 )

After a shaky 1-3 start to the season, the HBs II have been on a roll, winning or tying 5 of their past 6 games. The team will be looking to continue their winning ways in their final two games of the season as they compete for a spot in the playoffs.

In Game 11, the HBs II put their 3 game winning streak on the line as they went up against the 3-6 Verndale Vikings. Though the scoring in this game was tight, the HBS II were able to extend their winning streak to 4 games as they beat the Vikings 9-7. This win improved their record to 6-4-1.

The twelfth and final game of the regular season for the HBs II occurred on a red-colored moonlit night as the team squared off against the 10-1 Free Agents. The team was clearly out matched, as they would fall 25-10 after 5 innings.

Despite the sour ending, the HBS II end their regular season 6-5-1, ranking the team 21st out of 41 teams. As for the team’s playoff hopes, the team fell just shy of a post-season run, as only the top 20 teams were accepted.

For the HBs, their final game of the season would just happen to occur on the same day as the HBs II .. well sort of. Earlier that day, the HBs learned that after 3 weeks of trying to get their final game of the season rescheduled due to a washout, their opponents have decided to NOT play the game since it no longer entails any playoff consideration. Their forfeit gives the HBs their fifth win of the season, giving the HBs a respectable 5-7 record for the season.

Overall, the HardBallers Organization end the regular season with a respectable 11-12-1 record.

Regardless of what happens at the HardBallers’ final game of the regular, the HardBallers are official out of the playoff picture. The league commissioner has announced the playoff structure for the Sunday league and only the top 12 teams will compete. The HBs are currently ranked 18th. At best, a win at game 14 will put the team in a 6-way tie for 13th place, which is short of the playoff mark.

The only player available for comment at press time was A-WOL, whose sole reaction to the annoucement was that of disappointment. “Mid-way through the season, it looked as if we were going to cruise into a post-season berth. But after our extra inning lose to the Stonecutters, we just fell into a rout and never rebounded. It’s surely a disappointing end to the season.”

As for the team’s weekday sister team, the HardBallers II, their playoff picture is not as certain… or as bleak. With a 5-4-1 record, the team is ranked 22nd out of 41 teams. With 3 games remaining and the playoff format still up in the air, the team has a great chance of entering the post season with a solid end-of-season run. In fact, just about any team in the C-division with a decent record stands a good shot of getting into the post-season with strong finish to the season.

Playing in their eighth and ninth games of the seasons, the HardBallers’s II, (the HBs’ weekday sister team,) squared off against the 3-6 “With Our Selves” and then the 4-4 “Master_Batters” in a late evening doubleheader match-up. Much like their opponents, the HardBallers II have had a difficult time thus far this season, posting only a 2-4-1 record.

However, lady luck was with the HBs II’s this evening as the team defeated both of their opponents for the for the double header sweep. In addition, it also turns out that the HardBallers II’s next opponent, the Softrax Sweathogs, had forfeited the rest of their season, giving the team an automatic win by forfeit.

With this string of wins, the HBs II’s improve their record to 5-4-1, not only reaching but exceeding the 0.500 mark for the first time this season.

It’s father’s day, and what better way to celebrate dad’s day than a softball game? How about two softball games? The HardBallers face back-back action, first against the 3-2 Stonecutters, and then against the 1-5 “No Offense” team.

But there is one constant in today’s match-up that all teams will have to contend with, and that’s the weather. A strong noon-time summer sun, coupled with humid conditions and temperatures in the 80’s will surely wear-out each team as the day goes on.

In game one, the HardBallers fought a close game that saw the lead exchange hands a total of 9 times. The game would need extra innings to be decided, but the HBs would fall to a heart-breaking 11-12 lose.

In game two, well, there wasn’t much to it. Despite a 15 minute delay due to the HB’s previous game, only two players from the No Offense team had arrived. While the rest of the team was supposedly “on their way,” the ump later declared the game a “forfeit” as it became clear that no-one else from that team was going to come.

While Berry Bonds reaches for the homerun record, the writing staff (aka “The Media”) has silently hit a new milestone. After four years in the making, the staff has hit the 60th game summary mark with their release of Game 8’s game summary. “It’s a great accomplishment and an example of our devotion to the game” commented head writer Andrew Wolan.

This milestone took four seasons to reach, spanned from 2004 to 2007. During that time, three separate clubs were featured: the Avengers, the Pittsfield Vets and currently the HardBallers. The game summaries have covered everything from rain postponements, to bitter rivalries, to close games and to not-so-close games. In addition, two non-affiliated teams received special game coverage on the site.

While the bulk of the summaries were written by Andrew, there have been other contributors. Ryan Molloy and Rick Palma both contributed a game summary in 2004 and 2006, respectively, while an undisclosed source ghost wrote a summary for Andy in 2004.

