League History –2000-2017
In the summer of 2000 and 2001,there was a Men’s Over 30 Softball League that played at Kelly Field in Bel Air on Sunday evenings from mid-July through September. The league had very little structure, no uniforms, no umpires, throw-down bases, only 4 teams in the league (early versions of the Commandos and Mavericks were two of the teams), no balls and strikes (you stood in the batter’s box and waited until you found a good pitch to hit; talk about long games, in one case a batter took 34 pitches before flying out to LF!), and while it was fun for some, eventually many of the teams simply stopped showing up, especially once the Ravens started playing. After the events of September 11, 2001, the league pretty much shut down because of increased work schedules by many of the players.
In preparation for the 2002 season, we weren’t sure thatBel Air league would get back together, so some of the Commandos asked Chris Benjes to see if he could start a men’s softball league at Forest Hill - something that wasn’t as competitive as the Harford Community College leagues, and someplace for the team to blow off some steam and practice what many of them preached when coaching youth baseball and softball. So on March 25, 2002, Chris approached the Forest Hill Rec Council Board with a proposal and a budget for a new softball program that catered to adults. The Forest Hill Men’s Softball League was born, and by late June, the league had taken off with 8 teams of 15 players each and has continued to burst at the seams each year, thanks to all of the dedicated managers and players who make Forest Hill one of the most successful recreation councils in the County.
2002 – Men’s League created. Games played at HickoryPark, FriendsPark, Kelly Field and the Forest Hill Rec Complex. Eric Reitz’s Phat Dadz won the first championship over Kirk Warner’s team on Field 1 at Kelly. 8 Teams: Commandos, Warner Brothers, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom, Billies, Mavericks and Bums.
2003 – Chris Benjes’ Commandos win their first championship over Kirk’s team at Kelly1.
2004 – Kirk Warner’s team wins the championship during a break in Hurricane Ivan over the Commandos on Kelly Field.
2005 – The league expands to a maximum 9 teams and was asked by the Bel Air Rec Council not to use Kelly Field, so all games were moved to the Forest Hill Complex (Fields 3, 5, 7 and 9), and the league became a self-contained Forest Hill tradition. Ray Shinsky’s F-Troop beat the Commandos in the championship on Field 9.
2006 – Steve Benden’s Commandos win their second championship on Field 7 over Kirk Warner’s team in a late-season, rain-affected tournament. 9 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Bums, Billies, Mavericks and Bradybunch.
2007 – A 3-game bracket play was held for the tournament’s first round and the Commandos, Mavericks, Phat Dadz and Warner Brothers advanced to the semi-finals. In the final, Kirk Warner’s team wins the championship over the Phat Dadz. After competing against each other starting in the Bel Air league in 2000, the Mavericks finally beat the Commandos for the first time ever with an awesome display of hitting. Afterward, all teams celebrated the season until the late hours at the pavilion with a cookout and live music by “Lancaster Drive”. 8 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Bums, Mavericks, and Untouchables.
2008 – Once again there are 8 full teams competing and having fun on Friday nights. After two rained-out tournament games, the season finally concluded with the Phat Dadz winning the championship over the Commandos on October 3 on Field 1. Afterward, all teams once again celebrated the season until the late hours at the pavilion with a cookout and live music by “Lancaster Drive.” 8 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Bums, Mavericks, and Untouchables.
2009 – This year, we are trying something new with uniforms, where each team has the option of purchasing the traditional uniform shirts through the league, or they can purchase their own uniforms independently. This was the first year of the Women’s Division of the renamed “Adult Softball League.” The Women’s division can have up to 7 teams playing on Fields 2, 3 and 6 at 6:00 on Fridays. For this first year, there were five women’s teams scheduled. This was also the year of the rainouts. The entire league was rained out 4 times out of 10 weeks, pushing the season deep into September. Teams managed to play 5 of the 7 regular season games and the 3 tournament games. Way too much rain in 2009. Kirk Warner’s team came from 6 runs down late in the game, scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th to win the 2009 championship over the Phat Dadz on Field 1. Afterward, all teams once again celebrated the season until the late hours at the pavilion with a cookout and live music by “Lancaster Drive.” The party came to an end about 11:45 when the power went out. Fortunately, there were only a few people left and most things were cleaned up. 8 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Bums, Mavericks, and Untouchables.
