Weather was hot and humid this week, but at least there wasn’t any rain or muddy fields. All teams got to play, as there were no byes. REMINDER THAT ALL GAMES SCHEDULED FOR PINECLIFF FIELD #2 HAVE BEEN MOVED TO BALLENGER CREEK FIELD #3 DUE TO POOR FIELD CONTITIONS AT PINECLIFF#2!

In the A division, Cedarbrook swept New Beginning 25-12 and 18-8, thus maintaining their 1^st place position in the standings. Jay walls hit 2 homers, and Eddy Mendez added another for Cedarbrook. Holy Family stayed 2 games behind Cedarbrook, taking two games from MUMC, 20-12 and 13-4. Gary Harman hit 2 homers, and Jack Barry, Devong Reid, and Jordan Metz each added one. MUMC had the lead in the first game before an 11-run 5^th inning boosted Holy Family to the win. The shortstops and 3^rd basemen for both teams displayed great defense!

In the B Division, St Katharine Drexel got their first win of the season, blanking St Joes 10-0 in the first game.  The second game ended in a 13-13 tie after some batting order confusion in an earlier inning that cost them some runs. Calgary swept Zion winning, the first game 20-19 in a back-and-forth game that ended with a walk off single by James McFarland Jr. Steve White had a homer in that game. They took the second game 19-6 due in part to a 9-run 7^th. Austin Hedrick hit a homer in that game. Mark Doody hit a homer for Zion in a losing cause. FCOB took 2 games from St Johns, 15-10, and 19-4, due in part to two grand slam home runs by Michael Belcher. St Tims split their games with Special Olympics, losing the first game 19-9. They came back in the second game to win 12-8. Thanks to all Managers for getting their scores in quickly!

Next week is the July 4th holiday break, with no games scheduled. It would be a great time for teams to make up rained out games if they can muster enough players. Keep Commish Andrew apprised if able to do so. The schedule of games for the rest of the season has been entered into this website, so let Bob Eaton know if there are any discrepencies.

Due to the repeated poor condition of Pinecliff field #2, games scheduled for that field have been moved to Ballenger Creek field #3 for the rest of the season. Please refer to the revised league schedule sent out by Commish Andrew this past week.  Managers, make sure all your players are reminded weekly of this if you we previously scheduled for Pincliff #2.

High heat was the headline for games on 6/22, as temps reached the 90’s. Fortunately, humidity was not as bad as it could have been. St Timothy and Special Olympics must have been grateful they had byes this week!

In the A division, HOLY Family hit 7 home runs in their sweep of FPC/NB, winning 25-6 and 18-6. Cam Farrow hit his 5^th and 6^th homers, leading the league with 6 for the season. FPC/NB hit two home runs themselves in the losing effort. Cedarbrook took two from MUMC 19-7 and 11-9. Jay Walls had the only homer in that double header. Cedarbrook leads the A division, having lost only one game this season so far.  They are two games ahead of Holy Family.

In the B division, Calvary took two from winless St Katharine Drexel, 20-14 and 14-4. St KD got within one run in the 6^th inning of the first game before Calvary pulled away in the 7^th. Three double plays helped Calvary in their cause. Alyvia Shrew hit a 3 run inside the park homer for Calvary in the 2^nd game. Calvary leads the B division, having lost only one game in their first season in the league. St Joseph swept St John, winning the first game 13-8. St John rallied in the second game, coming up one run short, losing 7-6. FCOB took the first game over Zion 12-8. Zion came back in the second game to beat FCOB 18-10.

Hopefully teams who have had rainouts can try to make up some on the July 6^th break. Our regular fields should be available so managers should work with each other to make arrangements. Keep Andrew updated.

While the recent rains have helped the county out of its drought, the timing has not been kind to our league.  All games were canceled on June 8^th for the second time this year.  Some teams have had three weeks canceled for rain or muddy conditions. Father’s Day next week means no scheduled games until June 22^nd. However, teams are trying to find ways to makeup rain outs.

Options include playing three or four 5 inning games the next time your team plays a team that had been previously postponed. Try to work with opponents to play on holiday weekend, like Father’s Day and July 6^th (4^th of July break). Try to schedule games earlier in the day on Sunday, since fields are reserved starting at 1pm. Try to schedule games other times of the week, but this requires getting approval from the County through our Commissioner, Andrew.

