SCHWANS-CARES

STARTS TUESDAY

UP TO 50% OFF 

MAKE YOUR HOLIDAYS EXTRA SWEET

CLICK HERE to purchase Schwans-Cares products & support the Wesley College Wolverine softball team at www.schwans-cares.com/campaigns/25127-wesley-softball-2016

CLICK HERE to purchase Schwans-Cares products &
support the Wesley College Wolverine softball team at
www.schwans-cares.com/campaigns/25127-wesley-softball-2016

TRAINING'S HARD

Wesley Wolverine senior #6 MI Breanna Hartman (Red Bank, NJ)

OPPORTUNITY'S DOOR

Wesley Wolverine freshman #13 Utility Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA)

GAGLIARDI TROPHY

Wesley College Athletics Facebook page

CLICK HERE for the story
headlined: Callahan Named One of
Ten Gagliardi Trophy Semifinalists

Joe Callahan

CLICK HERE
to VOTE Wolverine
JOE CALLAHAN
for the top award:
Gagliardi Trophy! 

Have you cast your ballot yet?  
The deadline comes Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. ET. 

The cumulative fan votes will count for one vote for D-III's all around student-athlete.

Wesley Atletics Twitter page

Joe Calahan breaks 

single-season passing record!

Photo sequence by Denise Monaghan

FLUID HYDRATES BEST?

All About Fastpitch Facebook page

CLICK HERE for the full story:
Which Fluid Hydrates Best: Water or Sports Drink

Wesley Wolverine sophomore #4 MI/OF Samantha Burns (Magnolia, DE)

DIAMOND RULES

Wesley Wolverine senior #22 C/INF Morgan Seymour (Smyrna, DE)

SCHWANS-CARES STARTS TUESDAY

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CLICK HERE FOR WOLVERINE FUND RAISING

starts next Tuesday, December 1
SCHWANS-CARES PRODUCTS & GIFT CERTIFICATES

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CLICK HERE FOR WOLVERINE FUND RAISING

starts next Tuesday, December 1
SCHWANS-CARES PRODUCTS & GIFT CERTIFICATES

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Wesley College Softball Facebook page

LOVE SOFTBALL THANKS!

I Love Softball Facebook page

NPF HAPPY THANKSGIVING

National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Facebook page

BE THANKFUL

Wesley Wolverine junior #9 P/OF Lily Engel (Dover, DE)

NATIONAL TEAM THANKSGIVING

ASA USA Softball Facebook page
USA TEAM SOFTBALL

NATIONAL TEAM- TAKEDA

USA Softball's Janie Takeda shares what she's thankful for this season. http://go.teamusa.org/1NLvpMt

NATIONAL TEAM- LILLEY

I am thankful for all of the opportunities and people this sport has brought into my life." - Jenna Lilley http://go.teamusa.org/1lEYX7N

NATIONAL TEAM- ROMERO

"They continue to make me smile every single day by knowing I have them with me and that they will always be a part of me." - Sydney Romero http://go.teamusa.org/1X9luuk

TRUE GRIT

Wesley Wolverine senior #32 INF Kayla Fromal (Middletown, DE)

HITTING A CHANEUP

“4 things you can do to keep your hitters from looking like fools the next time you face that change up pitcher.”

GOOD, COMPREHENSIVE REPORT:   HOW TO HIT A CHANGEUP @
www.dugout.softballexcellence.com/4-keys-hitting-changeup

Wesley Wolverine sophomore #99 OF Lauren Hoffman (Middletown, DE)

CATCHER SET UP

NFCA Facebook page

Are final comments at end of video below said with 
tongue in cheek or semi-seriously? Maybe a little of both??!

Wesley Wolverine junior #18 C Nina Marcano (Middletown, DE)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

It is a week for the college fastpitch player to count her blessings, not the least of which is the wonderful game of softball played for the first time 128 years ago on Thanksgiving Day!

How a boxing glove started it all!
Game of softball born
on Thanksgiving Day!

The first game of what would become the sport of softball was played 128 years ago on Thanksgiving Day, 1887.

This Thanksgiving Day "softball" game actually was a hastily configured baseball contest, which pitted Yale versus Harvard alumni inside Chicago's Farragut Boat Club.



1887: HOW IT HAPPENED…

A Yale alumnus mischievously threw a boxing glove at a Harvard buddy just after a telegram arrived announcing that Yale had bested Harvard in the annual holiday football game. The Harvard fellow grabbed a broom handle and swung at the boxing glove, while reporter George Hancock, who was part of the group, yelled out “Play ball!”

