St Albert’s students were very competitive in sports and would carry this competitive edge through life. When a super great St Albert girls softball team was tearing up the league, it was up to representatives from the class of ’75 to find a way to stop them.

In the legendary tales of St. Albert’s there is one instance when the little friends actually battled St. Albert’s in what was one of the biggest games ever, for supremacy of the JV girls softball league! The little friends had now known each other for 30 years and were beginning to come full circle in baseball as a few of them were going to begin coaching CYO baseball. In this case it was CYO Girls JV softball which was for 6th grade girls and younger. One of the little friends had daughters who were going to be on this team and asked a couple little friends to help him out. The team being coached was called the St. Sebastian Arrows and nearly the entire team was 5th grade or younger. This meant for the first season the Arrows would be playing against teams with many 6th graders who would be older and bigger than the Arrow girls.

The little friends could tell at the first practice that there was much work to do and that was fine. It was expected. The little friends divided up the team and worked on catching, pitching, and hitting separately and simultaneously to give the girls as many reps as they could during their scheduled practice times. To save time, the little friends never measured off the base paths or the distance to the mound, they just guestimated those distances. When they were the home team they were required to measure everything exactly but for practices they did not think this was necessary. In all the pickup games the little friends played when they were little, they never did that. They simply laid out the bases and the pitcher’s mound about where they should be. This methodology was working out and the girls were showing significant improvement and they would have to as their competition was going to be older, bigger and more experienced than they were.

The first couple games did not go well but the girls were improving despite losing. The 3rd game was a tie and the 4th game they won. Unfortunately the 5th game was not a pleasant experience. It was against their old school St. Albert the Great who had a 6th grade pitcher who had been going to baseball camp for the past two years to learn how to pitch fastball. She was great and basically unhittable. The game was played at a familiar park behind the gym at St. Albert, the same field where the little friends broke the convent window two decades earlier. It was now known as Mr. Nik field in honor of their old CYO coach.

To say the girls were disappointed is an understatement. They saw themselves improving in the league only to hit a brick wall like St. Albert the Great and their superb pitcher. A small little friends meeting was called and several ideas came to mind. The little friends made a deal with McDonalds and received coupons for free ice cream Sundaes. These were given to the girls not during games but during practices and they were only for defense. If you caught a pop up you got a coupon. If you caught a grounder and threw out a runner you got a coupon. This really caught on and during practices you could see the extra effort from the girls to make plays. When they did make a play, they would hold the ball up and say “Coupon”.

The 6th game came and the girls won that game. The league was mostly a pitchers league and most of the outs were strike outs. But not for the Arrows who were playing a pretty decent defense and actually making plays to get outs.

After this game the little friends calculated that if they won the rest of their games, they could in theory at least, play in the championship game. The little friends thought this was a worthwhile endeavor especially since no one expected them to win much. The girls played with heart but when it came right down to it, they were smaller than their opponents, a year younger, and simply could not hit the ball as far.

The little friends contemplated this dilemma. The last time they were in a situation like this was the old muscle head team they played in a city softball league and it took a bat made from a nuclear submarine to beat those guys. Even if they could get a bat like that again, it would not work. The bats on the girls’ bat rack are half the size and they would not be able to swing it.

The idea was quickly put aside. What were they thinking? These were little girls learning how to play baseball and they were actually considering using the most powerful and illegal bat on earth on them? These girls were only 11 years old! The little friends were a little embarrassed at the thought and decided to call it a day. They would reconvene tomorrow.

The 7th game came and the girls had the titanium alloy bat made from the nuclear submarine in the dugout. They called the company who made the tubing for nuclear submarines and had created the bat. The company said there was only one left and it was cut in half so it could never be used again. They took the half bat, capped it with the cap from another bat, and it was the perfect size for JV girls softball.

The little friends never encouraged the girls to use the bat. They simply added it to the selection of bats they already had, although they did put it in the slot closest to the plate on the way out from the dugout. The first hitter decided to try the bat and hit what should have been a grounder to short. But it wasn’t. It was a missile to short that went past the short stop and was traveling so fast it went past the outfielder for a home run. The girls saw this and it became a sort of lucky bat for some of them. The little Arrow team was now a decent team in the league. They had a decent defense, pretty good hitting, and the Arrow pitchers were turning into pretty decent pitchers.

The girls won the 8th and 9th games which set up a showdown with St. Albert the Great and their golden arm pitcher. The little friends actually never expected the girls to be in this position so they had no plan on how to defeat the St. Albert the Great team who were so much better than everyone else and had the best pitcher in the league.

Once again the little friends were in a dilemma. Yes, they had the titanium alloy bat but what good was it if the bat never hit the ball. Bunting would not be allowed for two more years when they reached varsity and the little friends needed an answer in the next 24 hours.

