Hastings-Based DoubleDays Softball Team Wins Greenburgh League Championship

At long last, Hastings' DoubleDays-sponsored summer softball team has attained a goal they'd been striving for since they first joined the Greenburgh Arc Pitch Men's Softball League four years ago: a championship.  

Doubledays, boasting a roster that's littered with former Hastings scholastic athletes, wrapped a collection of hits en route to an 9-3 victory over the Greenburgh-based BMW Bimmers at Rumbrook Park this week.

In two games of a best-of-three series, DoubleDays outscored their "friendly foes" by a 20-7 ratio to seal the deal in quick-hit fashion.    

In Game 2, a small-ball hitting onslaught through the latter innings catapulted DoubleDays to the championship victory. The team stormed the field and created a jubilant pile-on following the final out.    

For Doubledays, the hitting was contagious. Leadoff man Charlie Berger found a gap in shallow left field on the very first pitch of the bottom half of the first inning.

Berger kick-started a well-oiled offensive cyborg that refused to shut down. A pair of hard-hit doubles would follow. The momentum pendulum suddenly tilted in the Rivertown squad's direction.  

After falling into an early 2-0 ditch, DoubleDays broke it open by piling together three runs.

They continued to tack on runs each inning while playing sound, error-free defense as hurler Tim Braig surrendered just one earned run the rest of the way.

The Bimmers, a veteran team with some power hitters, had no answer for the Hastings team's firepower. There was a search warrant out for their offense.  

Doubledays' red-hot bats smoked balls into outfield gaps, though the biggest blow was a titanic opposite-field home run clubbed by Brian Martin. The Hastings hitter bludgeoned the ball well out of the park, as DoubleDays seized a 6-3 lead they would hold for the rest of the game.    

The agony of DoubleDays' earlier losses has turned to ecstasy for this newly-minted championship team. 

 "Even though we hit a lot, the key was defense," said Berger, who helped nurture the success of this balanced, tight-knit group. 

Berger focuses on recruiting each summer, scouring the fields for talent and piecing together a deep, versatile team committed to playing a mindful and cohesive brand of softball.  

When Berger first entered a team to the league four years ago, the group floundered. Deficiencies in personnel, defensive gaffes, and severe lack of production at the plate kept them in the league's basement.    

This week things changed, with the one-time laughing stock of the league evolving into champions.

"We kind of turned a corner," explained Berger. "We came in as one of the worst defensive teams in the league. We've made big plays and minimized errors. Brian Martin, he's got to be the best outfielder in the league. He had one game where he had three assists."

Berger added: "Becoming the champions, this just feels unbelievable."  

The formula for success all season was keeping the power surges and momentum bursts intact. They made a note to keep the awareness, never fritter away an early lead and never wilt under the disappointment of bad inning. Most importantly, though, the team fed off each other and the positive energy.

Fundamentally sound fielding was again evident in the championship game, as the as pitcher Braig induced a number of ground balls. 

"We never let ourselves get into a big defensive hole," Berger said. "We never let that 6-7 running emerge. We played solid defense and that was vital."    

No longer the embarrassment league, DoubleDays is now the hunted in Greenburgh Arc Pitch Men's Softball.    

DoubleDays is now the team with the bulls eye on its back, the team everyone is gunning for when the summer softball scene materializes next June, when the residue of freshly cut Skoal tobacco cans, bags of sunflower seeds, water coolers, bags of ice, half-empty bottles of Gatorade, and a perhaps a case of cold beer will again litter the dirt behind the backstop at Rumbrook.    

The team has been awarded a trophy and championship t-shirts.  

For DoubleDays, the team's affinity for depositing doubles and shagging fly balls runs parallel with their penchant for inhaling hamburgers after the game.  

"We all go out to DoubleDays after the game," said Berger. "It's helped forge us into a unit and we're looking forward to the challenge of defending the title next season."