In the beginning there was Neil…..
Following an all star performance at a university softball match, the Pimilico Pirates were created. Conveniently enough they were able to ‘borrow’ all their university kit and never give it back.
Friends (Chris Carr, Sohan, Bola), WAGS (Josie and Lucy), FOWAGS (Nadine Clarke) were immediately recruited as well as family (Donna) and ringers (Paul-Eric Mendoza and David Conitzer) for the first game of the season.
It started off quite badly for the Pirates with an immediate forfeit due to lack of girls on the team. It was quite apparent that we really didn’t have a clue what we were doing (Sohan at short stop for example) but we were going to have a good time anyway.
The second game was almost as bad as the first but at least we got to play a proper game, even if it was a mercy rule and work out some positions such as Neil pitching, Tom at short stop, Paul ‘The Glove’ Mendoza on first, Lucy on second, Nadine on third and the Chris/Dave/Bola combo in the outfield.
With positions almost sorted and the drafting in of other friends (Katie, Teo, Andrew Short, Natalie and Natalia) the team was complete and soon we were winning. The streak continued long enough for the Pirates to finish second in the league despite cheating Raiders, Neil getting injured, having our kit ‘stolen’, and sabotage attempts by the Voodoos to rob us of first place and promotion.