Hopefully, the rest of the season will be dryer, and hopefully some of the fields with bad drainage can be repaired. Otherwise, Happy Father’s Day to all of you guys who have the joy (and sometimes angst!) of having kids!

Recent rains kept notorious Pinecliff fields 2 and 3 from being playable due to their home plates being too muddy. This is a chronic problem, one that hopefully the County will address. FCOB vs St Joseph and Special Olympics vs St Timothy postponed their games as a result, due to Ballenger Creek and Middletown fields not being available.

Cedarbrook and Holy Family played three games in order to make up one of their previously rained out games. Cedarbrook took two of the three, winning 14-2 and 17-12. Holy Family got revenge in the third game, winning 19-9. Cam Farrow hit his 4^th home run of the year for Holy Family, the only homer in this three-game series by both teams.

New Beginning/Federick Presbyterian eked out two nail biting wins over MUMC by the same score, 24-23. Five solo home runs were hit in this doubleheader, three by MUMC and two by NB/FP.

Calvary swept St Johns, 10-7 and 10-8. Several ESPN highlight plays were had by each team in these low scoring affairs. Austin Hendrick hit his first homer of the season for Calvary, the only homer of the day for these two teams. St Timothy swept Special Olympics by scores of 18-6 and 20-10.

After a two week break due to Mother’s Day and rain cancelations, week three of the season was played under sunny skies and gusty winds. The winds may have contributed to fewer home runs hit this week, with only half the home runs reported.

In the A Division, Cedarbrook remained undefeated, beating Presbyterian/New Beginning 26-13 and 22-20. Jay Walls hit his 2^nd home run of the year for Cedarbrook. Holy Family split their games with MUMC, taking the first game 17-7. UMUC returned the favor in the second game, 17-5. Jordan Metz hit his second home run of the year for Holy Family, while Jesus Figueroa and Zion Gabriel each hit their first of the year for MUMC.

In the B division, FCOB split their games with newcomer Calvary, taking the first game17-1. Calvary woke up in the second game, doubling up FCOB 20-10. FCOB hit 5 home runs in the doubleheader, with Kyle Dietrick and Andrew Chung each hitting their 4^th of the year. Mike Belcher hit his first two of the year, and Josh Ferguson hit his first. Zion beat up St John, 21-2 and 25-13. Mark Doody and Paul Engleman each hit their first home run for Zion, with Mark’s being a grand slam. St Timothy swept St Katharine Drexel, 10-6 and 24-4. St Joseph and Special Olympics were idle with a bye.

Next week is Memorial Day weekend, so once again there is a break in the schedule. Enjoy and be safe!

Rain this past weekend left all fields too wet and unplayable, canceling all games. Teams can try to make them up, potentially on Father's Day weekend. The league also has all fields we usually use reserved after 1pm, so arrangements could be made to make up one or both games before the regularly scheduled games are to be played. However, some fields we usually use are not available on some weekends, so check the weekly schedule for availability. Also, it would be good to let Andrew know in advance if possible.

There are no games next weekend, due to Mother's Day. Remember, when play resumes, be sure to confirm final scores of all games with your opponents before reporting them to Andrew and Bob, as there have already been a few discrepancies reported. Home runs over the fence should also be reported, as there is an award at the end of the season for the most home runs in each division. There were 22 home runs reported the first week, with Holy Family leading the way with 10! Four players across the league hit 3 homers including Cam Farrow and Gary Greening for Holy Family, and Kyle Detrick and Kyle Chung for FCOB.

Opening day in the 2025 addition of the Frederick County Church Softball League had great, though breezy, weather.  Thanks to all the managers for getting their scores in quickly! All but one of the double headers resulted in sweeps.

In the A division, Cedarbrook and Holy Family each took two from their opponents, MUMC and Presby/New Beginning, respectively. Jay Walls of Cedarbrook had the only home run reported in the A Division, at the Urbana field.

St Joseph took the first game against Zion 16-15, with a walk off single.  Zion got revenge in the second game, winning 18-7. FCOB took two from St John, Special Olympics swept newly revamped St Katharine Drexel, and new comer Calgary won both games against St Tim’s. Andrew Chung and Kyle Dietrich of FCOB each hit three homers over the fence at Pinecliff field #3.

