Preview
The Mitten Kittens - (née Open Hand Slap, née Zebra Muscles) shocked the softball world last year with the first winning season and a first playoff berth in their 11 years of existence. With the help of solid veterans, new additions, and Detroit muscle, the Kittens went 9-4 and ended the regular season with a theretofore unimaginable 12th ranking. This year, the Michigan team once described as "Most Beeriffic" by
The Softball Guy, plan on poking this bear into submission en route to another banner season!
Don’t Poke the Bear - is a 12-year league veteran with a storied history of changing our name. Beginning as the #102 Belly Itchers in 2008, climbing the ladder gradually with the 2009 Wii Not Fit, cracking the tournament for the first time in 2010 as The Big F**king Deals, moving into the top 20 in 2011 as I’d Hit That, 2012 as I Hit That Last Year (after some cowards stole “I’d Hit That” as a name and refused to play us for the rights to it), before settling on Don’t Poke the Bear in 2013. The name felt appropriate as we’re a good-natured team that’s fun to play against, doesn’t run up the score, and directs our shit-talking exclusively at ourselves unless you, say, blow up a girl at second with a ridiculous slide or resort to cheating to finally win a game against us after going 0-8 over the years (not saying any names cough-Diplomats-cough). We’ve had some good times in the regular season, made the tourney 9 years running, and made our deepest run in 2018 - falling 6-4 to Various Positions in the Elite 8. 2019 has brought a new set of challenges as selfish team members keep getting old/injured, married/having kids, and getting new jobs and not prioritizing slow-pitch co-ed softball. While we may not get enough games in to make the tourney this year, when we get out there, we’re still occasionally able to show flashes of the slightly-better-than-mediocrity that once was and we’re hoping to do so this week against Mitten Kittens.
