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Umpires Needed For 2010 Season

Scheduling of umpires is always a difficult task with the limited number of officials available in this town, particularly on those nights when the men's and women's leagues overlap. It also makes it difficult when replacement umpires are needed and often results in some umpires, quite honestly, working too many games.

We need your help.

This is your league and too many people take what is required to make it run year after year for granted. We need our members to step up and give back to all of the players in the association just as some have often done for them in years past. There are a number of ways to do this. One is making your way on to the association's Board of Directors. Another involves helping in our efforts to host the Rec I state tournament this year. The most pressing need, however, is for umpires.

It's a pretty simple equation. If we do not have enough umpires, the games do not get played. If that's what it takes to get the message across, then that may very well happen at least once this season. We should have at least one member of each roster available as an umpire. Please do your part to make that happen.

Jamestown To Host 2010 Men's Rec I State Tourney

At the NDASA state meeting on January 9th, it was revealed that the Jamestown Men's Softball Association would be hosting the Rec I state tournament to be held on August 7th and 8th of this year. After a lengthy state tournament drought, the association was awarded back-to-back Masters 50 tourneys in 2007 and 2008. While 2009 passed without a men's tournament, those Masters weekends appear to have received good enough reviews to warrant a larger event this summer.

Unlike the Masters 50 tournament in which fewer than 10 teams compete annually, last year's Rec I tourney featured 30 teams. Such a field would not only draw many visitors to the Buffalo City and fill many hotel rooms, but will require plenty of help preparing for and operating the tournament. Any of the players within the association who will be available that weekend are encouraged to help. Contact a board member if you are interested.

The latest mens slowpitch softball season in Jamestown had a less than promising start when weather forced the postponement of the entire opening week schedule. The delay was anticipated, however, and the entire season was shifted back a week rather than scheduling make up games so early in the year. In mid-May, 25 teams finally took the field across three league nights (though the Wednesday opener debuted with only a single game while fighting through bitter cold). The weather became much more cooperative in the coming weeks with another postponement not being seen until mid-June.

The Wimbledon Merchants were the first team to clinch a regular season title and were also the only team to reach the 20-win plateau in the regular season in the Thursday night league. Wimbledon finished with a three game lead, as did the Jamestown Businessmen on Wednesday nights, though the Businessmen needed until the final week of the season to wrap up that regular season championship thanks to the strong effort of Valley City NuBar/Xtreme Printing.

Unlike the other two nights, the Monday night league ended with a trio of teams within a single game of each other atop the standings. IDK Bar & Grill emerged from the pack with the league title, though Dominos was also tied for first place. The Buff fell just a game short of the co-leaders.

Not surprisingly, considering how close the Monday night league was, IDK Bar & Grill was the only one of the three league champs not to make the postseason championship series on their league night. The Buff Shadow Cats dispatched IDK in the semifinals before taking two out of three games (all decided by 2 runs or less) from Dominos to win the championship.

IDK, however, wasn't the only regular season champion to fail to earn the accompanying postseason title. In fact, each was upset in the playoffs. Kensal Dakota Crop Services brushed off a disappointing seventh place finish to roll through the second season, defeating the Businessmen in the title game to claim the Wednesday night title. Wonder Bar avenged losing 3 of 4 to Wimbledon in the regular season by sweeping them in the Thursday night championship series.

Jamestown can claim two state champions amongst its mens teams in 2009. Tom's Electric claimed the first, winning six of seven games in the Masters 35 Division III state tournament, a win that was somewhat foreshadowed by a second place run at The McQuades tournament just a month earlier. IDK Bar & Grill II survived a rain-shortened Rec IV East state tournament to bring home its first place trophy.

The tremendous 2009 season wasn't without its struggles, though. Despite engaging in an association with the newly-formed North Star Series, our Jamestown tournament did not materialize after weather forced the postponement of an already small field and a rescheduled date draw any interest.

While the cancellation of the mens tournament was unfortunate, it did prompt the association to focus their resources on the formation of a new coed league. With eight teams committed to the 6-week season, the coed league proved to be every bit the success that the tournament was not. Coors Light finished the coed season as the league champions with an 11-1 record.

We encourage not only each manager but all players to review the newly-created Managers Handbook for a variety of details of our softball association, including common yet sometimes misunderstood rules such as the pickup rule for league games. Quick access to the handbook will always be available through the menu.