Pepperdine students spend Saturdays playing ‘old man softball’ and having fun in the Agoura Hills Adult Softball League.
JANE LEE
Sports Editor
Tucked away in the city of Agoura Hills is Chumash Park. Every Saturday, this park is filled with kids running around and dogs jumping up and down while the ever-so-sweet sound of a ball hitting a bat can be heard on the baseball diamond.
Here at this diamond, six teams that make up the Agoura Hills Adult Softball League meet each weekend to rough out seven innings of slow-pitch softball.
Some like to call it “old man softball,” as the majority of teams are comprised of 30 and 40-year-old men with beer bellies, bad backs and worn-out knees.
One of the teams, however, sticks out with its 14 young-lookin’ speedy players who move around the bases three times the rate of the other teams.
These 14 guys are not going through a midlife crisis looking for a weekend hobby, nor are they fathers looking for a two-hour break from the kids or guys hoping to relive their days as a college baseball star.
They are 14 Pepperdine students simply having some fun at the ball field on the weekend.
Their team, The Wave, was created by Pepperdine seniors Jordan Bettinger and Ben Eaton.
“It was Ben’s idea to put the team together,” said Bettinger, who serves as the team’s coach and played baseball until the fifth grade. “I just asked guys I knew who were athletic, or guys I wouldn’t have to hunt down to pay their share of the league fees.”
The league charges $52 a player, but it is a small price to pay for 10 games, 30 worthwhile hours spent with teammates and a couple hundred sunflower seeds.
“It’s just a fun way of hanging out with some friends on a Saturday morning,” said junior Dustin Picciolo, who played baseball for 14 years. “We can enjoy it without taking the game too seriously.”
The softball field may not be surrounded by palm trees or the ocean like that of Pepperdine’s Eddy D. Field Stadium, but a breathtaking view is not necessary when you can watch 18 guys make silly errors or score up to 25 runs in a single game.
Old tennis shoes replace cleats and Pepperdine t-shirts and basketball shorts represent uniforms, but this ensemble works out just fine for those head-first slides into second base.
“Seriously, there is nothing like running around the bases or trying to stretch a single into a double or getting to third or home when you start on first and someone pokes a single to right,” Bettinger said. “Sliding after those runs, though, that’s a different story — I’ve cut up my legs a few times this year.”
The team, which has a 3-5 record with two games remaining in the season, does not even come close to resembling a Major League team or even a high school baseball team. Their pregame routine consists of rolling out of bed, getting to the park and playing catch for a few minutes, and they don’t get the privilege of taking a bus or a taxi ride to the field, but instead carpool with each other and play “Danger Zone” — the theme song of “Top Gun” — for some motivation. Oh, and their idea of a packed crowd would be three fans, yet none of this means fun cannot be had.
“I think most people in the league miss playing baseball, and softball is a fun way to get that feeling back without having to practice the technique that is required to play baseball regularly,” said senior Brandon Coppa, who played baseball for 10 years. “I have played sports for a long time, and I really enjoy being a part of a team. Through this softball league I am able to stay active in being a part of a team again. I have made new friends through the team, and nothing strengthens a current friendship like being teammates.”
Sometimes, though, The Wave find that other teams do not take the competition so lightly.
“The other teams get way too serious about it sometimes,” Picciolo said. “Other teams have started arguing, and it gets a little ridiculous.”
Members of The Wave, however, say there is no point in sweating the small stuff and find more time to laugh about silly happenings on the field rather than fight about something like a bad call.
“One of the funniest moments was when (senior) Patrick Spurgin did the splits sliding into third on a triple,” Bettinger said. “It looked awfully painful, but he was safe.”
Coppa also remembers some comical moments during the season.
“Striking out in slow-pitch softball is fairly difficult and pretty uncommon, but we have had one or two guys strike out, which always gets a few laughs,” he said. “We focus on having fun, not taking ourselves too seriously and hopefully getting some wins.”
Getting those victories has been a slight problem for The Wave, which currently sits in fourth place in league standings, but Bettinger said the team is gradually improving.
“Well we couldn’t beat the St. Louis Cardinals or Detroit Tigers if we collided with them in softball, but we definitely could take on a team like those stupid Texas Rangers,” he said. “Our record is not amazing, but we just upset the best team in the league. They 15-runned us the first game of the season, and last week we were hitting like madmen and whooped them 23-18, so that was big for us.”
Coppa agreed with his teammate, and said the team has come a long way since they first stepped onto the diamond.
“All the guys on the team are fairly athletic and most of them have played baseball in the past, but very few of them have ever played softball before,” he said. “We are getting better each game, but it would be nice to have a few more wins.”
The team’s recent performance may have a large part to do with the strong-spirited Bettinger, who Coppa spoke highly about.
“(Jordan) is a perfect softball coach,” he said. “He is very enthusiastic, wants to win, but knows it’s really just about having fun. He has done a great job organizing the team and contacting all the players each week.”
Bettinger and his teammates may not be owners of knee braces or bad eyesight just yet, but The Wave players do know how to have seven innings worth of fun. So for now, the midlife crisis can wait.
11-16-2006