During the off-season, the website will go into a freeze mode.  I won't be able to make any changes or updates until next spring.  Enjoy your fall and winter, and we'll see you next spring!  Contact me by e-mail if you need anything.

The All-Star festivities were held today and what a great time it was! Thank you to our musicians for their enthusiasm and time dedicated. Thanks to all who brought food for the potluck. Here is a recap of the events:

Pitching Competition:
Champion- Steve Roddy, Believers Fellowship Halos, 5/8 round 1, 4/5 final round
Runner up- Randy Stearnes, Chapel Hill Hilltoppers, 5/8 round 1, 3/5 final round

Home Run Derby:
Champion- Mike Stelle, Harbor Covenant Kangaroos, 1 HR round 1, 3 HR final round
Runner up- Scott Ginnis, Harbor Covenant Kangaroos, 4 HR round 1, 2 HR final round

All-Star Game:
Red team coached by Rob Floberg, BF Halos defeats Blue team coached by Chris Johnson, HC Kangaroos by a score of 15-13. The game started off lop-sided with the Red team jumping out to a 10-0 and later 14-1 lead! But the Blue team decided that they did not want to be embarrassed on this day and fought back hard by holding the Red team to only 1 more run over the final 5 innings. In the bottom of the 9th, the Blue team was down by 3 with 2 outs and it appeared the game would end with an out at home plate but yours truly could not hold on to the great throw from the outfield. Now down 2 with 2 runners on, a hard liner was hit towards 3rd base and Dan from Fox Island Alliance dove for the game winning catch! It was a great game.

Red team: Rob, Jesse, Dawn, Matt- Believers Fellowship
Greg, Tom, Brittani- Agnus Dei
Aaron, TJ- Harbor Life
Kenneth, Willie- Discovery Baptist
Dan, Sarah- Fox Island

Blue team: Bruce, Cheryl, Kevin, Dale, Norm, Willie, Jen, Kalynda, Blake- Chapel Hill
Will, Scott, Josh, Kristen- Harbor Covenant
Aaron- United Methodist

Champions:  Harbor Covenant Kangaroos

2nd Place:  Harborview Fellowship Fire Hose

3rd Place:  Believers Fellowship Halos

4th Place:  Harbor Covenant Cubs

5th Place:  Chapel Hill Titans, Agnus Dei Wool Sox

7th Place:  Believers Fellowship Bombers, Peninsula Lutheran God Squad

Best of luck to the 12 teams remaining as we conclude our season this weekend.  The games are sure to be exciting, well played, and I surely believe that sportsmanship will remain first priority during these games which can get so competitive and tense.  See you at the park!

The tournament is underway with Round 1 completed on Friday evening.  Only one lower seed was able to pull the "upset" as #9 Peninsula Lutheran held off #8 Fox Island 11-8 in an exciting game.

Sunday the 27th was a huge day as all of Round 2 was played.  Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to 4 teams but the remaining 12 will meet up on August 9 when we start Tournament Weekend.  We have 2 great games coming up in the top bracket, where #5 Harborview takes on #1 Believers Fellowship Halos and #3 Chapel Hill Titans take on #2 Harbor Covenant Kangaroos.  In win or go home action, two games stand out with #7 Agnus Dei playing #8 Fox Island and #9 Peninsula Lutheran playing #10 CH Crusaders.  Can't wait for all the great games to come!

You can view the round 1 tournament schedule by clicking on "Schedule/Results"  Also, look in the downloadable files section at the bottom right.  You will see "2008 Tourney Bracket" Page 1 and 2.  Those should open up in your browser to show the bracket with game times so you will know what your future game times will be.  I'll update this as games are completed so it should always be up to date.

Now on the standings tab, you can switch between regular season standings and tournament standings.  Remember that the final regular season standings on the website are not accurate in terms of seeding as we use "run differential" as the tie-breaker and not "runs for" like the website standings use.  I have sent out an e-mail with the correct seeding.  Also, in the tournament the lower seed (closer to #1) is ALWAYS the home team.  Good luck this week in round 1!

This Sunday July 20 is the final day of the regular season.  I will need all line scores for Sunday games on Sunday night so that the tournament can be seeded!  If you don't have e-mail access on Sunday evening, fell free to call in your line score before 1030pm.  Good luck in the games.

