Opening night of the Spring 2023 CASL Kickball season went pretty smooth. We have a good mix of returning seasoned vets versus newbies taking the kickball field for the first time since their elementary school days.

The first week can be tough on the new teams. We face them up against teams that have been playing for several years. The idea is we want them to learn the rules of the game. The returning teams are always good at showing the rookies the ropes. This does usually come at the expense of playing a team with a well oiled game. They have their postiions and strategies pretty well set. This was the case in the three matchups this week. Anejo, Kick-a-Doodle, and Sit on my Base, while helpful in teaching the rules and strategy of the game, were rewarded with a couple wins each. Their opponenets The Ballbarians, Ouch My Balls, and Netkicks & Chill all showed promise. They will learn make a couple tweaks of their lineup, a strategy of short ball to move the runners, and a couple more touches on the giant red ball will help them improve through the season.

The returning teams match-ups were much closer contests. Cannonball taking on the Chatham Squire was our first overtime rule of the year. Taking a couple extra innings before the Squire secured the W. The returning champs, as well as the league favorites coming into the season,  Saved by the Ball, were matched up against Pitches be Crazy. While Saved by the ball took a strong victory in game 1, Pitches be Crazy were able to take the 2nd game into extra innings and come out on top. The opening game on the newly renovated field 2 was the Stunners vs Kicking the habit(Rebranded Los Locos). If losing was the Habit they were trying to kick, they are off to a good start . They walked away with 2 closely contested battles.

We head into week 2 with the top down scheduling strategy in place for the week. This means 1st place will play the highest ranked team they have not played yet. We go down the whole standings this way. This should help get the stadnings looking accurate quickly. The 4 undefeated teams will matchup, so we will see if any can hold on to their unblemished record. The 4 teams with eggs in the win column, will have a chance to climb up the standings ladder.

This article was about the competiion of the league on the field. The other aspect was this was a lot of fun. It seemed like a perfect group of people. Walking the line of competioon and having fun at a social sport. The Sand Dollar was PACKED for the post-game socail and seeing all the different teams interacting is what this is all about. Let’s make week 2 even better. There will be some close games.