Twas a dark and stormy..okay it wasn't it was overcast and threatening to rain but that's not as evocative.
this is though...GIRLS GONE WILD


Bd arrived with their usual attitude to getting there on time, well they arrived..

A strong team, a full complement of Girls, Girls, Girls and azor all ready to all fire it up was ready to start...

Our first inning was poor, we conceded far too many , and this would yet again mean we were on the back foot..

This however seemed like a different Team than the one we narrowly lost to last year, first and foremost they seemed to be a lot more aware of the rules...

I don't say this lightly but can we learn a few more , so that when adam tries and convinces me that we only need 3 girls in the field, when we need four someone else can back me up... ps.. the opposition all seemed to know this. grin

Despite the rain some quality hitting and some great defense (all the girls caught well Fiona caught a high pop up behind the plate and Marie was soo excited she fell over on the damp and slippy grass, trying to either back up or celebrate).

Notes to teams when they have less than 2 outs the best place to get the ball to to get an out is firts, it's quite hard to get someone out at home plate (in fact its only happened once in 2 years , and that was from a perfect throw from Nick to Ravi), who also knew when to to tag and when to stand on base for a force out.

BD have strangely developed a strategy which appears to be : 1 stunning inning of fielding and then one shoddy one. i think we get nervous and then try too hard, rather than having fun. usually this has meant we start ginving away runs on overthrows.

we then found ourselves 8 runs down going in to the last inning

this was partly due to the fielding the fact that the opposition were deliberately pitching badly to the strength of our batting Nick M, Gary B, Calvin, and when other got the ball down it seemed to find a fielder (Azor appears to be doing this a lot, sweet hitting for no result).

FACT: we have more fun http://www.succeedsocially.com/morefun we are obviously doing more these successfully than any other team.

FACT : we have better banter (Notes)

Boys banter > Girls banter (Sarah Silverman has nearly got it though ... ) > all other teams banter

FACT : WE LOST.. bugger

The Kiss Off: we Lost , I feel the right to take the fifth amendment and not t reveal the score...

Player of the game: Jo W for a stunning barehanded catch at secon base, some good hitting and then commitment to stay on base at 3rd..

Rookie of the Game: Lucy W : this ones a keeper, a little bit timid, but it's a start and another lefty too boot...
additional Rookie of the game: Ed Gregory - played well and was clothed to boot, admittedly I was worrieds when he turned up with basketball sneaks, basketball shorts.. and looked ready to shoot hoops.. however he had bee told it was SOFTball, and not B-Ball..

Play of the Game: Jo W ; a great bare handed catch down at second
Honorable mention: Fiona catching a pop fly, and Marie, coming into back her up falling down due to the slippy grass
And Nick M catching a ball from above a certainly quite concerned Lucy...

Trash talk moment of the game, Gary inducing an opposition batter to swing for a ball that was so short it was ridiculous
Honorable mention to Adam A, who was helpfully calling the balls and strikes , however he seemed to be getting this wrong..

FACT : NICK M can turn any lipstick (i.e. hot) Lesbian straight given 5 minutes naked in a room. (for more information on why this island gave it's name to lesbian , check out either the poems of Sappho, or visit the island)

FACT : BD girls rule, we just need more of you.
FACT : Next Tuesday (5th August) is our last game, we need you

The Team
Antonio L (El capitano) - King of Captains
Ravi - King of coaching and master of rules
Adam Drama Razor , Vice Captain, and King of Competitiveness
Gary B - King of trash Talk
Calvin , the Big C - The King of Pitching
Rob S - king of First base, and talking the talk
Ed G - King of Basketball gear
Ian W - King of the pregame warmup and the outfield
Nick M - King of Conversions and throws form the outfield

The BD Girls
Marie P - Queen of the 3 peaks and Rosé wine (though she was drinking bottled beer)
Fiona F - Queen of the 3 peaks and Yoga
Lucy W - Queen Of Rookies and Left handed women
Jo W - Queen of Second base..and the hardest accent in the world to place

Just a final note another Ex-softballer has left these shore louisa h has departed for shore foreign.. have fun be safe and woof!

or should be gold-digga


After a classic piece of slightly rubbish turning up late we started batting: and boy did we bat,

4 runs, and we batted round (this means that everyone got a bat in the first inning, we were awesome).. we had one out in that first inning and that was Ravi and it was a catch on a hit to the outfield...
The last 2 outs were for the 2 girls who didn't turn up,

NOTE TO ALL BD Girls We need you...Marie and Fiona and the others who have turned up have been heroic




Our fielding was a bit less impressive and despite being solid , we conceded four runs

BD 4 - 4 Team Bling

At this point whilst catching the opposition catcher spoke :
"I can't throw properly , I'll have to take off the Diamond."~

Team Bling Bling factor 8 Bd Bling factor 0

The next inning we again batted well, but were robbed by one good catch, and a bit comedy baserunning we lost a couple of scoring opportunities.