The 60th game summary also set an internal record, making it the longest game summary ever written by the staff. “And to think, all I wanted was something interesting to talk about for the 60th summary” commented Andy. “I should be careful what I wish for next time!”

Below are top 5 game summaries hand-picked by the staff:
5)   The Harrison Tragedy ( Audio clip of the tragedy)
4)   The 16 run rally
3)   A-WOL’s incident on the mound
2)   Cheaters never win
1)   The little engine that could

Sunday featured a rare weekend match-up for the HardBallers II as they were up against the Upper Deckers. The game concluded with a surprise ending that left both teams in shock.

We take you to the seventh inning. The Upper Deckers had just tied-up the game with a late come-back run in the sixth. Both teams tried to break the tie, but the best either team could do was match the run production of each other in their frame. With the game running past the one and a half hour limit, we head to extra innings. In the eighth inning, the defenses on both teams were rock-solid, denying the other team a chance to get anything going. And so, it’s off to the ninth.

Now here is where things get interesting. Before the final out of the eighth inning was even called, the umpire had dashed off the field and headed to his truck. He then got in and drove away. And no, we are not joking: the umpire literally left a live game, got in his vehicle and left without saying a word. In fact, he left the game so fast that the HB’s photographer did not get a chance to setup for a quick shot of the fleeing umpire.

“I don’t get it”, said Coach Corbett. “That ump is usually responsible.” In disbelief, both teams discussed what happened and agreed that the ump should have called the game a tie because it had run over its allotted time.

Why the umpire left a live game without saying a word remains a mystery. Perhaps the umpire was hungry. Perhaps he had to go to the bathroom. Perhaps he wanted make a cheap “run away!” reenactment from a Monty Python movie. Whatever the reason, this “runaway umpire” made the ending of this match-up memorable.

After Mother Nature denied the team a chance to hit the 0.500 mark before the mid-season break, the team tried again against the “Mypos Sheep Tuppers”. The Tuppers’, who have been plagued with roster issues, would play the game short-handed as only 8 players showed up. In addition, since the team only had one female player, the team would have to insert a “ghost batter” into the line-up that would yield an automatic out whenever that spot came-up.

As you can imagine, the HardBallers were able to take control of this match-up early in the game and cruise easily to a 19-7 win, picking-up their third win of the season.

The win also lifted the team to the 0.500 mark for the first time this season. The team got the season off on the wrong note dropping their first two games. But the team has since rallied, being winners of 3 of their last 4 games. The team’s record now stands at 3-3.

The HardBallers started the season off on the wrong note, dropping both games of their season opening doubleheader. But despite the shaky 0-2 start, the team would regroup and be winners of 2 of their last 3 games to improve their record to 2-3. The team was looking to hit the 0.500 mark for the first time this season before the Memorial Day Mid-season break, but Mother Nature had other plans, postponing the teams ambitious come-back until after the mid-season break. Until then, the team will have an early start to the mid-season break.

Kevin Ferrabelo has annouced that he would be out for the remainder of the spring softball season. The absense stems from the birth of his new baby daughter.

I decided that yes I will be taking the rest of the season off due to the birth of my daughter. She wasn't supposed to have a C-Section but she ended up having one and the recovery time will take a lot longer than a normal pregnancy so I will be needed at home. I deeply apologize and I feel absolutely horrible about it as I miss the team and miss playing. I look forward to returning in the fall. Thanks so much and good luck to you all and the team the rest of the season.

The team would like to wish Kevin's girlfriend a speedy recovery.

On a day that coincided with Mother’s Day and Coach Corbett’s birthday, the HardBallers pick-up their second win of the season. Game 5 has the team square off against “Big 10 South”. The B10S would play the game short-handed as only 8 starting players showed up.

Regardless, it would the B10S that would control the start of the game, taking a 11-9 lead after two inning. The HardBallers’ defense was shaky at best and struggled to make the easy outs. But the defense would finally click in the third, as they would limit the B10S to a single base runner over the next 3 innings.

The offense provided all the offensive mussel the team needed as the HardBallers cruise to a 23-11 win over the B10S. The game was called after the 5th inning due to the mercy rule. Nicole received her first pitching win of the season.

In other news, the HardBallers’ sister team, The HardBallers II, picked-up their first win of the season against “The Jeffersons”. According to in game accounts, the opposing team pitcher struggled to find the strike-zone, yielding numerous walks. At one point, John was seen swinging at fake pitches so he didn’t walk. As a result, the HBs II cruised to a 32-20. The game was called by the mercy rule.

Finally, the writing staff of this website would like to announce that the batting statistics of the HardBallers II is now available under the “Stats (cumulative)” section of the site.

