PRINT ADS

Little Billy comes up to the plate, batting last in the lineup, and bunts a slow roller to the pitcher. It should be an easy out, but the pitcher overthrows first base. A couple more miscues and all of a sudden Billy has a home run. In a way, that’s kind of how the Holmen Area Backyard Softball League was born, starting out hoping for a bunt single and ending up notching a homer.

The HABSL has its roots in weekly football games organized last fall by students at Holmen High School. “We said, ‘You know what, we should start a softball league,’” said Joey Pietrek, who plays third base for the Mets and after three games leads the team in home runs (he’s got one so far) and slugging percentage.

They started out just having a weekly softball game in mind and 15 to 20 guys already on board. They put up some flyers around school hoping to recruit a few more players, and got a lot more than that. “There was quite a buzz around school,” Pietrek said, and the next thing they knew they had enough players for four teams.

Once they had the ball rolling, it just wouldn’t stop. Colin Luz, a senior next fall, and Justin DeFlorian, a 2008 HHS graduate, took on the role of league co-commissioners. Luz had never played organized softball or baseball before, but he had some organizational expertise and had some connections at the Holmen Recreation Department through his coaching and refereeing work there.

Luz arranged for the league to have two games under the lights at Deer Wood Park on Monday nights, starting at 8 p.m. “It’s pretty cool playing under the lights,” Pietrek said.

To form teams, they held a draft day, with almost as much pomp and drama as player selection events in professional sports. Luz is manager of the Mets (though he gets a lot of help from Pietrek and assistant manager Alex Kerkman). Jordan Johnson is at the helm for the Pirates (he even ordered T-shirts for the team), while Jarrod Bock is the skipper for the Brewers and DeFlorian manages the Athletics.

Luz said about half the 60 players in the league have never played organized ball. At the other extreme, there are about 20 guys who play for the high school and/or Legion teams.

The draft was meant to make the teams fairly even, but the league rules also allow for free-agent signings and trades. Through June 25 there had been four trades and six free-agent signings, all of them detailed on the HABSL Web site.

Yes, there’s a Web site, complete with team rosters, statistics, schedules, game results, forums to vent about various issues and tongue-in-cheek commentary.

The Web site, which was set up by Kerkman, offered a comical account of the draft. “There was some commotion during the later rounds, when Brandon Olson was drafted ahead of Cameron Olson. Cameron, who is normally very quiet, exploded upon hearing the pick, walked around in a circle shouting “WHY,” stole Brandon’s hat and poked his eye out. Cameron was chosen next, more out of fear then actual talent.”

The Web site also detailed a bench-clearing dust-up during the Mets-Athletics game on June 23, with roughly 30 minutes of playing time lost to arguing umpire’s calls. “All players were soon in the fray, except for Mets center fielder Terry Durkin, who was busy trying to catch a deer in the woods behind the park,” the Web site said, noting that player suspensions were expected.

The episode points up officiating as one possible weak spot for the league. Rather than hire impartial umpires, volunteers from teams not playing are tapped to umpire and keep stats.

The 11-week season runs until the middle of August, and started with Bernie Ferry, the recently retired principal at Holmen High School, throwing out the first pitch. The games regularly attract bleachers full of spectators, including friends and parents, and next weekend the fans will be treated to an all-star break featuring a home-run derby and two games, one pitting the HABSL all-stars against the stars of the College Bar League.

Although the HABSL turned out to be a lot more involved than organizers originally envisioned, the camaraderie and spirited competition have been worth it.

“It’s just fun,” said Luz.