2010 – Eight Men’s teams and six Women’s teams comprise the league for 2010. Unlike 2009, the teams played every week – 10 weeks in a row - without any rainouts and finished the season on September 17th with the annual post-season party featuring a cookout and live music by Steve and Dan from “Lancaster Drive.” This year, the final match-up was the number 8 seeded Phat Dadz versus the #2 seeded Commandos in the championship game on Field 1. Final score, Commandos 13, Phat Dadz 2 . The Brown team beat the Pink team in the Ladies’ first (and only) Championship Final. 8 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Beers, Mavericks, and Untouchables. This was the year that Harford County lost Jim Harding and Joey (hit by a car at Red Pump) on the day of the championships.
2010 was also the first year that the Forest Hill league registered two Men’s teams in the September Ripken slow-pitch softball tournament. The Untouchables and the Commandos each went 1-1 and were invited back to play a consolation game.
2011 saw eight Men’s teams and six Women’s teams continue the Friday night tradition and was similar to 2009 as one of the rainiest seasons yet. We started out the season with a rainout on July 8, almost had to cancel the games on July 22 because of the 104* heatwave, and then went on to have another 3 rainouts, extending the 3-game end-of-season tournament to 5 weeks. The Untouchables advanced to the championship game for the first time, but were defeated by the Phat Dadz 17-6 who became the 2011 champs during a break from the rain on September 30th. Another great cookout/party featuring music from “Lancaster Drive” capped the season. 8 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Beers, Mavericks, and Untouchables.
The Untouchables and the Commandos played in the September Ripken softball tournament again. This year, the Commandos advanced to the semi-finals, but lost to a much younger team who decided the best way to win was to keep looking at ball 4 until the winning run walked home in the bottom of the 9th.
2012added a 9th team to the Men’s Division as we welcomed the Crushers into the league. The Women’s Division continued with 6 teams. We started early this year to accommodate the additional team, and only had 1 rainout this year, finishing the tournament on September 21st. This year the league experimented with an all-wood bat tournament. Some teams liked using wood bats, some did not. Games are definitely a lot quicker and have lower scores. The Beers advanced to the semi-finals for the first time this year, but were eliminated by the Phat Dadz who eventually repeated as league champion in a victory over Kirk Warner’s team 4-2. Another great cookout/party featuring music from “Lancaster Drive” ended the season. The following week, we tried to muster up enough interest in a co-ed game, but only had 10 players show up. Perhaps if we get enough REAL interest next year, we can try another co-ed game. 9 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Beers, Mavericks, Crushers, and Untouchables.
2013 began with the Ladies league starting on July 5 and with the Men’s league scheduled to start on July 12, which was an eventual rainout for all. So everyone really started out in the heat on July 19th, then had to move the next Friday’s game to Wednesday at the request of the Soccer program. Another rainout on Aug 9th, then the regular season ended on September 6 with the Beers beating the Commandos in the tournament play-in game. The end-of season tournament began on Sep 13, advancing the Warner Brothers, Phat Dadz, Mavericks and Crushers into the semi-finals on Sep 20. This is a first for the Crushers and the Mavericks, having never advanced in the tournament this far before. The 2013 Champion was the Phat Dadz, and afterward, the teams and families all enjoyed the traditional end-of-season party catered by Fred Rynes and family, with music by Steve Benden. Then, as an encore, we organized and played our first co-ed game on Friday October 4th with about 23 people from multiple teams. Men used wood bats and everyone had a great time. 9 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Beers, Mavericks, Crushers, and Untouchables.