Our fielding and batting excellence was exemplified by a number of things over the next 2 innings.

Antonio, in the running for the most improved player of the year , caught a difficult over the shoulder running away catch,

Fiona then channeling the spirits of natasha F running for second base and then cruching into
there second basewoman, and slightly stepping on her head (but just a little bit)..
Most importantly she got on base.

We then had Marie snagging a hard hit line drive from Team blings official blingtatsic mascot (minus the rock)..

Eat that Bling witch

Team Bling Bling factor 6 Bd Bling factor 4

We then started our own bd fashion statement : Padmore & Bonsels had opted for bare feet and they were doing the business


Note: At this point Gary had already hit 1 base clearing home runs..
More was to come.

We then blanked the opposition, a smart double play with a catch by ravi and then a throw to
Antonio down at second and then a good bit of pitching by Azor, meant they had but up a zero

Unfortunately , We than had the blip and in this close game this finally told we conceded to many runs especially when we dropped a couple of easy outs, and then got overexcited and gave a couple of overthrows...

Gary at this point continued his assault on the opposition in fact they were really starting to show some major respect, dropping back.

Didn't work, he went the opposite way and snaged another home run for 2 runs..
Good work that man.

However despite timely hitting and patience at the plate, our lack of Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJrSyFpK3iQ

paid and we ended up losing an even bigger scoring opportunity.

the kiss off: we lost 18-16
2 Girls down and we only lost by 2

The kiss-off part 2 : where are the other bd gals..

The Team:

Gary B
Marie P
Antonio
Nick P
The Razor
Rob Sw
Ravi
Fiona

Player of the game: Gary B; The man with the big bat almost single handedly tried to win the game on his own
Honorable mention : The Razor for another sterling Pitching effort, keeping it tight and taught

Play of the game: Ravi, despite his best efforts making a meal of a routine catch, turning a double play, by catching the runners retreating major props to antonio for making the out.

Honorable mention: Antonio for his difficult over the shoulder catch
sooper honorable mentions marie for her catch , catching a well hit shot from miss thang the queen of the Bling Bling or Bling witch

Comeback on the Week: The Razor reaction to the Bling babe and her comment which everyone in Primrose hill could hear

New term alert sacrifice fly: adam azor got himself a run batted in , if you are going to get out, this is the way to do it.
He creamed a great shot to deepish left field but was caught , however since we had enough out Ravi was able to tag up and then run in...

Natasha Fromberg award for commitment: Fiona

Stephen Hawking Award for clever play on the bases : Rob Sw for getting a run while Fiona was barrelling over the opposition

This weeks Intimidator award for taking on the other team : marie P for plunking a memebr of the other team in the back of the head with the ball

Rookie of the week: Martin 'The stalker' Walker
Adam's mate who despite being injured played and played well


NOTES: More girls...Bottle openers hey and let's win , let's get on to those rules

Are you ready?



We are down to our last three games , and due to the weather. and other activities , including broken legs, and then disappearing people we haven't yet managed to win our first proper game.


So here's a reminder of the dates , the where and the when , cos i really want to win one.!!!
Tomorrow
Tuesday 22 July 2008 vs OC&C Primrose Hill Pitch 1

next week
Wednesday 30th july vs Geronimo G Force Primrose Hill pitch 1
We nearly beat this lot last year.. and should have done. But with our bold newish team I really think this is eminently winnable..


in a fortnight or so
Tuesday 5th August 2008 vs dassler Regent's park pitch 16
Apparently this lot are competitive and don't play withthe spirirt of the game, so I'd like to beat this lot too..

So check your workloads, get the holidays sorted and let the captain know..

Do you believe.. I do I want you too..

So here's an early call to all of you ..in no particular order the Big C,Rob S, The Razor, The intimidator, Marie P, Jo White, Nick M, Nick C, , Nick P, Lynton, Natasha F, Georgie MH, Fiona, Ian W, Alex H,Emma , Alex B , Antonio, Caroline P, Callum W, and the indomitable Harker...