There were a few discrepancies in the final scores in a few games, so please confirm your scores with your opponents before leaving the field.  It may not matter, but total runs may be one of the tie breakers for standings at the end of the season.

Hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate next week. Then there will be a break for Mother’s Day.

Opening day is upon us, as the 2025 season gets underway on April 27th! We have a couple of new teams this year, as we welcome Calvary Church, and the St John's team has split into two teams, with St Joseph being the new addition.  We did lose one team,as we now have one Special Olympics team instead of two. Click on the "Schedule" tab to see each week's schedule. This week's schedule is also shown below. You can also check your team's record and the division standings from the appropriate tabs, hopefully by Tuesday each week, if not sooner.

As of today, only the first week schedule has been entered, in order to make sure all aspects of the new season have been entered correctly. Be sure to communicate with your team Managers for the most up to date schedule, in case of any last minute changes.

Managers, be sure to report game results and any over the fence home runs Sunday night, no later than Monday, to Andrew and Bob, so the website can be udated as quickly as possible.

Let the games begin!

April is almost here, which means the 2025 softball season is coming soon.  The team managers have been busy this month getting their rosters together and planning for the season. As of now there are hopefully 10 teams, possibly more. The first two practice dates and times are out, and are as follows:

The weather cooperated for the continuation of the B Division end of season tournament on 8/25/2024, one week after rain stopped play a short time after the second round began. After taking a big lead against St Tims, St Johns had to fend off a big comeback before finally taking the game 17-13. FCOB overcame an early deficit, barely defeated Zion 31-29, then took St John, winning 13-8.

In the losers bracket, St Tims ultimately lost to Special Olympics, who had lost to Zion in the first round, while defending tournament champions Damascus (beaten by St Tims in the first round) defeated a tired Zion team. Damascus then came up on top of Special Olympics. They then sent St Johns home before taking on FCOB in the championship game. Damascus jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but FCOB chipped away before having a big inning. They ultimately won 18-13. Congratulations to FCOB. And congratulations to defending tournament champions Holy Family for winning the A Division tournament game against Cedarbrook the week before.

The completed brackets can be seen by clicking on "Forms", then "Handouts" the "2024 FCCSL EOS tournament bracket results". It will download a document that you can then open. Hopefully this will work as it is a new option we are trying out. In addition, the Homerun Leaderboard for the last two years should show up under the "HR Leaderboard" tab on the "Welcome" page.

Thus ends another season of the Frederick County Church Softball league!  Thanks to Andrew Derr for his leadership, and to all the managers and players for making this a successful season! The next updates will most likely be in January, so have a great Fall!

The recap of the games through 7/21/24 showed Cedarbrook sweeping FPC/NB, which was correct, but the standings had FPC/NB winning one of the games. After making this correction, Cedarbrook is in second place over HFCC, though they have played 3 fewer games.  Reardless, the Division A Championship remains wide open for the taking! Hopefully, more of the rained out games can be made up before the end of the regular season. Apologies for the error.

The humidity was low, but the temps were hot for the 2023 Frederick County Church Softball League end of season tournament at Pinecliff Park.

In the A Division, congratulations to tournament undefeated winner Holy Family, who defeated MUMC twice along the way! Regular season champs and number one seed Cedarbrook took a surprisingly early exit, losing their first two games to New Beginning and MUMC. They had lost only one game all season.

In the B Division, no team went undefeated. Damascus Road took the eventual win, but not until they were defeated by FCOB in the first championship game. FCOB lost their first game of the day, then worked its way through the loser bracket. They played a total of six games, falling to Damascus Road in the second championship game.

Thanks to all the managers and players for a successful season! Special thanks to Andrew for his leadership as Commissioner. Looking forward to next season. Hopefully more teams can be found to join and expand our league.

The 2022 End of Season tournament was played in one day after the initial day was rained out. Few final scores were reported, but congratulations to Cedarbrook and Damascus Road on their championships in their respective tournaments.