Andy Wolan, webmaster of the HardBaller’s team website, has made the following announcements:

1) The Corbett Report Returns
Coach Nicole Corbett has agreed to allow me to post her written post-game analysis from each game on the website. These reports will probably include an audio recording of her immediate post-game reaction from the field. This section will be in a “in-development” state for the season, so expect it to change over the season.

Unlike the original “Corbett Report”, this section will NOT be a commentary section. A separate “commentary” section will be created for such purposes.

2) Update Schedule
Due to time constraints imposed by my regular job, I will need to limit my updates to the website to the weekends. Any updates you see made during the week will be because I happen to have some free time to work on the site.

Since most of the team’s games are played during the late afternoon hours on Sunday, this change will mean that I will not be able to post all the materials from the last played game until the following weekend. These materials include: game summaries, stats, photos, etc. However, I will make every effort to at least get the stats online by late Sunday night.

However, I will try and make every effort to keep the practice schedule up-to-date.

3) Site Backend Redesign
In the coming week or so, the website will have a major back-end overhaul. This work will make it easier to update the website and hopefully automate some of the work that is performed behind the scenes. It will hopefully make the site more feature rich by exploiting the features that are currently in place on the site.

In addition, this work will also yield a new menu bar. This menu bar, (which is shown on the left hand side of every page,) will be cleaner and will hopefully allow visiters to more easily access what they want to view.

The speed of this effort is limited to how much free time I can find to work on it.

The HardBallers organization would like to welcome its newest member to the team. In a press release made Sunday, Kevin Ferrabelo announced that his girlfriend has given birth to their new baby daughter, Savanna Ferrabelo. Their daughter was born on 5/4/07 at 11:07 am, was 20 inches long and came-in at 7 lbs 15 oz. At last check, Savanna and her parents are doing well. Congratulations and Kevin and his girlfriend!

In addition, Kevin announced that he has missed games 3 and 4 due to his girlfriend’s pregnancy, but plans to return to the roster by game 5.

After dropping their first two games of the season, the HardBallers rebounded in Game 3 to pick-up their first win of the season over BILFS. The team’s bats went to work early and often, collecting 23 runs over 29 hits. This included three “inside the park” HRs hit by Jason (1) and John (2).

In addition, the HBs defense began to click for the first time this season, limited BILFS to 2 runs over a stretch of 4 innings. A-WOL, the team’s starting pitcher, had his best performance of the season, collecting his first career win with the HBs. This was thanks in part to a nasty breaking ball that had the BILFS batters guessing.

However, this win came amongst a scary incident. In the first inning, A-WOL took a line drive off his right thigh, sending him to the dirt. He managed to stay in and pitch the remainder of the game. At press time, the team reports that A-WOL is recovering fine from the injury and should be able to pitch in game 4 against the “Professional Mortgage Association”.

Except the HardBallers to sport a new look soon. At a press conference earlier today, The HardBallers organization unveiled the official team jersey. Gone is the “unofficial” red jersey and here to stay is the black on red jersey with white accents.

The team will debut in their new jerseys at their next game, which will be at game three against “BILFS”.

You could not have asked for better weather, as the Boston West Co-Ed Softball League kicked-off the season on a sunny and unseasonably mild spring afternoon. Making their league debut was the newly formed “HardBallers” organization. The HardBallers, lead by Coach Corbett, took advantage of the nice weather as they were scheduled to play a double header against the “Under Dogs” and “Uno Dos Adios”.

Unfortunately, the match-ups did not favor the HardBallers. Both of their competitors were seasoned teams, one of which was 2006 Sunday league champions. As a result, the HardBallers quickly found themselves on the defensive as they worked to get their team dynamics together. In the end, the team had opened the season by dropping both games of their double header.

Despite the rough start, Coach Corbett was optimistic with what she saw. “I do see great potential in our offense,” said Coach Corbett. “We have the power; we just need to straighten [things] out.” As for defense, “after our first couple of innings the defense really started to come together and make good plays.”

Get ready Boston, co-ed softball as you know is about to change. In a recent press conference, Andy “A-WOL” Wolan announced that he has signed a one-year deal with the Boston West Co-Ed Softball League. Under the agreement, Andy and his writing staff (aka “The Traveling Circus”) will setup shop in the greater Boston area, and will be covering a select Sunday-league co-ed team. In addition, Andy will become the official league photographer of the BWCS League.

As of this writing, A-WOL had just announced that he has signed a deal with the newly formed team “The HardBallers”. With the team facing a pitching shortage, team skipper Nicole Corbett drafted A-WOL to become the team’s starting pitcher.

To read a transcript of the "questions and answers" session following the press conference, click here.