NOVEMBER 26 UPDATE

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 

COMMITMENTS

Rebecca Bishop, OF, Louisville Lady Sluggers, to Western Kentucky University .

Jennifer Walsh, IF/OF, South Houston Mystixx, signed with the University of Houston

Vanessa Cook, 1B, Oklahoma Thrillers to Northeastern State University , OK

Malarie Fellers, 2B, Oklahoma Thrillers to Washburn University , KS

  Lindsey Tower , OF, Oklahoma Thrillers to University of Tulsa , OK   

Melissa Wright, Junior, P, Houston Power Gold, to Houston Baptist University

Christen Belcher SS 3B OF KC Originals signed with Truman State University

Cori Blanton, Lionettes 2B (was on Valley Breeze 18 gold- 2B) to Rutgers

Jennifer Wilson Pitcher/1st - Phoenix Storm Gold to Rutgers University

 

Commitments by Salinas Valley Wildcats

AMY TOMPKINS, SALINAS VALLEY WILDATS, SIGNED SACRAMENTO STATE UNIVERSITY

HILLARY JOHNSON, SALINAS VALLEY WILDATS, SIGNED SACRAMENTO STATE UNIVERSITY

 

Oregon Strictly Softball Commitments
Amy Candioto, P, 1st, Central Michigan University
Kim Hamilton, SS, P, Kent State University
Lauren Cusick, 3rd, 1st, Colorado State University
Whitnie Ray, 2nd, James Madison University

 

Commitments by Gold Coast Hurricanes

Kerri Houck        P,1B      Florida International University
Cristina Morgado      2B,OF         Savannah College of Art & Design
 Savannah Kelly        SS,3B,OF          University of Florida

 

Mississippi State Signings

The crop features six high school seniors, including local products Gina
McCloud of Monticello and Ellisville¹s Allison Meyer. Two players from the
Midwest ­ Aurora, Ill., superprep Lindsay Hunley and Springfield, Mo.,
standout Nakita Boyce ­ along with Courtney Bures of Haymarket, Va., and
Ragan Blake from Missouri City, Texas, round out the class.

 

Salinas Storm Commitments

Amy Baxter, C, Salinas Storm Gold, committed to Brown University

Cat Belanger, OF/2B, Salinas Storm Gold, committed to George Washington University

Jennifer Maheu, SS/2B/CF, Salinas Storm Gold, committed to Canisius College

Claire Rietmann-Grout, P, Salinas Storm Gold, committed to Towson University

Lindsay Wilson, OF, Salinas Storm Gold, committed to University North Carolina-Greensborough

 

So. Cal Vipers Gold
Jynifer Nordorf --- 1st / DH -- Florida A & M
Holly Bussey    --- C  /  OF -- Bethune Cookman
Jessica va de Blankevoort -- P / OF  Alabama State
Amanda Booth   ---- OF / 2nd --  Boston College

 

Beach Girls Commitments

Annie Castellano 1st,2nd   Marist College
Janetta Deaven C, Indiana University

 

Fillys Gold Commitments

Brooke LeSage, Catcher, Long Beach State University - CA

Meghan Quinn, Pitcher, Binghamton University - New York

 

Tampa Mustangs Signings

 

Erin Curtis-Boggs, SS/2B, University of Southern Mississippi .

 

Krystal Crooks, P/OF  University of Southern Mississippi .

 

Carly Griffin , OF, University of South Florida .

 

Hillary Johnson,C/1B, Florida Gulf Coast University

.

Allison Kime, P/UT, University of Tampa .

 

Megan Manso, 3B, Young Harris College .

 

Beth Nolan,  OF, East Carolina University .

 

Devan Spence, SS/2B, Jacksonville State University .

 

Heather Stroud, C/UT, St. Leo University

 

Commitments to Dominican College

1. Kristine Knuth      1b-of, NY Panthers/NJ Pride Moore Catholic HS Staten Island , NY

2. Christina Stathes       ss-p Orange County Rage Cornwall HS Cornwall, NY

3.  Jackie Terpstra         if-p OTB Diamond Dolls Pine Bush HS Middletown , NY

4. Chrystina Tirado         2b-of NY Heartbreakers Shenendehowa HS Clifton Park , NY

 

TEAM CHANGES

It’s that time of year – Christmas decorations going up; leaves falling down, and travel ball rosters going round and around.  A number of coaches have confided to SPY the commitments they have received from key players who will join their teams this coming season.  Invariably, they ask that I keep this information confidential until January.  Hard to do in a close world like softball.

 

Some team switches will have immediate impact – on both teams.  Case in point: Desiree Williams and Stephanie Ewing have left the AZ Hotshots (Jones) and agreed to play for the CA Cruisers (McCard).  Desiree is a power hitter, who can play 1st, 2nd, 3rd – and pitch.  Stephanie swings a solid bat, and, unlike some travel ball catchers, she can call a game.  They fill apparent voids on the Cruisers, and, create mirror voids for Hotshots.

