Every year after the Elkland Durk Sherman Classic on Labour Day weekend, I put up a post about the weekend. It's traditionally one of the most popular blog articles - even if it does take a while to put my thoughts together. For previous memories of Elkland, check out this and the list at the bottom. Enjoy!
Have you ever looked forward to something so much that there was no way it could possibly live up to the expectations, and you ended up somewhat disappointed? Did you ever build up an event to a friend based on past experience, and then after you brought them along, that particular year wasn't that good?
Well, that didn't happen in Elkland, PA on Labour Day weekend in 2013.
Despite some dicey weather, once again the Durk Sherman Classic delivered great fastball, great fun and a chance to enjoy it all with great friends. It is quite simply the best way to spend a long weekend for anyone that loves fastpitch softball in a top notch venue.
Here are some of the memories I have retained from the weekend.
One disappointment:
There was only one disappointment in the weekend. After six straight years, West Carleton Electric's "bat boy" Jessie was nowhere to be seen. Every year faithfully on the Friday, he met us at the park and spent the weekend with us, updating us on all that he had done in the last year. We were a bit worried that maybe Jessie was in jail. Or in the army. Or maybe in US Army jail. Nothing has stopped him from attending before so we figure he must have been detained somehow. If anyone has any info on the whereabouts of Jessie Smith originally of Elkland, PA let us know and tell him that WC Electric says "hi"!
The results:
This year's event had 16 teams entered (including one that dropped out last minute). There were four eastern Ontario teams: West Carleton Electric, Carp I4C Victory, Greenbush Generals and Kanata Storm, made up of players from five different GOFL teams and guys from the Glen.
Safari Nordic (essentially the defending champs from TNT South Lebanon) were the top team in the event going undefeated, lead by USA national team player and tourney Most Valuable Pitcher
Josh Johnson (who played for Elkland in the Carp tournament) and Most Valuable Player Jerlin Rutt who was the
USA Junior Men's Softball player of the year 2012.
Perennial powerhouse Shaggy Dog finished second, losing twice to Safari. Blue Lake Power (PA Power minus a few guys) finished third, and the host team the Elkland Thunderbellys finished fourth.
A great summary of the results is posted on
Al's Fastball.
The pitchers:
Once again, there was no shortage of top quality pitching at the event. Rob Schweyer, Gerald Muizelaar (Shaggy) Doug Hoffman (Power), Gregg Garrity (CPI) and Kyle Crawford (Elkland) were all in attendance, as were plenty of other good pitchers.
As for the eastern Ontario teams, West Carleton had Andy & Jeff Barber, as well as Ty Sebastian from U21 Team Ontario. Greenbush had Brian Belisle and Tom Berube. The Storm had Darren Featherstone and Ray Shanoush - who according to Google Map drove 1,640 km (1,019 miles) from Eastmain in northern Quebec. Brad Porter from the Kars Aces was throwing for the local Elkland team.
I4C had Neil Cooke, and Bryan Brooks until he got hurt. Down a pitcher, it was suggested that I4C could pick up "
The Lip" - however, the did not exercise the option and the Lip stayed working as a volunteer announcer.
Interesting finish:
As often happens, two local teams had to play each other at the tournament. This year, it was Carp I4C Victory that played Kanata Storm, with the Storm coming away with a win in 9 innings. There were lots of other interesting parts to this game (costly errors, hit batsmen, key hits, good defensive plays) but the most bizarre was the finish. With Carp up by a run going into the bottom of the ninth, Kanata bunted over the runner that started on second via the international rule. Chad Milne then ripped a single, scoring the tying run. But apparently there was some confusion and the outfielder thought it was the winning run, allowing the ball to go to the wall, and realizing too late to get Milne who raced home to win the game.
The win by Kanata actually got them the ISC Canada East berth to the Worlds in Kitchener in 2014 as the highest finishing Canadian team.
The softballs:
The ESA moved to Dream Seam softballs instead of the KMaster 120s they had been using in the past and that we use in the GOFL. The pitchers seemed to like them and they also seemed to last longer. There was also a reduction in the number of homeruns, which may be attributable to the model of softball. However, there were still some large homers. Once hit by a player from Safari (I think it was Tyler Kelly from Michigan, but feel free to send a correction if necessary) was paced out at an incredible 375 feet.
The Elkland Softball Association Complex - and the weather:
All the usual great features of the ESA facility were once again available. Excellent volunteers, well stocked and reasonably priced beer tent and concessions, tasty chicken pit serving 800+ dinners, and top notch announcing by the one and only Ugo Barbano on the main diamond.
As well, the field themselves were in top shape for the weekend, in great condition. What was unusual was the amount of work that went into making them playable after the rain delay on Saturday. Regular attendees to this weekend in Elkland will know you essentially have to pack for all possible weather. It can be hot and sunny by day and cool and frosty at night. And it often rains. But I am not sure I have ever seen it rain as hard as it did on Saturday night. It poured just as the Elkland boys were getting off the field from their game against I4C Victory and they didn't have time to get the tarps out to cover Field 1.
It rained so hard that main infield was under water. We are not talking about a few puddles - they were completely under water with a few inches of rain. Any other tournament I am sure would have thrown in the towel and called off the tournament.
However, the ESA boys put an unbelievable amount of time and effort into making sure the event could continue, working long into the night to ensure the water was taken off and essentially rebuilding the infield until about two in the morning to make it possible to play. These are the same guys that still had to play in the tournament after doing all this work. As some players were coming home from the Moose Lodge fully refreshed after a night of revelry, the ESA guys were still working on the fields.
