The 2024 Red Hook Locals Softball League (RHSL) began on April 18. This is their third season since the ballfields were re-opened in 2022, after being closed due to post Sandy rebuilding and continued lead remediation.
Bait & Tackle will look to defend its Colucci Cup after an impressive playoff run in 2023 which concluded with a victory over B61 in the championship.
In 2022, B61 got the best of Bait & Tackle in the championship game.
For two years in a row the Record Shop had an excellent regular season but lost in the semifinals. The Record Shop and B61 are both fairly new teams and 2022 was the inaugural season for both of them.
Bait & Tackle has been around going back to the old days of the softball league before the Red Hook ballfields were shut down due to toxins found in the soil in 2015.
The games are played in the new synthetic turf fields along Bay Street. Field 9 is now called “Dovey Diamond” to honor the late Gary Dovey, a former Red Hook resident and proponent of the softball league. “Dovey Diamond” has a scoreboard, foul poles, and plants and flowers planted just beyond the outfield fence. The games this season will take place at Fields 5-8, next to the Rec Center, and Dovey Diamond, across the street.
Last year Hometown was added as an expansion team, giving the league five teams. This year MiniBar has been added bringing the league to an even six teams.
Each of the teams plays a 10-game schedule which will determine playoff seeding. The top two teams will get a bye while the third-place will play the sixth-place and the fourth-place will play the fifth-place in the first round. The playoffs begin in August.
After winning the championship last season, Bait & Tackle shortshop Greg Fischer, remarked “overall play in the league improved a lot” from the 2022 to the 2023 season.
Now all of the teams in the league will look to continue trending in that direction and improving this season.
“I think the play was vastly improved last year and there were unbelievable plays on offense and defense,” says Bobby Cole, player-coach for the Record Shop. “It still has some convivial elements of a bar league but it ain’t no bar league anymore. This season was an epic, legendary experience. It was a continual learning process and a shining example of sportsmanship in today’s America.”
One matchup to watch this year is between Bait & Tackle and the Wobblies. They are two original bar league teams and the league’s oldest rivalry.
Another matchup that may well turn into a rivalry is B61 against the Record Shop. The teams have been two of the best and most consistent in the league over the last two seasons and they are two of the favorites to finish with the best record this season.
A third matchup to watch for is Hometown and MiniBar. Both teams entered the season without winning an RHSL game and they are the two newest teams in the league.
Over the last two seasons, the RHSL has been unpredictable with some big upsets in the playoffs. Since all six teams make the playoffs, they all have the chance to go on a run and win the Colucci Cup. After an excellent 2023 season, 2024 has all the makings of being an even better one.
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