 

Christina Ross now toils for Batbusters Haning, vice So Cal Athletics, who now have Hollee Haines behind the plate, vice Gordon’s Panthers.

 

At least two other switches we have confirmed will also seriously improve their new teams, both of which were already strong.  Stay tuned.

 

ASA COMMENT ON OBSTRUCTION RULE

A reader posed the following situation, in response to the new ASA rule on obstruction.

Situation:  Base runner on first, who takes a lead off with the pitch.
The defense runs a pick play and the defensive player blocks the bag, preventing the safe return of the runner.  Let's say with the new rule, obstruction is charged.
Is the runner awarded second base, or first base?  If the latter, I don't see any penalty on the defense for causing the obstruction. 
Isn't it obvious that the runner is awarded first and the penalty toward the defense is that the runner stays on the base and is not called out?  Otherwise you are awarding the defense an illegitimate out.

 

Merle Butler , ASA UIC, sent SPY this response:

In your example, obstruction is to be called and the runner awarded first base.  To be truthful, this was not discussed an d for obstruction ASA has always ruled the runner is given the base or bases he/she would have made had obstruction not occurred.  In  the case of a pickoff, the runner is going back to first base and that is the base they would have made, had there not been obstruction.  I see your point in that the defense is not being penalized (other than not calling the runner out) and that will have to be addressed another year.   Where runners are advancing, there should be no problem with the current obstruction penalty ruling.

 

 

 

 

STRIKE ZONE

(taken after their upset of CA Cruisers at the Batbuster)

 

 

THE STAR OVER SAN ANTONIO HEIGHTS

Larry Farnworth advises that the 3-story tall star, which can be seen for 20 miles, is once again being lit on San Antonio Heights , which is on the slopes of Mt. Baldy , near Ontario in San Bernadino County.  It had been lit every Thanksgiving to News Year’s Day from 1958, but was destroyed in the fire.  Residents worried the star would not be lit this year, but the money was raised, and tonight a crowd gathered to see the lighting of their star. 

 

PRO LEAGUE AND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

SPY and other media were informed that a press conference would be held yesterday to discuss the relationships of the softball pro league to major league baseball.  But, for reasons undisclosed, the press conference has been postponed to December or January.

 

HOT MAIL

My flight home from the Batbuster was two hours late.  Solid downpour.  Stood on my stoop for 15 minutes trying to find my house keys.  Two weeks of mail were floating on the stoop; even though it was raining in the afternoon, the carrier left the mail to soak.  I hit upon a novel idea: drying the mail in my oven.  You put the mail on cookie sheets and pre-heat the over to 400 degrees, and set the timer for 10 minutes, turning each piece over at the five minute mark.  Did you know that the liberal Newsweek tans faster than the conservative Time?  System worked well until I had to go downstairs and engaged in a 15 minute telephone conversation.  The thick, pulp paper edition of TV Guide was smouldering.  Forgetting my highschool physics about fire and air, I turned off the oven and opened the door: the oxygen caused a big whoosh and I had a fire.  Grabbed the cookie sheet with ice tongs and rushed out the door and dropped the fire into a puddle.  Don’t knock it; I dried about 50 pieces of mail with only that one mishap.

 

CONGRATULATIONS

Head Softball Coach Maureen Barron and husband Richard Barron, Head
Women's Basketball Coach
welcomed two girls into their family this Tuesday morning.

Catherine "Rae" Barron    5 lbs, 11 oz.    (Rae had dark hair)

Dorothy "Lane" Barron    6 lbs, 8 oz.        (Lane had red hair and big
feet!)

Everyone is doing great and will be home soon!

 

THE RUMORS ABOUT CAT OSTERMAN

Somewhat inadvertently, I tested the gullibility of the softball world during the Batbuster.  At 8am Saturday, when I was still clearing away the cobwebs, a woman approached me at Alicia, and, in one of those conspiratorial tones, asked if I would share with her the true facts about Cat playing for Arizona after the Olympics.  After her third repetition of “I know you know,” I said I would give her “the real lowdown,” on condition she not tell anyone else.   Alluding to the fact that Cat played some basketball in HS, I told this woman that Cat’s cherished dream, after winning the Olympics, was to play basketball and softball at Texas – and would have Connie Clark’s permission.  That seemed to satisfy the urging.  However, on Sunday, a man approached me at Harvard Park and wanted to know why I had not printed the story about Cat playing basketball at UT – because he understood, from a reliable source at Alicia, that I knew about the decision.  Reminds me of an incident in the early 90s, during which a routine inquiry on my part convinced the intelligence services of three countries that I was onto a clandestine undertaking in Mambako.  I really believe people in the softball world will believe anything about Cat if it sounds salacious.  If I had a choice between revealing a secret to NBC or telling three parents I know in the softball world, the latter would reach more people quicker.  For the record:  last time we talked, Cat has every intention of returning to UT – to play softball.