2014 saw the Men’s Division expand to 10 teams with the addition of the Young Guns and the Untouchables changed their name to the Alcoballics. We used Field 4 (our 90’ baseball diamond) as the 5th diamond with bases installed at 70’. There were mixed reviews about running across the grass, but most seemed OK with it. To complete the field of 8 teams for the tournament, two play-in games were played on Sep 5 featuring the 4 bottom seeds, the winners of which moved to the Championship Bracket, while the losers moved to the Consolation Bracket for starting on Sep 12. On September 26th, once again, the Phat Dadz came out as champions against the Warner Brothers and afterward everyone feasted on pit turkey, beef, burgers and dogs at the end-of-season spectacular. The following week, 18 players from various men’s and women’s teams played a 6-inning co-ed game on Field 1. I don’t think anyone knows what the score was, we just had fun. 10 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Beers, Mavericks, Crushers, Young Guns and Alcoballics.
2014 was just the second season since we started this league in 2002 not to have any rainouts. We played every week!
2015 started on July 10 with 10 teams again, prompting the use of the play-in game during the final week of the regular season. New this year was the unsuccessful field swap with the Women’s Division of Fields 3 and 4. For the first 2 weeks, the men played on Field 3 as an experiment. Many problems cropped up after the second week and for Week 3, the men went back to playing on Field 4. This was also the first year that we tried father/son nights in late July. Lots of good comments and fun. How often do you get the chance to play WITH your son on the same team in a real league. For the first time in league history, the Warner Brothers, Phat Dadz or Commandos were NOT in the Championship final game. This year’s championship game was between Freedom and the Mavericks with the Freedom coming out on top as champs. Nice to see come new blood in the top ranks and nice to see the Mavericks coming out of the play-in game to make it all the way to the finals. One last thought – another season with no rainouts! 10 Teams this year: Commandos, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Beers, Mavericks, Crushers, Young Guns and Alcoballics.
2016 Started on July 8 with the only rainout of the season. Same teams as last year. We had one father-son night on July 29 this year that had a few participants and fun was had by all. This year’s championship game was between Freedom and the Phat Dadz with the Freedom coming out on top as champs. The season concluded on September 23 with a fried chicken dinner and music during the end-of-season party.
2017 Started on July 7and endured 3 rainouts for the year, which seemed to make the season go extremely fast. This year was the start of a wooden bat league, which was met with much apprehension by the players, but grew to be very popular. Players realized that the wooden bat games were quicker with less blow-outs and became more of a defensive competition than a slug fest. Wooden bats definitely leveled the playing field and made for a much safer league.
We had 9 teams total, combining the Commandos and Mavericks into the Mavrados. Hence, we did not have to use Field 4. We had one father-son night on August 4 this year that had a few participants and fun was had by all. This year’s championship game was between Freedom and the Beers with the Freedom coming out on top as champs. The season concluded on September 22 with pit beef, turkey, burgers and dogs and music during the end-of-season party. The end of 2017 was the end of an era, as league founder Chris Benjes retired from playing and stepped down as commissioner. He will be replaced by Nick Shreeve. 9 Teams this year: Mavrados, Warner Bros, Phat Dadz, F-Troop, Freedom , Beers, Crushers, Young Guns and Alcoballics.
Tournament Champs / Runners-up2002 – Phat Dadz / Warner Bros
2003 – Commandos / Warner Bros
2004 – Warner Bros / Commandos
2005 – F-Troop / Commandos
2006 – Commandos / Warner Bros
2007 – Warner Bros / Phat Dadz
2008 – Phat Dadz / Commandos
2009 – Warner Bros / Phat Dadz
2010 – Commandos / Phat Dadz
2011 – Phat Dadz / Untouchables
2012 – Phat Dadz / Warner Bros
2013 – Phat Dadz / Warner Bros
2014 - Phat Dadz / Warner Bros
2015 – Freedom / Mavericks
2016 – Freedom / Phat Dadz
2017 – Freedom / Beers