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Intramural softball team wins 3rd championship

Dan Kukla

It was just like kids draw it up in their backyard: two outs, top of the ninth, runner on second, tie ball game-15 all.

An intramural softball men's competitive league championship only scratches the surface of what was at stake. Also on the line: a 16-game win streak and the chance to be back-to-back-to-back champs.

In walks, the man who is going to save the day - none other than, gulp, the No. 10 hitter.

Junior Dave D'Amore had one hit in his last five at bats, reaching base only once on a weak infield single. Now it was up to him to drive in the runner on second and give his team the lead when it mattered most.

"What I was thinking when I was up at the plate was, 'Oh my God, don't swing and miss,'" D'Amore said. "Because my three previous at bats were so terrible that pretty much hitting the ball with solid contact was the main priority. I told Tim Foster when Jeff was up 'Oh God, I hope this doesn't come down to me.'"

The pitch came in high, but the ump had been calling a generous strike zone all night long so D'Amore knew he needed to protect the plate. He took a mighty heave and then watched in dismay as the ball floated softly through the air. While he hadn't lost the game yet, his blooper to right center would most assuredly end an otherwise promising inning and force their defense to hold the Miami club baseball team scoreless.

"Run it out," a teammate screamed from the sidelines.

D'Amore's blooper found a hole, landing gently in the grass and sending the man on second scrambling towards home. A run, an out and a scoreless bottom frame later and Vandelay Industries had won their third intramural championship in a row, 17-15.

"I was so happy," junior team captain Matt Titus, who scored the winning run, said. "Softball is my favorite thing to do in life. I wanted to win so bad."

Titus' team is a group of softball misfits, few of which have little to no baseball experience. Undersized and usually overmatched, they make unlikely candidates for the intramural crown, much less three in a row.

"That's what makes it so unique," D'Amore said. "The fact that we go into every game and every team looks at us like, 'There's no way this team is going to beat us; there's really no reason to take this team seriously,' and the next thing you know, we're up 10-4 and they think, 'Oh my gosh how did that happen.'"

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The old adage says that defense wins championships and Vandelay Industries couldn't be a better example.

"Defense is the name of our game," Titus said. "Everyone our team can hit the ball, but the way that we frustrate other teams is tracking down long fly balls and making great plays in the infield."

Wednesday night's championship game was a different story. A disastrous fourth inning in the field turned Vandelay's 10-2 lead into a 12-10 deficit. The team had been down before but never this late in the game. Now, with so much on the line, they saw their season slipping away.

"I was standing on the sidelines thinking, 'I can't believe we're actually going to lose,'" D'Amore said.

While the late drama made for plenty of stress, it also made the victory all the more meaningful.

"This championship was especially meaningful because we've never really had to come from behind like that," junior third baseman Tim Lohn said. "We've never really had such a bad inning in the field before and just to be able to refocus and come back from that really showed the team's perserverance."

Lohn is one of the staples to Vandelay's shutdown 'D.' Watching him make spectacular leaping catches and reflex backhanded stops is a nightly occurrence for his teammates.

He is also Vandelay's best hitter, only making one out the entire season.

This night however, Lohn was literally slowed down by a torn hamstring. After each powerful hit, he was reduced to hobbling around the base paths, gutting out doubles when he should be easily cruising into home plate for a round trip. At one point center fielder Jacob Bellman ran right up behind Lohn and the two of them scored together, each one step away from the other.

"It was horrible," Lohn said. "I didn't want to let (my teammates) down."

Titus references the courageous effort given by Lohn as a prime example of the intangibles he brings to the team.

"It's not just his performance," Titus said of Lohn. "He can hit the ball wherever he wants, but it's far beyond that. For example tonight, he was seriously injured and could hardly run. But he kept fighting. This team means a lot to him."

Titus is fairly dedicated to the team himself. His teammates often give him a fair amount of flack for how over zealous he gets both in and out of season.

"Matt is extremely intense," D'Amore said. "Some people go out in softball and say, 'Hey it doesn't matter what happens; let's just have fun.' Let's make it very clear that's not what Matt has in mind. Some people hear at college take school very seriously, some people take partying seriously-Matt takes softball seriously."

Vandelay Industries, who got its name from a reference on the popular sit-com Seinfeld, now has the summer to rest before starting its title defense for the third time in the fall.


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