BY SAMMY KARDON
The HLS Softball Team failed in its bid to repeat as champions of the fourth annual All-Boston Law School Tournament, but it was on a technicality, not because of any stellar play by its opponents. Despite winning convincingly with a short squad against the Boston College [Legal] Eagles last Saturday, HLS was unable to muster a full squad for two critical matches this past Saturday morning and are no longer in contention for the crown.
“The weather report was dire, the games started at 8 a.m. and pretty much all of our 2Ls were still off gallivanting in major American cities, ostensibly looking for jobs,” team president and 3L Shane Fleenor complained.
“I also blame the tournament organizers for not listening to me when I told them to schedule it for any other weekend this Fall.”
Fleenor, while disappointed that the Boston softball careers of several stellar 3Ls had to come to a close because 2Ls chose to pursue legal ones, remained optimistic about fielding a dynamic squad for the National Law School Tournament scheduled to take place at the University of Virginia this Spring.
Based on its performance the Saturday before last, HLS will be a force to be reckoned with this Spring.
“If U.S. News and World Report’s rankings are any indication of softball prowess -and I’m pretty sure they are– we should dominate at UVA, because I’m pretty sure Yale isn’t even thinking about sending a team,” Saturday’s captain and 2L Alex D’Amico posited.
D’Amico rallied a crew of seven 1Ls and three veteran 2Ls at the crack of dawn and they all carpooled out to Chesnut Hill to defend their title. After a brief warmup, they jumped out in front of the [Legal] Eagles and never looked back until they had secured a scrappy 14-11 win.
The star of the game was the pitcher, 2L Erik Daly, who used his knuckle-curve to strike out three BC batters while walking only one, an impressive feat in the world of slo-pitch softball.
“Dude, [Daly] was nasty on the mound, getting ahead of hitters, mixing up his pitches, and fielding the ball with Gold Glove aplomb,” 1L Greg Scally, the leadoff man and right-fielder who went 3-for-6 with a triple, observed enthusiastically.
Daly bent but did not break, giving the powerful HLS offense room to operate in comfort behind its linchpin: slugging first-baseman and 2L Sammy Kardon.
“[Kardon] was a great role model for us inexperienced 1Ls,” second-baseman Joe Dvorkin reflected. “He showed us the legendary ‘HLS Softball Way’ by exhibiting exemplary characteristics like plate discipline and how to chew tobacco and run at the same time.”
Kardon went 5-for-6 with three doubles and seven RBIs, but he was not the only offensive star as 1L Beth Russo went 5-for-6 and scored four runs.
“I was seeing the ball really well,” Russo explained blithely. “It looked like a big juicy Valencia Orange, and I just turned on it and manufactured hits like someone in a deli might turn it into juice.”
Veteran 2L Chris Drake was optimistic about the future of the program, despite the forfeiture.
“When Fleenor is finally out of the way and our class can take charge of the program, we’ll make the world of Boston law school softball ours again, oyster-wise,” he promised.
Drake’s challenge crystallized the hopeful sentiment of many disappointed fans: wait ’til next year.