They were hosting their last practice before the game when the idea came to them. An idea much more devious than even the titanium alloy bat. The little friends were watching the girls practice and noticed that the Arrow pitchers were doing their usual pitching practice on the side with catchers. But like the little friends in their youth during their pickup games, they had not measured out the mound and just made a mark with their shoes that they pitched from. The little friends realized that their team was not a disciplined team in that respect. They pitched and practiced from a mound that could be any distance and simply adapted when they were put in the game. However the St. Albert the Great pitcher was trained at an expensive baseball camp two consecutive years and it was a certainty that the pitcher’s mound there would be exact every time. Every time that girl pitched, the mound was 35 feet away. What if it was 35 feet and 8 inches away. The little friends contemplated this move for a second. This was cheating pure and simple. This was a Catholic little girls’ league. You cannot change the rules and cheat in this league. The little friends did contemplate that this was just wrong for a second or two.

Then they decided that in addition to moving the mound 8 inches they would have to cut the tape measure somewhere in 15 foot mark, add eight inches from another tape measure so if it was challenged the little friends could prove the mound was right and the tape measure would show 35′. The little friends justified this in their own mind by thinking that the St. Sebastian kids would also be pitching from the same mound so how could this be cheating. But they knew the St. Sebastian kids would adapt because they had been trained in the old “little friend” sandlot style. It might take them a couple pitches but they would zero in quickly. Little miss golden arm might not. She might be so disciplined and so perfect that an 8 inch shift to her might be impossible to overcome. It was a long shot, but it was a shot.

The game day came and the little friends were out early to measure off the bases and pitcher’s mound. The little friends did the measurement for the pitcher’s mound with the “special” tape measure made just the day before. They measured off 35 feet, made a mark, and drove in the two stakes for the mound on this mark. The tape measure was put back in the bat bag, and a regulation tape measure was brought out to measure the bases. They began chalking the field and just finished up as the girls from both teams showed up.

The Arrows took the field and St. Sebastian’s pitcher began throwing her warm up pitches. She looked fine and did not seem to notice anything different. The game began and the Arrows gave up two runs in the first and were quickly down 2-0.

Now miss golden arm took to the mound with her practice pitches and she seemed a little off. The Arrows came to bat and miss golden arm threw the ball high. “Strike One” said the ump because the leadoff hitter swung. Of course she swung. That’s what you do in baseball. Miss golden arm was so fast the hitters decided to swing before the pitch was even thrown. Miss golden arm struck out the side. The second inning came and the Arrows gave up another run to make it a 3-0 game.

The Arrows came in to bat and the little friends told each girl that went to bat not to swing until she threw a strike. “Make her throw a strike” they said to all the girls sitting on the bench as well. The Arrow batter went to bat, but did not swing. She was walked on three pitches. The next arrow batter came up with the little friends saying “make her throw a strike”. She also was walked on three pitches as was the next girl, and the next girl. 12 straight balls had scored a run for the Arrows. The coach from St. Albert the Great went to the mound to talk to his girl, while the little friends huddled together.

“She is missing high” one said, “I thought it would be low”.

The others nodded and one suggested “she’s trying to compensate but she doesn’t know how”. The coach came in and the game resumed. The Arrow batter came to the plate and did not swing as ball one was called. From the St. Albert the Great bleachers a fan shouted out, “c’mon, you afraid to swing”, which just infuriated the Arrow coach who began to walk toward their bleachers. Fortunately the ump raised both his hands, saying “that’s enough, play ball”.

The game continued and miss golden arm walked in another run. This time the coach came out and had seen enough. He called for a reliever for her probably for the first time all season and when the reliever came out everyone heard him say to her “just throw strikes”.

The St. Albert the Great reliever was good, but nothing like miss golden arm. She did throw strikes and got the first out of the inning, but a single scored one more and an overthrow another. When the inning ended the Arrows were up 4-3.

St. Albert’s now knew that they were in a ball game and the Arrows came to play. The game continued and was a see saw battle all the way. The little friends put in the substitute players like usual in the outfield as did St. Albert the Great. It was during this time a fly ball was hit to the substitute Arrow player out in center field who was probably the poorest fielder on the team. This time she was not, and all that extra work paid off as she caught the ball then jumped up and shouted “Coupon”!

In the end the Arrows lost by two runs. They came to bat in the last inning with the mindset that if they scored three runs they would be in the championship game, but they only managed one base runner in the inning before the reliever got the third out.

This was their second loss to St. Albert this year but this loss was different. They were not slaughtered and they knew they gave a great effort against an older, bigger, and more experienced opponent. They also knew that most of their team would consist of 6th graders next year and they would be a pretty good team with the experience they got from this year.

The little friends got together later that evening to enjoy a few beers together. They spoke how they had come full circle this year in several ways. Twenty years ago the little friends were at St. Albert the Great playing CYO baseball and being coached by their parents. Now the little friends were coaching their children in CYO baseball and playing against St. Albert the Great.

This made the little friends reflect on their time at St. Albert the Great. How did Sister Beth do with her progressive teaching method? Was there anyone left there that they even knew?

The next year the Arrows won practically every trophy and award they could in that league, with a benefit luncheon to boot. They did not need tricks to win that year. They had found what they needed in each other just as their parents had done decades earlier at St. Albert’s.