Category: Kickball

PlayNOLA Kickball Champions

On June 30, 2017

In Athletic Achievements, Kickball, New Orleans

Last week I did something I had never done before.

Win a championship in a team sport.

“Faces Loaded,” the kickball team I was part of for the 2017 PlayNOLA spring season, came from behind to beat “Booze on First” 8-7 in the championship.

Pretty sure this was the eighth (?) kickball season I took part in through PlayNOLA so you better believe I was hankering to get my hands on that trophy – and taste the wonderful champagne that came with it.

Something just clicked for us throughout the season. I can’t explain it.

We weren’t the most athletic group of people out there, but we cared about each other and came together when it mattered.

Kickball Recap: It Just Keeps Getting Better

By Tyler Mayforth

On May 6, 2016

In Athletic Achievements, Kickball

If I ever had a better time playing an organized team sport than I did this past Wednesday during our weekly kickball game through the PlayNOLA league, I’d be hard-pressed coming up with it on the spot.

I mean, the first game “The Black Balls” ever played together was pretty epic (Seriously. Read that post), but there was something even more remarkable about the most recent engagement.

Maybe it had a lot to do with how the game transpired.

We trailed 6-1 after the third inning and it really looked like we were about to get blown out. Our defense struggled (mine included) and whenever we had runners in scoring position we’d kick it right to a fielder.

Then something clicked.

We didn’t allow a run the rest of the way, had a few 1-2-3 innings and pushed three runs across to make it 6-4 going into the bottom of the seventh. League rules allow us to play seven innings or an hour, whatever comes first, if it’s not a run rule.

As we switched sides after retiring them in the top of the frame, a guy on the other team said, “This is either going to be a great comeback or an epic choke.”

So which one would it be?

I came up third and with one out and a runner on second, I ripped a shot out of the shortstop’s reach. The ball split the outfielders too and I motored around the bases to score the game-tying run. I clapped loudly and let an expletive fly as I touched home plate as the excitement of the moment washed over me.

Three “batters” and one out later, the winning run crossed home plate. It was a 7-6 victory and we improved to 2-0 on the season.

What I really think made this game special is that we’re all friends now and we know what makes each other tick. We can push each other’s buttons and through that we gel not only as a team, but as a group (if that makes any sense at all). They know I’m ultra competitive and I own it.

Stay tuned as we find out if “The Black Balls” can stay undefeated next week and beat one of the better teams in the league.

Kickball Recap 5: From Right Field, With Love

By Tyler Mayforth

On December 3, 2015

In Kickball

One out stood between us and the third seed in the playoffs.

For us to have any hope at making the championship, that’s the seed we’d need.

Coming into Wednesday, which was the final day of the regular season, we were in sixth place — but as fate would have it, the playNOLA Kickball scheduling gods smiled favorably upon us. Since an earlier game got rained out, we had a doubleheader lined up against the teams in third place and fifth place. Plus, we owned the tiebreaker over the team in fourth, so if we handled business the path was clear for us to jump three spots on the final day.

Well, only two players showed up from “Drunk & Looking To Score,” so we won the game by forfeit and waited around for the second game of the twin bill against “Late Night Pizzas.” The hour gave us valuable time to bond as a team and I must say that “Black Balls” is a solid unit despite being comprised solely of free agents.

Fast forward to the game and it was a back-and-forth affair the entire time.

Our opponent jumped out to a 3-0 lead, then we swung back to tie it up.

We inched ahead 6-3, then our opponent rallied to even the playing field.

Finally we got some separation when it counted (read: top of the seventh inning) and scored four runs to go up 10-6.

We got two outs pretty easily in the bottom half of the frame, but then they pushed across another run to make it 10-7 and had runners on second and third before we could blink. So you could say the pressure was on.

The next kicker drilled a sinking line drive into right-center field, right where I was standing. Knowing I had to keep it in front of me, I charged to nab it off the short hop and fired a throw to first hoping two things: that it wouldn’t bounce off the first baseman’s hands and I’d be able to record the final out. Sure enough, it was a bang-bang play at first and the gracious referee called the runner out.

Game over.

Third place secured.

Celebration commenced.

Bring on the playoffs.

	AB	H	R	1B	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB
Game Stats	3	2	1	1	0	1	0	2	0
Season Stats	14	9	8	4	3	2	0	6	1

Kickball Recap 4: There is No Glory in Pitching

By Tyler Mayforth

On November 5, 2015

In Athletic Achievements, Kickball, New Orleans

As I watched run after run after run after run (you get the idea) cross home plate last night in an eventual 15-2 loss by Big Black Balls, I realized there is no glory in pitching in kickball. The same can probably be said — and is probably said — about pitching in slow-pitch softball.

No matter how hard you try or how much spin you try to put on the ball, it’s going to get crushed. I might have struck out three batters (I’m not even sure how I did that, to be honest), but everything else was belted.

If you want to make a difference in a game where the object is to score as many runs as humanly possible, you get in the outfield. You need to play deeper than you’d think because once that ball bounces over your head, it’s an easy triple or home run for the batter, regardless of speed.

