The Red Hook Locals Softball League is back for the second season in a row after a long hiatus while waiting for the ballfields in the neighborhood to re-open.
The Wobblies, Bait & Tackle, the Record Shop, and B61 have all returned this season, and Hometown has joined as an expansion team. Greg “Greggles” Fischer, who plays for Bait & Tackle was kind enough to talk to me about this season, as well as some of the league’s history.
“B61 had a team a while back, but as the situation with the parks turned into construction forever, Bait & Tackle, and the Wobblies would just play each other in a pickup game,” Fischer said. “I’m pretty sure there’s been a league since around the mid-2000s but I don’t know the exact year since that was before I was playing.”
Fischer also told me the current standings to the best of his recollection. The Record Shop is in first place at 9-2, B61 is in second at 7-4, the Wobblies are in third at 6-5, and Hometown is still looking for their first win. The Wobblies beat Bait & Tackle in an important battle for third place on July 27.
The regular season consists of 12 games for each team. Each team plays each of the other three times so the playoffs are quickly approaching. This year the plan is to have a play-in game between the fourth and fifth place teams. The date for that matchup has not yet been decided. All of the playoff games will take place on Field 9 with the semifinals on August 10, and the championship on August 17.
“I think it’s important to mention that we also came up with a new name for Field 9,” Fischer said. “We call it ‘Dovey Diamond.’ The field is named after a former Red Hook resident and proponent of the softball league named Gary Dovey who passed away.”
Fischer also explained the process for getting a ballfield permit, saying “We apply for the summer permit in January, and we just have to apply right away. ‘Dovey Diamond’ is technically considered a baseball field and there aren’t too many baseball fields left in the city so there are a lot of high school games played there. Getting the permit for that one was huge for us. We’re mostly at ‘Dovey Diamond’ on Thursdays but on Mondays, our permit is for Field 8 or Field 5.”
Despite the sizable gap in the standings, last season is proof that big upsets are possible in the postseason. Bait & Tackle upset the Record Shop in the semifinals after the Record Shop finished with the best record in the regular season.
B61 knocked out the Wobblies in the semifinals and then beat Bait & Tackle 29-7 to win the championship. They popped champagne to celebrate and were presented with a championship trophy.
After lead contamination was found in the soil at the ballfields, some of the ballfields were closed in 2012, and more were closed in 2015. Now, many of the fields are open once again and they have turf instead of grass.
It would have been understandable for a lot of the longtime players to show some rust last year after the layoff but the games were still competitive, and everyone was happy to once again be able to play games in Red Hook.
“This whole league has been so much improved from last year,” Fischer said. “Every team is a threat. We’ve won four more games than we won at this point last year and it’s going to be very tight this year.”
Gear up, Red Hook. It’s time for playoff softball!
