CONDITIONING 11-29

Last TEAM CONDITIONING session before Winter break.

CLICK HERE FOR 42 PHOTOS,

FASTPITCH WOLVERINES

CONDITIONING

Thursday, November 29, 2018

From top, left-to-right, Wesley Wolverines
sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ),
freshman #21 C Gabby Monzo (Somers Point, NJ),
senior #13 IF Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA),
sophomore #5 U Amanda Curry (Williamsport, MD),
senior #8 OF Megan DiRubbio (Smyrna, DE),
junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD),
freshman #11 P Jessica Anderson (Smyrna, DE),
sophomore #9 OF/C Miranda Kenny (Bethlehem, PA).

LIFTING 11-29

Last TEAM LIFTING before Winter break.

CLICK HERE FOR 36 PHOTOS,

FASTPITCH WOLVERINES

LIFTING

Thursday, November 29, 2018

From top, left-to-right, Wesley Wolverines
sophomore #32 OF Kelly Palmer (Hershey, PA),
junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD),
sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ),
freshman #11 P Jessica Anderson (Smyrna, DE), 
sophomore #4 P Abbey Mayse (Cecilton, MD),
sophomore #25 P Dori Loukopoulos (Chambersburg, PA),
senior #13 IF Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA).

FAST!

“Games are won by players who focus on the playing field - not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard.”
- Warren Buffett 

Wesley Wolverine senior #8 OF Megan DiRubbio (Smyrna, DE).

TOUGH PEOPLE

From top, Wesley Wolverines freshman #15 IF Katie Dunlap (Dover, DE), senior #13 IF Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA), junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD).

LIFTING 11-27

CLICK HERE FOR 54 PHOTOS,

FASTPITCH WOLVERINES LIFTING 

Tuesday evening, November 27

From top, left-to-right, Wesley Wolverines
sophomore #25 P Dori Loukopoulos (Chambersburg, PA),
senior #13 IF Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA),
freshman #11 P Jessica Anderson (Smyrna, DE),
junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD),
freshman #21 C Gabby Monzo (Somers Point, NJ),
sophomore #5 U Amanda Curry (Williamsport, MD),
junior #2 IF Karina Cardona (Cooper City, FL),
senior #8 OF Megan DiRubbio (Smyrna, DE),
sophomore #32 OF Kelly Palmer (Hershey, PA),
sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ).

STEP UP

From left, Wesley Wolverines sophomore #5 U  Amanda Curry (Williamsport, MD),  sophomore #9 OF/C Miranda Kenny (Bethlehem, PA).

CONDITIONING 11-25

THEY’RE BACK FROM THE HOLIDAY,

CLICK HERE FOR 110 PHOTOS: 

FASTPITCH WOLVERINES CONDITIONING

Sunday, November 25

From top, left-to-right, Wesley Wolverines

junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD), 

junior #6 P/OF Allison Mills (Leonardtown, MD), 

sophomore #32 OF Kelly Palmer (Hershey, PA), 

sophomore #22 OF Alexis Howerin (Dover, DE), 

sophomore #5 U Amanda Curry (Williamsport, MD), 

sophomore #25 P Dori Loukopoulos (Chambersburg, PA), 

sophomore #4 P Abbey Mayse (Cecilton, MD), 

junior #2 IF Karina Cardona (Cooper City, FL), 

sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ).

BRINGING IT

Wesley Wolverine freshman #11 P Jessica Anderson (Smyrna, DE).

WON'T GIVE UP

Wesley Wolverine junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD).

SUCCESS IS...

Wesley Wolverine senior #13 IF Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA).

WOLVERINE PITCHERS

From top, Wesley Wolverines
sophomore #25 P Dori Loukopoulos (Chambersburg, PA),
sophomore #4 P Abbey Mayse (Cecilton, MD),
freshman #11 P Jessica Anderson (Smyrna, DE).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

From top, left-to-right, Wesley Wolverines
junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD),
sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ),
senior #13 IF Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA),
sophomore #25 P Dori Loukopoulos (Chambersburg, PA).

FASTPITCH HISTORY

Wesley Wolverine senior #8
OF Megan DiRubbio (Smyrna, DE).

How a boxing glove started it all!
Game of softball born
on Thanksgiving Day!

The first game of what would become the sport of softball was played 131 years ago on Thanksgiving Day, 1887.

This Thanksgiving Day "softball" game actually was a hastily configured baseball contest, which pitted Yale versus Harvard alumni inside Chicago's Farragut Boat Club.



1887: HOW IT HAPPENED…

A Yale alumnus mischievously threw a boxing glove at a Harvard buddy just after a telegram arrived announcing that Yale had bested Harvard in the annual holiday football game. The Harvard fellow grabbed a broom handle and swung at the boxing glove, while reporter George Hancock, who was part of the group, yelled out “Play ball!”

Suddenly a new game was born with Hancock even writing down the day's rules for posterity.

George Hancock and Chicago's Farragut Boat Club, 1887.

1889: OUTDOOR FIELD...