Maybe I’ll pitch again at some point during the season. Until then I’ll settle in at my usual spot at third base or try to work my way in the outfield. I’m much better at chasing down the ball that got murdered than I am turning around to watch it go really, really far.

	AB	H	R	1B	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB
Game Stats	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Season Stats	7	6	6	2	3	1	0	4	1

Kickball Recap 3: The Blackout

By Tyler Mayforth

On October 29, 2015

In Kickball

So there we were.

“Big Black Balls” ready to play “Drunk, And Looking To Score.”

We were 2-0, tied for first place in the league standings, while “Drunk And Looking To Score” was 1-1 and tied for second. I could sense we were ready to play well and a win would have put us in firm control of locking down one of four playoff spots.

There was only one problem: We didn’t have any lights. By the time we started to warm up, it was getting pretty dark — and that would be a major issue in kickball.

See, PLAYNOLA rents the field from the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission (NORDC). Evidently the NORDC forgot to set the timers on the lights to the correct time — something to do with Daylight Savings Time, we figured — and thus the entire night of kickball was canceled. A truly disappointing outcome for all.

To PLAYNOLA’s credit, they assured us the game would be rescheduled.

Who knows? This one game could decide who goes to the playoffs and who stays home. Would we have wanted to play this game so early in the season then?

Maybe “The Blackout” — at least this part of it — was a blessing in disguise.

Kickball Recap 2: Crank That 2-0

By Tyler Mayforth

On October 22, 2015

In Athletic Achievements, Kickball

Halfway through what turned out to be a 17-5 win for “Big Black Balls,” the team formerly known as “Free Kicks” (Yeah, I don’t know either. We batted around the idea of “Stranger Danger,” which I liked a lot more), “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” by none other than Soulja Boy blared over the Bluetooth speaker set at home plate.

For a moment, everything else — like kickball — became secondary. We just wanted to dance.

For those ‘older’ players like myself on the rosters, we were taken back to our senior years of college or right after we graduated (me). Slightly younger players probably remembered the song from their freshman or sophomore years in college or possibly the senior years in high school. The folks who JUST graduated college were probably in diapers when that song came out back in 2007.

Anyway, after the second verse — which is probably all anybody can hear of that song any longer — we got back to business with me at pitcher (wanted to try my hand at it after playing third base for a while) and someone other than me (of course) at-bat.

Other songs played throughout the night, but none really stood out to where the game came to a halt and everybody either danced or rapped along to the lyrics.

We needed some levity in the game since it was a rout from the start. We led 7-0 after the first inning and 11-0 after the second. We debated on putting up the max number of runs available (35, or seven per inning), but decided against it.

Another good game for the team as we are still undefeated at 2-0.

	AB	H	R	1B	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB
Game Stats	3	3	2	1	1	1	0	3	0
Season Stats	5	5	5	2	2	1	0	4	1

Kickball Recap 1: Coming Through In The Clutch

By Tyler Mayforth

On October 15, 2015

In Athletic Achievements, Kickball

Right before I stepped to the plate for my final at-bat of my team’s season opener in kickball on Wednesday, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

It was the umpire assigned to officiate our game.

“Look, I don’t want to put any additional pressure on you right now, but look at your team.”

He pointed in the direction of my teammates. Moments before, I guess they all took a knee like Tim Tebow before a game. It might have been four years late, but my team — “Free Kicks” — was definitely “Tebowing.”

“Thanks, guys,” I yelled over. “I need all the prayers I can get.”

Pressure, though? What pressure?

There were two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
My team, down 5-2, staged a rally and the tying run was on third.
I worked the count full (3-2) and already fouled off one kick, so as the rules state, my next kick has to be in fair territory or it’s an out. Plus, if the ball clipped the strike zone and I let it go, I’d be punched out on strikes — and the game would be over.

Oh. That pressure.

The opposing pitcher rolled the yellow sphere in my direction and it took a hop just as it was about to cross the plate. Earlier in the game I saw another pitch bounce and I let it go — but that one was ruled a strike, so I had a decision to make. Let it go and leave it to the umpire’s discretion or pound it into the outfield. I let it go.

A few seconds passed before the umpire called “Ball” and I took my base. While I stood on first, the pitcher looked over at me and said, “Really? I put that one right down the middle for you. How did you take that?” I smirked and said, “I guess I have a good eye” — but deep down I know I should have whaled it. I was 2 for 2 with a single, RBI double and two runs scored before that, so I had the “hot foot.”

Oh well.

Two plays later I scored the winning run.

We should have lost, but the breaks went our way.

On the ensuing play, the pitcher and third baseman collided trying to make a play on a pop-up. The ball dropped and I got to second. Then the next kick should have been caught as well, but the second baseman botched it and I kept motoring around the bases until I touched home.

We celebrated like we won the World Series and made plans to meet up at a local bar to continue the festivities.

Throughout the entire night, everything felt normal. The camaraderie was there and nothing felt forced. I attribute it to the fact that we were a team full of free agents (hence ‘Free Kicks’) and most of us weren’t from New Orleans to begin with.

All in all, it was a great debut.

Tyler Tracker: 2 for 2, 3 R, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB.