Glove care

Since we briefly discussed the other day how to look after your glove during the off-season I thought I would have a look online to see what other info I could find.

The Mizuno website says this:

1. After the break in period, proper care should be taken to maximize the performance and durability of your glove including storing it with a softball or two baseballs in the pocket and conditioning and cleaning the glove at the end of the season.

2. Petroleum jelly is recommended for end of season conditioning and cleaning. Use a small amount over the entire glove making sure not to neglect the lacing and the inside where salt and acid from perspiration can build up damaging the softer interior leather lining.

Baseballgloves.com says this:

Properly caring for your baseball glove can make a huge difference in the lifespan of your glove. We recommend checking with the manufacturer of your glove to see what they recommend.

• Keep your baseball glove in a cool, dry place when it is not in use. Do not leave your glove where the heat could affect the leather (the trunk of your car).
• If your glove gets wet, dry it with a towel and let it air-dry. Do not put it in the oven or near a heater as it may dry out the leather.
• Do not over oil your baseball glove! A few time each season is plenty.
• Keep the laces tight.

From Nokona: "We do not recommend neatsfoot oil, linseed oil or silicon-type spray as these tend to close the pores of the leather, causing it to dry, harden, and become heavy over an extended period of time and through repeated use. Petroleum jelly keeps the pores open and in effect, keeps the leather “alive” while providing a softening condition. There are other cleaners and conditioners that are safe, especially those scientifically developed for glove leather."

Follow these tips, check with your manufacturer and your baseball glove should treat you well!

I hope that helps a bit!

Softball Ball

Hello Team,

Well I thought I'd give it a go posting something other than a match report on our blog, so here's our first announcement of some kind.

For those of you who didn't get the Mail from Wade (quite why I do I'm not sure!!!) the date of the Softball Ball is 23rd September 2005.

Apparently we have to reserve our place through our Captain or Team Manager (Does anybody have a Team Manager?) No idea on cost of tickets

Griff

Friendly Fire vs Prairie Dogs - 19/07/2005

Friendly Fire turned up with the prospect of completing the double over the Prairie Dogs after winning the reverse fixture earlier in the season, but a 11 run first inning from the Prairie Dogs proved vital as they overcame Friendly Fire 26-23 in blustery conditions.

Going into this game Friendly Fire were confident of winning having put in a much improved performance against Orange the previous week. Friendly Fire opted to start the game with back up pitcher Griff, leaving Moon the Magnificent to pitch the later innings. Coping with the conditions admirably Griff was tempting the Prairie Dogs batters into hitting, uncharacteristically the normally tight fielding of Friendly Fire was not to be seen and by the time the 3rd out was registered in the book Friendly Fire were 11 runs down, giving Fire an awful lot to do to win this game, Fire responded well with a couple of runs in the bottom of the 1st.

With the fielding tightening up and Moon the Magnificent replacing Griff, the Fire slowly started to close the gap on the Dogs with a combination of good hitting by the Fire and poor fielding by the Dogs, this meant by the top of the 7th inning Friendly Fire were only 4 runs behind.

Unfortunately for the Fire the fielding demons were to return and allowed the Dogs to score 4 runs in the top of the 7th and extend their lead to 8 runs leaving the Fire with an uphill battle to win this game, home runs from Jess and Arwel gave Friendly Fire hope but sadly it was not to be and they came up just 3 runs short giving victory to the Prairie Dogs.

Disappointed with defeat there were some high points for Friendly Fire to look back on, 2 home runs each for Griff and Jess, home runs for Arwel, Alistair and Ben. All this however was over shadowed by the highlight of the evening.....A huge 6ft hit by Susie into the shallow infield which caught the Dogs off guard, charging towards first base she caused first base person into an error, the ball went sailing into the outfield and with lightning speed Susie turned a base hit into a stand up triple, well done Susie

Friendly Fire vs. Real Flyers - 28.06.2005

BRISTOL - The teams battled the elements on this wet and thundery evening but it was the Flyers that overcame both the weather and their opponents to win by the mercy rule 20-4.

As the rain came down in the early innings the match looked like it might be quite an even contest. After the bottom of the second it was still tight with the Flyers just ahead. However, it was the 3rd inning that saw the weather gradually improve and the contest effectively end. Friendly Fire failed to score in their half of the 3rd and the Flyers managed to put a further six runs on the board.

It was a combination of strong hitting by the Flyers and some erratic fielding and pitching in the tricky conditions by Friendly Fire that allowed the gap to widen in the 3rd - and subsequent - innings. However, there were some highlights for the Fire despite half the team being slightly distracted by the threat of more lightning.

Unfortunately the highlights mostly came after the mercy rule was called at the end of the fifth inning. They included some consistent pitching by third base and second-string pitcher Griff (who came on in place of Moonie midway through the match as a part of scheduled team rotation) and a remarkable seven bases - a triple and a home-run - in her last two at-bats from centrefielder Han (in her first match back after a lengthy absence).

Indeed it was these two members of the "Ginger" aristocracy that were awarded man and woman of the game for Friendly Fire.

Quotes from Friendly Fire following the game:

Team captain and 2B, Mand, admitted she was "a plonker with a bat and a slippery glove."

Jess (SS) was slightly more upbeat, saying "despite the loss I thought we played pretty well."

Griff (3B) said "Conditions were difficult... Once we sort out our hitting we will be OK as we are a strong fielding team."

The Inaugural Post...

This is message officially announces the launch of the Friendly Fire softball team weblog. Hopefully, throughout the season, the blog will receive worldwide attention and critical acclaim for its level of journalistic integrity. I also hope that we will have a number of contributors to the blog so that the writing is at least a little bit interesting and varied.

We are already part-way through the 2005 Bristol Softball Association season and we have a game this evening versus the Real Flyers. So, weather permitting, we might have a game-report to post tomorrow.