Softball opened a lot of doors for Lyndeborough’s Lexi Balam. As a high-schooler at Wilton-Lyndeborough, she starred on a Warrior team that won one of the most exciting championship games ever played, hoisting the trophy with her teammates. At Smith College, she got the chance to continue her playing career while earning an education. Now, the sport has carried her all the way overseas to Karlsruhe, Germany, where beer and bratwurst are a welcome addition to the bases and balls.
Balam, a pitcher and outfielder, recently completed her first season as a member of the Karlsruhe Cougars in the German Softball Bundesliga, a league comprised of mostly German athletes with a few American ringers sprinkled in.
“There is some good competition,” Balam said in a recent phone interview. “Not only are you facing Americans, but there’s some really strong German talent as well.”
Balam’s Smith College head coach, Emily Lopez, spent the summer of 2014 in Germany playing for Karlsruhe; as a four-year college athlete, she’d missed out on the chance to study abroad, and Bundesliga was a good way to keep playing after graduation and experience the world. As Balam’s collegiate career wound down, Lopez suggested she take a similar route.
“It was an awesome experience,” Lopez said. “Once you graduate, for 99 percent of us, that’s the end of it. … I loved playing over there, with the passion that the athletes bring.”
Balam majored in German and linguistics at Smith; she’ll continue her studies while abroad in Germany, secure a two-year master’s degree in education and then teach English as a foreign language. Living with her coaches, Rolf Hammer and Stephanie Küpers, in Durlach, a tiny, ancient suburb outside Karlsruhe, Balam has plenty of opportunity to engulf herself in German culture in between games and practices. Walking down cobblestone streets older than the United States, locals peg her as the new American pitcher in town; as she passes one of Durlach’s omnipresent doner shops, the owner may call her in to practice her German between grilled meat sandwiches.
“It’s really important to have a good relationship with your doner man,” Balam said. “That’s just another part of the charm here.”
There’s a certain charm to the Bundesliga as well; players range from teenagers to those in their 40s who head to practice when they get off work, from German nationals to Ukrainian refugees to Americans living on military bases like Ramstein or Stuttgart, all united by softball.
“[To play] softball here, you really have to have passion for the game,” Balam said, “because it is very much run by the players and their contributions to the team. We’re out raking the fields, and we’re mopping up the field with cut-up pieces of mattress when it rains. It’s very “Bad News Bears” how it’s run — but there’s a certain charm to it.”
That’s not to say the competition isn’t stiff and fierce. Küpers is head coach of Germany’s U18 National team for those on track to play in the Olympic Games, and many of her former players are on rosters around the Bundesliga. The Cougars didn’t win much this summer, finishing last in the South Division; Balam contributed mightily, however, pitching for Karlsruhe’s lone win and hitting .293, good for second on the team.
“Our record may not look too strong,” Balam said, “but I couldn’t imagine playing for anyone else and playing alongside anyone else. This team is awesome.”
Indeed, it’s the memories, friendships and experiences that will remain long after the box scores have been forgotten.
“It’s all passion,” Balam said. “It’s so neat to be a part of something that everyone is so engaged in, it really feels like a family. It’s so sweet.”