In 1889 the game moved outdoors. Minneapolis fireman Lewis Rober marked up the first field and set seven innings as the game's official length. 
 

First photo of a softball team, Chicago, 1897

By this time, the ball had become a small medicine ball -- 16 inches in circumference -- with a bat two inches thick! Rober changed that. His version of the contest used a ball that was more modern in appearance, now 12 inches wide.

Louis Rober's team named “The Kittens”
that kept a Minneapolis fire company crew in top fit shape.

These games, whether played with a 16" 0r 12" ball were known variously as “indoor baseball”, “cabbage ball”, “mush ball”, “kitten ball”, “pumpkin ball”, “diamond ball”, etc. They began to draw as many as 3,000 fans. 

The early game was played indoors and outdoors with a ball the size of a small medicine ball and a bat two inches thick.

1895: WOMEN ENTER THE GAME

The first women’s "softball" team (still termed "kitten ball" or “girls' indoor base-ball”) was formed at Chicago’s West Division High School. The young ladies were not able to play competitively until 1899 when they finally hired a coach. They eventually claimed the Cook County championship!

First women’s softball team,
West Division High School, Chicago, circa 1900.

1926: SOFTBALL GETS ITS NAME... 

An old 16 inch ball

In 1926, the Denver YMCA dubbed the sport “softball” for the first time. The name started to catch on.

1931: FIRST TRAVEL TEAM...

The first travel team formed in 1931. It was a squad entirely of men, 75 years-of-age and older, taking the field in business-suit-like uniforms (wearing ties and bowties), who called themselves Kids and Kubs. 

Kids and Kubs, St. Petersburg, FL, 1933

1933: ASA FORMED…

Newspaper reporter Leo Fischer and sporting goods salesman Michael Pauley brought the game to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, where 55 teams participated before 350,000 fans who watched different contests of men's and women's slow and fastpitch.

Quaskies Kittenball Team of Quasqueton, Iowa, 1934. 

 
The ASA – Amateur Softball Association – was founded that fall (1933) by Fischer and Pauley. Softball had arrived!

---

SOFTBALL 2018: Unlike many high school and college sports, softball and its counterpart, baseball, today have become part of everyday youth and adult life, whether from a seat in the stands or actual participation.

► Today ASA registers some 245,000 teams and over 3.5 million youth and adult players.

► There are just over 1,600 college softball programs across the country. These number 286 DI programs, 264 DII, 392 DIII, 205 intercollegiate and 470 community college softball teams.

► Women’s College World Series fans have been growing at a 33% clip. The games have averaged a total live audience (TV + streaming) of 1.583 million viewers.

► Of course, fastpitch softball has been reinstated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games.

► National Pro Fastpitch! (NPF) is emerging as a national sport, billing itself as...

“Seventy-mile per hour pitches, 240-foot home runs, soft hands and lightning-quick reactions all wound into seven feverish innings of gritty, gutsy, fast-paced action. Welcome to hard-hittin', fast-pitchin', affordable family fun!”

---

THANKSGIVING MESSAGES

Wesley Wolverine sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ).

Above, Wesley Wolverine freshman #21 C Gabby Monzo (Somers Point, NJ).

PUSH YOURSELF

Wesley Wolverine junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD).

HARD WORK = GOOD LUCK

Wesley Wolverine freshman #21 C Gabby Monzo (Somers Point, NJ).

CAMP PHOTOS

CLICK HERE FOR 104 PHOTOS

WOLVERINE SOFTBALL CAMP

From top, Wesley Wolverines
sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ),
junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD),
junior #2 IF Karina Cardona (Cooper City, FL).

ASPIRATION, EXPECTATION

Wesley Wolverine sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ).

ONLY YOU

Wesley Wolverine senior #8 OF Megan DiRubbio (Smyrna, DE).

LIFTING 11-15

CLICK HERE FOR 60+ PHOTOS

FASTPITCH WOLVERINES LIFTING

Thursday, November 15

From top, left-to-right, Wesley Wolverines
freshman #15 IF Katie Dunlap (Dover, DE),
senior #13 IF Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA),
sophomore #25 P Dori Loukopoulos (Chambersburg, PA),
sophomore #5 U Amanda Curry (Williamsport, MD),
sophomore #32 OF Kelly Palmer (Hershey, PA),
junior #23 IF Brooke Retkowski (Parkville, MD),
senior #8 OF Megan DiRubbio (Smyrna, DE),
sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ).

YOUR COMPETITION

Wesley Wolverine sophomore #32 OF Kelly Palmer (Hershey, PA).

BETTER TODAY

Wesley Wolverine sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ).

DESTINED TO BE

Wesley Wolverine senior #13

IF Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA).

LIFTING 11-13

CLICK HERE FOR 29 PHOTOS

OF FASTPITCH WOLVERINES LIFTING

Tuesday, November 13

From top, Wesley Wolverines freshman #11 P Jessica Anderson (Smyrna, DE), junior #2 IF Karina Cardona (Cooper City, FL), sophomore #1 IF Bianca Newsom (Edison, NJ).