Suddenly a new game was born with Hancock even writing down the day's rules for posterity. 

George Hancock and Chicago's Farragut Boat Club, 1887

1889: OUTDOOR FIELD...

In 1889 the game moved outdoors. Minneapolis fireman Lewis Rober marked up the first field and set seven innings as the game's official length. 
 

First photo of a softball team, Chicago, 1897

By this time, the ball had become a small medicine ball -- 16 inches in circumference -- with a bat two inches thick! Rober changed that. His version of the contest used a ball that was more modern in appearance, now 12 inches wide.

Louis Rober's team named “The Kittens”,
which kept a Minneapolis fire company crew in top fit shape.

These games, whether played with a 16" 0r 12" ball were known variously as “indoor baseball”, “cabbage ball”, “mush ball”, “kitten ball”, “pumpkin ball”, “diamond ball”, etc. They began to draw as many as 3,000 fans. 

The early game was played indoors and outdoors with a ball the size
of a small medicine ball and a bat two inches thick.

1895: WOMEN ENTER THE GAME

The first women’s "softball" team (still termed "kitten ball" or “girls' indoor base-ball”) was formed at Chicago’s West Division High School. The young ladies were not able to play competitively until 1899 when they finally hired a coach. They eventually claimed the Cook County championship!

First women’s softball team, West Division High School, Chicago, circa 1900.

1926: SOFTBALL GETS ITS NAME...  

An old 16 inch ball

In 1926, the Denver YMCA dubbed the sport “softball” for the first time. The name started to catch on.

1931: FIRST TRAVEL TEAM...

The first travel team formed in 1931. It was a squad entirely of men, 75 years-of-age and older, taking the field in business-suit-like uniforms (wearing ties and bowties), who called themselves Kids and Kubs. 

Kids and Kubs, St. Petersburg, FL, 1933

1933: ASA FORMED…

Newspaper reporter Leo Fischer and sporting goods salesman Michael Pauley brought the game to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, where 55 teams participated before 350,000 fans who watched different contests of men's and women's slow and fastpitch.

 Quaskies Kittenball Team of Quasqueton, Iowa, 1934

 
The ASA – Amateur Softball Association – was founded that fall (1933) by Fischer and Pauley. Softball had arrived!


SOFTBALL 2015: Today, ASA registers over 245,000 softball teams, embracing more than 3.5 million softball players around the country.

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2015 Wesley College Wolverines

FIRST BASE

Wesley Wolverine junior #42 1B/ INF Devin Mackay (Bangor, PA)

WORK YOUR HARDEST

TOP DOZEN SOFTBALL PLAYS OF 2015 

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Wesley Wolverine junior #18 C Nina Marcano (Middletown, DE)
Quote from Sports Motivation tweet

228 CAMP PHOTOS

CLICK THE ARROW BELOW FOR A 228 PHOTO SLIDESHOW of the Wesley College 2015 Softball Prospect & Skills Camp attended by 45 high school players working out in daylong sessions with the Wolverine softball team on Saturday, November 21, 2015.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD any or all of the photos or view all the photos on a single page.

CAMP SUCCESS

Wesley College Softball Facebook page

SOFTBALL CAMP GROUP PHOTO

PLEASE CHECK BACK AT THIS BLOG LATER NEXT WEEK
for a photo slideshow of the 2015 Wesley College Wolverines' Softball Prospect/ Skills Camp. 

The photos are being processed now. A 100+ shots should be posted soon.

CLICK HERE TO ENLARGE PHOTO
ABOVE: Group shot of 45 high school players with the
Wesley College softball team at the fastpitch camp held earlier today.

SOFTBALL CAMP

Wesley College Softball Facebook page

Clockwise from top,Wesley Wolverines at winter camp 2014: 
junior #18 C Nina Marcano (Middletown, DE), senior #22 C/INF Morgan Seymour (Smyrna, DE), senior #32 INF Kayla Fromal (Middletown, DE), sophomore #1 INF Tiarra Maddox (Bridgeville, DE), sophomore #23 P Destiny Davis (Salisbury, MD) and sophomore #99 OF Lauren Hoffman (Middletown, DE).

Clockwise from top, Wesley Wolverines at winter camp 2014: junior #42 INF Devin Mackay (Bangor, PA), junior #17 OF Casey Beall (Severn, MD), junior #9 P/OF Lily Engel (Dover, DE) and senior #6 MI Breanna Hartman (Red Bank, NJ).