Woof

The captain:
doing a good job of organisation there appears to be less trauma getting players together, however, need more beer,, and to get there early so we an practice
bad points coming to a game with out the kit!!

The coach:
average to middling, needs to do better with the blogs, a bit more coaching , and organisation so that we can stay in the games

Most Improved player: Marie P
getting better especially when she doesn't try and hit the ball to hard

The wow where the bloody hell did that come from I want more of this this player is rather good award,:
Nick M, nuff said

The White House award for political intrigue
Adam Azor for going from being Vice Captain to Team Mascot, what did you say to Antonio?

Rookie of the year: No individual awards , though high turnover and work commitments we have had quite a few rookies, SO I am not going to single any particular ones...All so far have been stars and steady progress has been made by all, Alex B, Marie P

The honorary Louisa Harker No longer works at BD Player of the year award: clarita (I apologise for any misspellings), because she is related to someone(Antonio) and hasn't even played before

The Special Jacklyn Magafa arriving late award:
for coming at the eleventh hour Louisa Harker,


The played well but need you to play more award:
Alex Hoffler (palyed in a game that didn't count and tehn got her car taxed and then went late night shopping), gutted!!!
Nominees included Nick Collins (if he played every week we could have a good battle with the other Nick for batting title)
Lynton P
Jo White

The Rob Sellers trash talker award: Gary B, the return of the intimidator, got at least 2 outs by goading the other teams in to swings

The Adam Azor Award for Competitive edge, and flirting with the enemy : Adam Azor for that game against the Badgers.

The half term Caroline Page Player of the year so far award: Nick M

General Notes to the team :
good work so far, butWe need to win one
More Beer
Girls flirt with the opposition , get in their heads,
Can we get a a bit more cheering on the sidelines while drinking the beer

Baserunning : we can get so many more runs by learning a bit of this
A runner legally touching a base is "safe"—he may not be put out. Runners may attempt to advance from base to base at any time (except when the ball is dead), but must attempt to advance when forced--when all previous bases are occupied and the batter becomes a runner. When a ball is hit in the air, a fly ball, and caught by the defending team, runners must return and touch the base they occupied at the time of the pitch—called tagging up—after the ball is first touched. Once they do this, they may attempt to advance at their own risk.

And can we get someoe else to do the scoring when I bat

It's like join the dots.. it's quite easy

Back we came despite the threat of rain and we had a full complement of girls, in fact we had an excess of players.


But we had a down side, No Calvin, The Big C was not present to pitch .. this left us with a quandry. who would do it...

Well we got a a Rafa, Gary B stepped in to the big shoes, and by gum he was good..

The other team however had turned up with out enough players , and our captain said we'd give them 2 girls..

after a hullabaloo, we gave them Marie and Fiona.

Moral victory BD 1- Momentum 0


Note to captain: Marie is not being given away, she is playing far too well , I don't care how many camels the ther team offers us.



We'll have to find another sacrifice.. like edward woodward


We batted well we fielded well we just have to sharpen up on the base running.. (We had a situation where we got 2 people out.).

The team:
Alex B (Getting Better)
Fiona showing some improvement in the genral fielding
Gary B
Nick M
Georgie MH
Rob Sw
John Ab
Nick P
Ravi M

Rookie Alert we had a couple of rookies who played pretty well however they seemed to play better when playing aginst us, please stop that.

Georgie MH
Emma
Melissa
and Clarita (Antonios sister, who had a good hit and got on base).

Note to coach
Good fielders at first shortstop and in the outfield, and we need to play a little deeper in the outfield.

This was close and we should have lost this
however due to the good graces of the opposition it was called a draw

Moral Victory
BD 1 Momentum 1

Player of the match: Gary B, pitching well ,and the trash talk was ace, you got at least 2 outs by sweet talking the opposition girls in to swinging at the balls.
Honorable mention Georgie MH hasn't played since she was 10 , got a base hit
Play of the match :Marie , scoring a run for th eoposition , now if we ran like than we could batter the opposition
Special mention: Nick M, He has a cannon for an arm, he hits, and well he's very good.. hmm,
he's playing Clean up hitter for all the matches.

Rookie Alert:
Emma a little timid but played well
Melissa also a good game
Georgie MH

Now we need you guys to come along regularly.