The new GHCSL message forum is ready for chatter!  Look up top in the header bar for the "Forum" tab to get there.  Finally you don't just have to listen to me talk all the time!  This forum should make our growing online community much more diverse and interesting.  There are categories for players, coaches, umpires, community events, and even a garage sale to buy or sell stuff.  Be sure to register an account for free when you first visit the forum, and have fun with it.  Any questions just let me know.

I had the pleasure of umping for Agnus Dei and Harborview today at 2pm.  The game was close throughout with great defense being played and after 7 innings they had a 7-7 score.   In the extra inning Harborview came alive for 3 runs and a 10-7 lead.  But Agnus Dei answered for 4 and a game-winning hit for an 11-10 final.  Great game!

Opening Day is finally here!  Play hard, keep sportsmanship at the forefront, and have fun!  Winning coaches be sure to send me your line scores tonight after the games.

The coach or manager of the winning team is responsible for reporting game info by e-mail within 12 hours of the game.  As the winning team is not always the official scorer for the game, make sure you jot down the line score from the official scorer if necessary after the game.  On the frontpage you will see a line score blank that should be used to report game info.  Please use the spreadsheet, fill in the blanks, and e-mail it back to me as an attachment rather than just sending me your score in an e-mail message.  The reason we need the extra info this year is for website tracking purposes and the local paper.

It is very important that you indicate who the league umpire was that called your game.  We will use your info to track umpire attendance for stipend payment.  I've added a box for indicating the umpire on the line score blank so you should download the form again at this time if you already have previously!  Thanks for your help with this process.

You can get your strike zone mat, game balls, field marking spray, and scorebook from Sandra at the PAA office starting today.  She will only release your supplies once the team fee, church insurance form, and coach endorsement letter have been completed.  16 days until game time!

After a poll, the outfield encroachment rule will change to 45 feet, with the 4th outfielder or "rover" exempt to play anywhere behind the baselines.  The GHCSL Rules file available for download has been updated.

To view your schedule, from the main page click on "Teams" and then click on your team name.  There is also a downloadable schedule file on the frontpage.  Let me know if you find any errors or conflicts.

Starting this season, volunteer umpires will be paid!  $10 per game.  There will be a training session led by our Chief Umpire Gary McCardle in mid-June.  Players and coaches are eligible to umpire other teams games.  Any other individuals who just want to umpire and are not players in the league are also welcome.  Please contact Gary at umpire@ghcsl.org to get involved, we need your help.

We're back to 16 teams!  I'm thinking this is a league record, so thanks for your enthusiasm about the upcoming season.

A new step this year in registering a team is coach endorsing.  A pastor or administrative leader from your church needs to let the league know who their coach(es) will be.  This is an organizational tool to make sure that each church is aware of, and gives their blessing to those chosen to lead the softball ministry.  For all returning teams, I have already e-mailed your pastor or administrator with an endorsement template letter that can be quickly filled out and returned to me.  Let me know if there are any questions about this process. commish@ghcsl.org

The GHCSL Website is up and running!  This will be a great resource for information and communication.  I plan to have all meetings, game schedules, standings, news, and contact information on this site.  I hope you like it!

Starting this season, the new GHCSL commissioner is Rob Floberg from Believers Fellowship.

"It is a great honor to have been asked to take over as commissioner.  I have been a player and/or coach in the GHCSL since its inception in the mid-90s.  I haven't played or coached every year, probably around 75% of the seasons.  The league has come a long way over the years, and has improved dramatically in the last 3 seasons.  It has been very exciting to see this change, accompanied by a healthy relationship with the Peninsula Athletic Association.

My main focus as commissioner will be to continue the positive changes the league has experienced, while at the same time maintaining the high-level of sportsmanship we have worked so hard to attain.  I envision a league with 16 teams this season and more than that in the years to come as we gain more field availability.  I expect the local paper to cover our league consistently so that we gain exposure for the positive benefit we are to the community.  Outreach is a primary focus of the league, and if we can pass along the story of Christ to others through our extension of fellowship, we will be doing a great thing.

I believe in competitive play as long as the sportsmanship remains strong.  I will make changes to the league in the best interest of fair play, trying to schedule as many games as possible, and endeavoring to create a fantastic championship tournament and all-star festivity.

Thank you for your vote of confidence, and let's have a great 2008 season!"

Rob - commish@ghcsl.org