Naturals Last in Standings, First in Fun

A moment after rounding second base on his roping line drive to left field, Dennis Markovitz, a long-tenured member of the Naturals, realized he'd made a mistake.

As the ball came towards him in the amount of time it takes to close a glove, Markovitz dove, belly first, back to the bag. Watching from their bench, safely behind a mesh fence lining the third-base line, his teammates roared with laugher.

"Oh no, somebody call a doctor," one yelled. "Let's hope his beeper wasn't on."

Markovitz rose to his feet — he was safe on the play — and with a smile on his face tried his best to wipe the dust off his front.

"I got two, three weeks out of this shirt," he said. "Now I got to do a load of laundry."

On Thursday evening at Estabrook Elementary School, the Naturals went up against Foul Play (8-3) in a Lexington Senior Softball League showdown. Tied 6-6 at the time of Markovitz' dive, the Naturals would go on to lose the game 16-7. 

In a league that views records as an irrelevant consequence to a few hours of summertime delight, the Naturals are now 1-10; the worst team in the league. 

"I think winning is better than losing, but it's not that much better," Markovitz said. "The amazing thing is how many games we've lost, yet people keep coming back year after year anyway."

The banter between these longtime teammates is merciless, but lighthearted.

In the top of the fourth inning with the Naturals in the field trailing 3-1, Foul Play's Fred Ragnelli got under a pitch, popping it up in between home plate and the pitcher's mound. Naturals' catcher Dan Pion charged it to make the catch, but his feet refused to move quickly enough. After the ball landed in front of his outstretched glove, Pion casually picked it up and threw out Ragnelli, who was partway to first base.

"Attaway to make them think you were going to catch it, Dan," a teammate cracked.

Steve Weissman, a newcomer to the Naturals this season, knows the league isn't to be taken seriously, but marvels at the familiarity his teammates have among themselves and even their opponents.

"A lot of these guys on both sides have been playing together for 10, 15, 20 years," he said. "That's the source of most of the playful banter. These guys have known each other forever. They know where they hit, they know their batting styles and all things like that. I take my lead from these guys as to where to play in the outfield."

As he reminisces about all the different names (four) he and his teammates have had for their team over the years, Markovitz smiles when reminded the record of this year's squad.

"You know, I think there's a group of people that just want to play and be out here," he said. "My son grew up watching me do this 19 years ago. I never thought I'd be playing at 57."

And he's still having as good a time as ever.