Import of the week: Jacki magafa, can't stay away from the softball coming many thousand miles, and still showing she's got the competitive player despite having no shoes, she got on base.

Having lost the previous game 10 - 6 and also blanked the opposition for the last 2 inning spirits were sort of high, apart from the fact , we had a lot of drop outs...some were even for reallybad reasons like getting their car taxed, or late night shopping (Yes I mean you Alex Hoffler, this payback for the previous weeks)... not too mention Galstonbury and assorted other "lame" excuses.. bd arrived late, and undermanned (or should that be underwomened (mad up word alert)).

The team of

Ravi

Marie

Nick M

Calvin

Claire

Antonio

Natasha

Adam

Fiona and eventually Louisa (More on this heroic effort later) played

Despite the presence of an even more competitive dopelganger Ravi on the other side meant that we batted first . and by gum a star was born , Having got on base with a comfortable single .

Nick M came to the plate , 2 out sand 1 on,

and






Home Run nick .

BD were up 2 nothing but couldn't capitalise....

snap forward we fielded well and were right in it at the end of the inning

2 - 2

Then what is fast becoming a strength became a weakness, we conceded 4 run and couldn't respond putting us down (eventually for the count).

This was the point were our lack of girls hurt us, we didn't have enough outfield protection and every so often we had to tak ethe automatic out.

Our hitting was timely and over the next couple of inning we were starting to claw it back when we suddenly surrendered a couple of runs, usually on misfields... and occassionally at crucial moments.. come on guys.. I believe..

Then some thing happened, one of the opposition was running down the line , when he tripped over first base, and heard something go ...Crack and not Amy Winehouse's favourite substance.

He had actually broken his fibula

That's not his x-ray that would have been really ghoulish.

However The Ambulance proceeded to take an hour (they couldn't find Regents Park apparentl) , and that sort of killed the game we were just getting into, and Lousia had arrived literally minutes early.. just in time to see the game called off...

Player of the Game: Nick M

Play of the Game : Nick booming one out of the park

honorable mentions:

Antonio making a captins decision when required, the player was injured we played on a bit but it wasn't fun, and you know what , calling it was the right decision especially as we started bleeding runs since I was the only person in the outfield.

Rookie of the game: he should win all the awards, but I a giving Rookie of the game award to Tash Fromberg, with a special to the patron sait of lost causes,St Jude, when the opposition punted a blantant home run Natasha ran it down with all the conviction she brings to work...

Super Honorable mention : Louisa H, for turning up beyond the call of duty

First and foremost with more commitments than an Alan Parker Film , I have been dormant, and the nexts posts will be weak.. commitment to the team, the usual damage that is trying to sort out who plays where, and the general lackadaisical attitude mean that I have not had the usual notes and so forth..however I vow to return , with new impetus.. oh and maybe even a new look..

The first competitive game, the juices were flowing, and the captain.. he was missing.. he had despite advanced warning conspired to buy tickets to see Roger Waters at the O2..

Now all together..BOOO!!!!

after a last minute dash because I hadn't been given a proper list of players... we started batting, and despite some good hitting we didn't get any runs

We started fielding , and a great hit in the deep was caught by Ian, it looked like it was going to be a tense close game. but it started unravel, timely hitting, knowledge of the rules meant we gave up 4 runs, but they did earn all of them..

The second inning so everyone got in the game we ended up with rob sellers pitching .. err I say pitching but it was more a case throwing the ball in the general direction of the batters.

Unfortunately after this inning we were down 11- 2

2 good runs being scored on some quality small ball (this means advancing runners)

It got worse...

Despite a brief rally in one of the later innings here we got lots of hits (against their inexperienced outfield) and runs (5)
Good work Rob Sw, Calvin, Jo, Fiona ,Sellers, Collins(who got a a home run despite crashing over at first base- the Showboat)

the final ignominy.. err score

The Badgers (Think tank) 29 the Bulldogs 7



Player of the Game: Rob Sellers
getting hits, bantering all the time, and pitching so bad it was almost high comedy. yes we were on a hill ..but.. having said that overall he played well
Super Honorable mention: Nick Padmore to come in and rescue a bad inning
Honorable mentions to Adam , for getting the team to the pitch on time, having had an enormous squad assembled by the errant captain

Comfortably numb of the Game: Antonio for manfully going to a gig instead of captaining his team in their first competitive game putting his body on the line

Rookie of the Game : Jo White quality play down at second base, and another potential superstar

Play of the Game: Ian Woodley for a quality catch to start the fielding off
Honorable mention : Rob Swainson for hitting a great inside the park home run


Super Honorable Food mention to Alan Maund for the usual spread.