If you would have been at the diamond on Saturday night and saw the field you would have said "There is no way we are playing softball tomorrow". If you hadn't been in the area and just showed up on Sunday morning and saw the field you would have said "Did they not get that rain here?!"
Check out the videos from Moe Laframboise for some of the work done to get the fields ready, which include the unique hose dragging technique to drag off the surface water. This took a while but was really effective:
As well, they brought out the John Deere machinery to strip off the mud and add new dirt.:
Video
here.
Weather related activity:
While the weather took its toll on the field and the guys that had to do all the work to get it into playing shape, some people did take the opportunity to enjoy themselves.
These people included (thanks to T-Mac for the videos):
- Some local portly kids that decided to use the puddles in front of the Chicken Pit as an impromptu Slip 'n' Slide. Video evidence
here.
- A certain ball player from the Kanata Storm with the initials AA who did his best imitation of the Bull Durham base-sliding-in-the-rain scene. Video evidence
here.
- The kids who spend the entire day on Sunday playing in the pile of accumulated pile of mud just to the east of right field in Field 1.
- The members of West Carleton Electric who decided a fun way of coping with the delay was in order. As you can see from the videos above, it rained very hard. This hard rain made the campground part of the ESA complex very wet and slippery. Bad weather + time on their hands + beer = a new idea for an extreme sport: "campground body surfing". First, take a large garbage bag and wear it like a body suit. Next, get a spare extension cord and tie one end around the trailer hitch of a pickup truck. It would logically follow that the person wearing the garbage bag would lie on the ground and grab onto the trailing end of the extension cord and proceed to do hot laps on their belly at anywhere from 10 to 20 mph around the campsite, as observers from other teams both horrified and amused take videos with their smartphones. While there is video evidence in existence for this, I am reluctant to post it as its probably something that the participants would not want their employers current or future to see as it doesn't really demonstrate the best judgement!
The campground got so muddy that one of the Carp players staying onsite got bogged down with his large camper. He was still there when I left Monday and for all I know the camper and truck are still there!
Return of the Gorilla:
This year marked the return of Bud Hanlon to the venue. Bud has been in his home province of Newfoundland for the last two years and has missed the Elkland trip. He made a special return to the Labour Day event. While he is no longer playing ball due to his work schedule, he was certainly known by many locals in Elkland who remember the big man for some of his best pitching at the tournament and of course his presence at the Moose.
The Moose:
One again the local Moose Lodge was a popular place for ballplayers to congregate during the evening. While it may not have been as busy as some years, it was just still packed with guys enjoying the camaraderie and cheap drinks. (I still find it hard to believe I can buy a round for five guys for $10.)
There were lots of stories, rumours, discussion of the past season and talk about next year.
A night at the Moose is always best finished with the breakfast provided by the ladies of the Moose Lodge. As described in previous "Memories" it is a tasty US American breakfast served from midnight until they run out.
One of the WC 'fans' in attendance asked the ladies on Saturday night what they had on offer for the meal. A very pleasant and patient Moose Lady said they had bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, sausage - pretty much everything you would want. So with a smile he asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He was told that was unavailable and a few laughs were shared all around. Fast forward to Sunday night, the same crew goes for the breakfast at a late hour. The Moose Ladies see the clown from the night before - and say "wait a minute". They come back with a Ziploc baggie with a PB&J sandwich they had made especially for him! Now that is customer service.
However, he may have been pushing his luck after breakfast - when he decided to take a ride on the handicap "
stair chair lift" that was available for Moose patrons unable to use the stairs. I don't think the Moose Ladies like that idea.
Base Camp:
Some ball players stay at motels in nearby towns, but many camp for free at the campground generous provided by the ESA guys. With the free power and water and easy access to the ball fields and the Moose, it's a great place to stay, as long as you don't mind a bit of noise at night and/or bring ear plugs. Our team had four campers that we parked into a square that was affectionately called base camp.
Base camp is a place where great ideas turn into action. In the years past, many ideas / antics to pass the time have been cooked up, generally aided and abetted by a few adult refreshments. This year's base camp activities included the body surfing described above, beer pong and entertaining large groups of locals after the Moose. But most definitely the most entertaining activity was the beer can wrestling match.
After a two days of drinking beer, a large quantity of empty beer cans were on hand, and properly stored in two large clear garbage bags. The bags put together were large enough to resemble a mat. After a few challenges / discussions a wrestling match ensued between two of the smaller in stature members of the WC team. These guys may be
small, but they are strong - so the body slams, DDTs, suplexes, arm bars and other assorted wrestling moves were quite entertaining, with each move ending with one of the participants being driven crashing into the mat made of beer cans. The best move definitely had to be when one guy got on top of the card table and gave the other a flying elbow, with both crashing into the beer can mat. Quite incredible that no one was injured and it was highly entertaining.
A sign of a good night at base camp is when you awake with sore guts, and you realize that your "injury" has occurred from laughing so hard the night before.
We tried to leave the base camp in decent shape. All that was left was a bunch of broken lawn chairs, the aforementioned large size bags of beer cans - and for some reason, a pair of size 7 women's figure skates. In the haze of memories from three nights there, I still have no idea where they came from.
The conclusion:
Despite the rain, it was an excellent event, with an outstanding venue, great softball and a superior bunch of guys that run the show.
I always make sure to go around and say goodbye to the Elkland boys that made the weekend possible. All top-notch "lads" with which I have become friends. Leaving the place makes me sad....but I do have something to look forward to - the 62nd edition of the Durk Sherman Classic in 2014. As I have said many times on this blog, if you haven't been, make plans to go. It is really worth the trip.
Labels: Elkland