 

WARREN SPAHN

The professional sportswriters in their gracious obituaries have properly hailed Spahn as perhaps the greatest lefthander of all time – whose record of 360 (?) victories may never be equaled.  Most but not all paid tribute to Spahn’s service in WW II, when he, Ted Williams and others, took years off their careers to go to war.  Spahn was part of that group who stormed the Bridge at Remagen – the US first wanted it destroyed, to trap a German army on the wrong side of the Rhine , while the Germans at first wanted it destroyed to prevent the Americans from crossing the Rhine .  The US Army prevented it from being destroyed after bombing it unsuccessfully; it later collapsed but not before thousands of US troops, tanks, etc crossed into Germany .  I listened to an interview Spahn did a few years ago; he seemed prouder of the Remagen offensive than some of his baseball exploits.  (Down note: one TV broadcaster said the US Army crossed the bridge into Berlin .  Not so.  Bridge is at the border, and Berlin , thanks to Eisenhower, was taken by the Soviets.

 

THAT DAY IN DALLAS

I am told that some correspondents who submit “information” to the Ultimate forum disagree with my conclusions about Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone in the shooting of President Kennedy.  I know a great many conspiracy theorists who argue the converse.  But, I do want to rebut the suggestions that I am espousing the theory because of alleged FBI and CIA connections, or, that I have been hit by too many foul balls.  At the time of the Kennedy assassination, I was a newspaper reporter – and the research I did was for stories I wrote as a reporter.  During all of the years I was at State, I availed myself of the vast archives on many subjects, including the Kennedy assassination as well as the execution of the Romanovs in Ekaterinburg, the sinking of the Titanic, the theories on the so-called fourth Gospel, etc., the ruminations of an eclectic mind.  I have spent hours researching the background for the Da Vinci Code – which I must admit has an element of possibility even though it conflicts with my education by the Jesuits.   However, the hundreds of daily conversations I had with various CIA and FBI officials never included any discussion of the Kennedy assassination.  I have always believed, and have written newspaper stories, that the FBI was negligent in Agent Hasty’s monitoring of Oswald, just as the Dallas police were in protecting Oswald.  On that Sunday, those reporters who had been given credentials to cover the funeral were all at our assigned places in the Rotunda of the Capitol, awaiting the arrival of Mrs. Kennedy and President Johnson.  When word came that Oswald had been shot, there was great dismay among the press corps, because we knew, instinctively, that Jack Ruby had triggered a debate about the shooting which would never end.  My theories on Dallas were written in the 1960s, more than 30 years before I was beaned by a softball.  Do as I did: go to the Texas School Book Depository; kneel where Oswald knelt; the belief that Oswald acted alone is not only possible, but probable.

 

THE ITALIAN CONNECTION

Is alive and well in Storrs .  I am a long-time Connecticut basketball fan.  Incredible: Diana Taurasi hits 10-11 in their first game, scores 27 mostly before half in their second.  Great line in Sports Illustrated: It’s not a one-woman team.  It’s one woman’s team.

 

NEXT MONDAY’S EDITION

SPY took a sheaf of notes on players whom we saw at the Batbuster exposure clinic on Friday night.  Unfortunately, we transcribed our notes into Word on our main computer – which does not travel.  We will print those player notes on Monday.

 

AN HONEST JOB APPLICATION

(SUBMITTED BY Jay  Miller)

 

This is an actual job application that a 75 year old
senior submitted to Wal-Mart.... and they HIRED him
because he was so honest and funny!

NAME: George Martin

DESIRED POSITION:
Company's President or Vice President. But seriously, whatever's
available. If I was in a position to be picky, I wouldn't be applying
here in the first place.

DESIRED SALARY:
$185,000 a year plus stock options and a Michael
Ovitz style severance package. If that's not possible, make an offer and
we can haggle.

EDUCATION:
Yes.

LAST POSITION HELD:
Target for middle management hostility.

LAST SALARY:
A lot less than I'm worth.

MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT:
My incredible collection of stolen pens and
post-it notes.

REASON FOR LEAVING:
It sucked.

HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK:
Any.

PREFERRED HOURS:
 1:30-3:30 p. m. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?
Yes, but they're better suited to a more intimate environment.

MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER?
If I had one, would I be here?

DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING
UP TO 50 Lbs.?: Of what?

DO YOU HAVE A CAR?:
I think the more appropriate question here would
be "Do you have a car that runs?"

HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION?: I may already be a
winner of the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes.

DO YOU SMOKE?:
On the job no, on my breaks no.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS?: Living in the Bahamas
with a fabulously wealthy dumb sexy blonde supermodel who thinks I'm the
greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, I'd like to be doing that
now.

DO YOU CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF YOUR
KNOWLEDGE?:
Yes. Absolutely.

SIGN HERE:
Sagittarius

 

End

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