Team:
The R-Azor
Calvin The Big C
Rob Sellers Sellers
Rob's friend Jack (No Nickname)
Jo White (No Nickname yet)
Marie The Straddler Peyto
Rob Sw Let's f##k this sh#t up
Louisa The Big Hurt
Fiona François (No Nickname yet)
John The runner Ab
Nick (N-Pad) P
Nick The Face Collins
Chris L (C-Lock)
Lynton The south african sensation P
Ian Wooders W


Feel free to come up with other nicknames (true untrue, wildly inaccurate, or harsh, all suggestions welcome).

Having already inflicted a crushing defeat on the London 2012 team. (admittedly they didn't turn up). We organised a scratch game against the Man eating Badgers.. however slightly under
numbers and without a pitch...

with a random passerby supplementing the badgers , and limping bd coach.. the game was on..

BD showed the usual qualities, good batting, great vocal support, and a bit of random action in the field..

an even game for fun was mostly shaded by the badgers, however there were definitely some diamonds.

the "new" bulldogs girls Alex, Alex and marie have been especially good, Hoeffllerererererrrerrrr (not the hoffmeister) was especially good, apparently she's good with the rounders (no not the matt damon poker film).

notes: to team , we really have to work at the fielding and runnign, then we will win a lot more..

In a generally fun game on a nice day, there were still a few incidents of note, antonio flashing the leather, made a couple of very nice palys and catches, every game he plays he gets better, this time next year, who knows...

Nick Collins showed his athletic prowess in the Outfield.. and did it without showing the face...

For all the women of BD, it's true Adam R-Azor is in love.. The opposition was only fielding one young lady Charlotte, and somehow despite the short time they have known each other, it must be said I think an impression was made on the Razor.. twice Charlotte hot a ball softly to Adam, the first time he contrived to misfield it was unlucky , the second time was dubious, howeve
it was in sharp contrast when Joe from the badgers hit a cracking drive, which Adam dynamically jumped and caught robbing him of extra base hits...


Dark Horse of the day award: Alex Hoffler
Play of the Day: Antonio showing some skills.

Player of the Day : Adam Azor or should that be Charlotte.. your call

right all prepped for the real deal monday.. more information and full on entry on Monday..

Yes dear reader's it's time to don your trainers, gird your livers, the summer is somewhat tentatively here, and that means the wonderful shambles that is bd softball.

regardless of the departures
Horobin, Page, Magafa, Watt there appear to be a new crop of fresh faces for the slaughter ... err.. fun



Having sai dthat apparently much arm twisting.. (a quick call) means that we will occassionally have the services of Motha, and Harker and Page and Watt ...and later on in the year magafa for a special straight from oz edition...

well here's to this season... the new captaincy of Antonio and well the general shambles that is our fielding and base-running

With heavy heart, the softball blog has to report the departure of one of the giant of the bd softball team, after the apparent crushing news that captain caroline left to go to ..shh..Mother...(softball ed: commies) and then with the coach departing to the refined air of jwt... Jackyln Magafa, the girl on first base. hands or no hands.
has not only decided to leave the softball team, but has taken it a step further and has decided to leave the country..

She's going to Australia..

What have they got that we haven't??
sunshine, Little creatures, more deadly animals than you can shake a snake (careful with this link)at , men at work

okay admittedly it's an impressive list.

but what the fu...

In Breaking News :
---------------------------
Harry is no longer fighting the Taliban but has returned to convince Magafa to stay by order of the MoD.

A royal spokesman said "It is a national disaster, we must try and keep all the good ones, and fighting the Taliban must take second place to the requirement of First base for the BD Bulldogs."

Harry was heard to say "Of course, I'll return to England! I'll give her the full court press,if Chelsy will let me"
-------------------------
End of Breaking news alert

Antonio Lulic the incumbent captain and organiser of the bulldogs sobbed quietly as he said "It won't be the same, she said of all the things she was going to miss, it was the softball that nearly convinced her to stay"

Rob Swainson chimed in with "Let's f*ck their sh!t up"

drinks are to be held , check out jacki's facebook page