-
Wyatt Hutchinson connects to plate the Base Invaders’ first run of the evening. -
Base Invader Kayla Groom makes contact in the first inning of Monday’s game. -
Base Invader Nick Bourgeois fields a grounder to third in their game against the Rebels. -
A Rebel takes a pitch as another waits on deck. Shorts are common, so sliding is optional.
On Monday through Thursday evenings, adult co-ed softball takes over the diamonds at Picard and Ecco fields at Adams Park in Peterborough.
Unlike scholastic softball, where pitchers require face guards for protection, the balls are soft and rubbery.
“We use practice balls,” said Bruce Perry, who plays with and manages the Rebels, a squad he organized with Hanna Derousi.
As the sun fell Monday, men and women from their 20s to their 40s threw the ball around and tossed grounders to each other. A few more players showed up before the 7 p.m. start, and while someone on each bench kept “the book” — the line-up and scoring — and managers shook hands, there was no meeting with umpires at the plate.
“We self-ump,” said Perry. “Base coaches call safe or out on the bases and the catchers handle balls and strikes.”
Team registrations and fees are due in April, and the season begins in May. The town’s Recreation Department handles the business end and chalks up the baselines and batters boxes, but players come from well beyond Peterborough. Rebels hail from Fitzwilliam, Swanzey, Keene, and beyond. Morgan Heavisides travels 60 miles each way from Loudon for the games.
“I played in high school, so this is great,” she said, preparing to go out and cover first base for the Rebels. “I lived in the Upper Valley, and there was nothing there, nor in Loudon. I know some of these people from school.”
There’s a requirement that teams have a certain number of women on the field at all times, and there are 10 fielders in total — four in the outfield. Unlike at school levels, where programs occasionally have trouble fielding teams for every sport, Perry said that there are always enough to take the field.
“We know that some people can’t make every game, as things come up,” he said. As an example, Rebel Ryan Hutton is a member of Peterborough Fire and Rescue, whose duties could always have him somewhere else on a given evening.
Nine teams make up this year’s league, organized around everything from businesses — Red’s of Jaffrey and Millipore as examples — to relationships in which someone comes up with a cryptic team name, such as Yeah, You. Across the diamond, the Base Invaders were swinging bats outside their dugout ahead of the first pitch — all of which are slow and with arc, which makes contact for a hit harder than one might think. The Invaders were organized by Wyatt Hutchinson, and their oldest player, who requested anonymity, is 45. Others are half that age, such as Nick Bourgeois of Jaffrey, who was throwing ropes from third to first during infield practice.
The Rebels led off with some solid contact at the plate that, unfortunately for them, sent grounders and rainbows right to Invader fielders. High flies that initially looked like they’d clear a fence and bounce off the tarmac in the skate park beyond hung up in the still air to be caught, and the Rebels came up empty in the first inning. In their half of the frame, the Base Invaders capitalized on a couple of errors and a seeing-eye grounder to plate three runs.
When a team took the field, fist pumps between them and opposing players left on base were exchanged. As the day fell, the lights overhead keep darkness, if not the mosquitoes, at bay.
“It is very much a league and is not pickup at all. We’ve had that program for years and years,” said Julia Chidester, program coordinator for the Recreation Department.
Chidester is also excited about the department’s 12U softball team that it hosted this spring.
“It was the first softball team we were able to field in at least five years and was a wonderful thing for our department, our town and the girls,” she said.
The league’s games continue through the end of August.