In the Division A tournament, 3^rd seeded Cedarbrook first beat 2^nd seeded Holy Family, then defeated top seeded New Beginning in the next round. New Beginning rallied through the loser bracket to meet Cedarbrook in the Championship round. They trailed early, but came back to tie the game late at 10-10. No score in the 8^th inning. New Beginning finally broke through in the bottom of the 9th to win 11-10 and force a winner-take-all title game, which started at 8:45. In front of dedicated spouses, children and friends, New Beginning took command, leading 11-6 by the 5^th inning. However, Cedarbrook took the lead with 11 runs with one out in the 6^th. New Beginning pitcher Andrew Brice took a rocket shot to his glove hand, and went down. He tried to continue to play, but couldn’t. One of Cedarbrook's pastors (and infielder) Ken Jackson led everyone in a prayer for healing, a powerful moment for all who were there.  Both teams agreed that it was time to call the game, and Cedarbrook was declared the champion with a 17-11 victory.

In the Division B tournament, top seeded Damascus Road went undefeated to take the championship. They defeated St Ignatius in their first game, who then went on to beat Zion in the loser bracket. In the meantime, 3^rd seed FCOB defeated St Timothy in their first game, only to lose to Damascus Road. St Timothy ended St Ignatius’ day in the next round of the loser bracket, after trailing earlier in the game. FCOB then beat St Timothy a second time 7-5. Both of the games between these two teams were tight, where a hit here and there could have changed the results. FCOB then faced Damascus Road again in the championship game. But Damascus Road was too much, winning 13-3. The full brackets for both tournaments are shown below.

Thus ends a challenging season. We look forward to next year, and hope we can get more teams and players, so more games can actually get played!  Special thanks to Andrew Derr, who took on a lot of responsibility as Commissioner and defacto Treasurer.  Hopefully, someone will step up to take on the Treasurer role next year.

Week 2 of the 2021 Frederick Church Softball League was played on August 29^th under generally cooler, albeit still very humid, conditions at Pinecliff Park.

 In the A Division, Holy Family took on host MUMC for the opportunity to play top seeded Cedarbrook in the Championship game. The score was close throughout, with MUMC prevailing 10-8.  In the Championship game, MUMC stayed close to Cedarbrook and led 5-4 at one point. However, Cedarbrook went on a 16-run rampage to overwhelm MUMC, winning 22-7 in 5 innings, and included one home run over the fence for Cedarbrook. Congratulations to both teams, as the #1 and #2 seeds had made it to the finale.

It took a little longer to determine the B Division tournament champion. Top seeded FCOB was down 11-0 against 3rd seeded St Ignatius, but battled back to 11-5 going in the last inning. With the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the 7^th, St Ignatius held on to take the game 11-8. They then played undefeated 4th seeded Damascus Road in the first game of the Championship, which started as a pitching duel.  St Ignatius ultimately won 9-4 forcing a winner-take-all second Championship game. Damascus Road fought back in the second game, but fell short, with St Ignatius winning 9-6. This game featured a home run over the fence for St Ignatius.

It also featured an inspiring at bat by a Damascus player, who had a badly injured ankle. Rather than taking an automatic 3^rd out in the 6th inning due to not having a sub available to bat, he hobbled up to the plate.  He promptly hit the ball to short right field, and hopped on one leg to first base for a single.  Everyone on the field and in the stands gave him a round of applause. For some reason, he asked for a pinch runner! Seriously, though, this was a great example of the dedication of those who play the game!

The winning teams were awarded highly stylized shirts, designed by our Commissioner, Gidget Gill! Pictures of the winning teams are posted in the Photo section, which can be reached by clicking on the “ABOUT” tab, then “PHOTO ALBUMS”, then “LEAGUE PHOTOS”, then “2021 SEASON”.

Congratulations to all the teams in the league, who made it through another difficult season.  Hopefully, things will be more back to normal next season, so have a safe off-season! And keep checking this page for updates throughout the year.

The weather was the best of the year, and the field conditions were generally good at Pinecliff Park, despite rain a couple of days earlier (aside from the deep batter's boxes for righthanders!). Both Cedarbrook and Seventh Day Adventist went undefeated as they won their respective post season tournaments for 2019.  In the AB Tournament, 4th seeded Cedarbrook blanked 2nd seeded CRUCC for their win, while 1st seeded Seventh Day overpowered 3rd seeded St Katharine Drexel in the CD tournament. Pictures of the winning teams will be posted shortly.  Remember to get team pictures next year so they can be uploaded to the website.  It would be great to utilize more of the features of the website, so look for more information to come.

Congratulations to all the teams in the league for getting though another season!