MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. (July 31, 2013) -- Explosive is the best word to describe the beginning of the softball game between the Headquarters Marine Corps and Marine Corps Network Operations Security Center teams on July 30, 2013.
The HQMC team, with their overall younger, more athletic appearance seemed the more favorable team, but the results of the hour-long game, at the Field of Dreams 2, proved that appearances can be deceiving as their opponent won 11 to eight.
“Softball is definitely an older gentlemen’s sport, compared to baseball,” said Staff Sgt. Keith Zwegat, member of the MCNOSC softball team. “We play for fun.”
The game between the intramural teams started with MCNOSC scoring repeatedly in the first couple of innings.
“Everybody hit; we had good defense and batting, and made no flagrant errors,” said Bernie Balsley, coach of MCNOSC. “Everyone participated and did their best. This was a total team effort today.”
Headquarters Marine Corps team, the Blue Falcons, fought back with numerous runs, closing the distance between the teams’ scores.
“We didn’t utilize the fundamentals like we should have,” said Greg Goldstein, assistant coach of the Blue Falcons. “Our people continued to fight and we crawled our way back. Everyone kept a positive attitude.”
With more than 20 Marines on the roster who work shifts, the MCNOSC team has learned to play each game with whoever is available to play.
“Our ability to work together is one of our strengths,” said Zwegat. “We are playing for the fun and the camaraderie in our shop.”
Quantico intramural softball is played with teams of at least nine participants per game (regular season), who play seven innings. If a team is ahead by 10 points in the fifth inning, the “Mercy Rule” is invoked and they automatically win.
Since the opening game June 17, the league has lost two teams and adapted to several days worth of rescheduled games due to rainouts. Regular season games are scheduled for the month of August and beginning of September, when the playoffs will commence.
MCNOSC will continue to advance toward the playoffs, and hope to win their next game against the Training Command.
Correspondent: samuel.l.ellis@usmc.mil