The Softball League of the Philadelphia Zoo Softball Team 2002
The League
The Philadelphia Zoo softball team plays in the Center City Softball League (CCSL) : a seven-team, co-ed, slow-pitch league where every team must have at least two female players. Teams can field up to 10 players (4 in the OF) total while 11 can bat - a team does not need to forfeit at game time if it has at least 8 players with one of them being female. When the second woman would be up, there is then an automatic out. Our games have seven innings, no walks, no stolen bases (or leading off) and no umpires. There are no called strikes, but you can strike out swinging. We play a twelve-game season in which every team plays each other twice, with one game each being home and away. The top four teams advance to a single game playoff round where the winners meet in a best-of-three World Series. We play in lovely Fairmount Park in northwest Philadelphia. The teams in the CCSL are as follows: The Franklin Institute, The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Commerce Department, Philadelphia Business Journal, Philadelphia Zoo - and new to the league this year is Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. 2001 was the zoo's first year in this league, but we're no longer the rookies of the league. Maybe we can win some league games this year. Prior to joining the CCSL, the zoo had regularly played the Academy and Institute, as well as the Daily News in our annual "Vet Stadium" game (which the zoo's President hob-nobs us into; see photos below). To be honest, most teams in this league play with the bare minimum of female players; the zoo, on the other hand, has always had a ratio of about 1:1 with males and females. We're an equal opportunity recreational softball team.
The view from inside Veterans Stadium, 9/4/02. Standing at second base.
