Dreadsox Softball - Team News

In the Spring of 1994, Jay Matsudaira and Corey Bondurant were recent graduates of Western Washington University. During their studies at Western, they became friends and played on an intramural softball team between drinks... er, classes. After graduation, they both found employment in the Seattle area, and since Corey was commuting to Seattle from Port Ludlow every day (about 1½ hours each way), they talked about living together in Seattle. They also talked about getting a softball team together. By the time they found a house in Seattle’s University District with Jay’s cousin, Kurt Hayashida, it was already October. Softball season had ended, but the idea of the Dreadsox had begun to spin.

1995: Dreadsox Discovered

In the summer of 1995, Jay began to call various park leagues to see about getting into a softball league. At the time, though, he didn’t realize that leagues generally register teams in late winter/early spring, so most leagues were already full. With persistency, Jay finally found a league which was still registering teams. The Miller Community League, playing at Capital Hill’s Miller Community Center Field, offered Jay a space in their 5-team league. Jay gladly accepted, and had the league director fax over the registration forms.

Jay began to scrounge up a team that consisted of some of his high school and college friends, plus a few of Kurt’s friends and co-workers. As the registration deadline neared, Jay became more and more aware of the fact that the last blank to be filled on the form was the all important Team Name space. The team didn’t have a team sponsor, and there wasn’t a common link, such as a workplace or other unifying factor amongst all of the team members, so there was no obvious name for the team. So, needing to send in the registration, and since he had already used the name “Slugs in Motion” for his collegiate floor hockey team, Jay came up with a name intended to strike terror throughout the rest of the league... DREADSOX! Just ask yourself, “What’s more horrifying than a pissed-off, foul smelling, dreadlocked stocking??!”

The original Dreadsox roster featured the full spectrum of playing experience, from players like Corey “Deity” Bondurant and Hsin “Skeeter” Yang, who had grown up playing Little League and high school baseball or softball, to Karen “Blister” Dedrick and Tina “Trooper” Dickey, who hadn’t really swung a bat in their lives. Most of the players had at least moderate experience playing some level of baseball, softball, wiffleball, or kickball. All of them were very experienced, however, at goofing around and having a good time.

The Dreadsox innaugural season had them playing in Miller Community Co-Rec Jack-n-Jill league, where male batters used a small (28" maximum length, 26 ounce maximum weight) bat and batted with their weak hand. The Dreadsox finished the season in 3rd place, with a record of 3-5. They made the playoffs, but lost to Attic Alehouse in their postseason game by a score of 11-5.

In August, 1995 Jay and Kurt (along with Kurt’s brother, Kevin “The Joker” Hayashida) moved across Lake Washington to Bellevue, while Corey stayed in Seattle. With the move across the water came a move to a new softball league. The Dreadsox joined the Bellevue Baseball/Softball Athletic Association’s (BB/SAA) Jack-n-Jill Sunday-only league. In the new league, men used a regular-sized bat, but still had to bat with their opposite hand. This is considered the “Forgotten Year” because I must have thrown away the scorebooks from 1996, so I don’t have any game records. I do have our schedule and final standings, though.

The Dreadsox struggled through the 1996 spring/summer and fall seasons, forfeiting a couple games due to a lack of players showing up to games, and playing several other games with the minimum 8 players. The Dreadsox finished the Summer season with a 3-7 record. I have no record of the Fall 1996 season... the forgotten year.

1997: Headaches & Hemmorage

BB/SAA discontinued their Jack-n-Jill league, so the Dreadsox moved to the regular Co-rec Sunday only league, division 2. Dreadsox players recruited heavily during the offseason in an attempt to ensure that they would have enough people to field full teams every game. The recruiting didn’t work very well, as the first three games were played with the minimun 8 players. Practically every game day was spent scrounging for enough people to play, causing team manager Jay Matsudaira to consider making 1997 the final Dreadsox season.

Late season recruiting brought some new faces to the Dreadsox roster, including “H.R. Puff’n” Steff Zabriskie and Cindy “Helmet” Louie. Cindy earned her nickname due to her uncanny capacity of attracting head trauma. 1997 was no exception, as a ball bonked her in the face while she played catcher, breaking her nose. I don’t have very accurate records from the 1997 season, but I think the Dreadsox went 1-9 in the summer season. Because of the frustration caused by the difficulty we experienced in fielding enough players for games during the summer season, we decided to take the fall season off. It was uncertain as to whether or not the Dreads would ever return for another season.

1998: A New Sack of Sox

Finally, in 1998, the Dreadsox replenished their roster with a group of reliable players who actually make it to most of the games. The new batch of Dreadsox include Philip “Phlipper” Hallstrom, Sandy “Sander” Hallstrom, Curtis “Knocker” Nakamura, Alison “Big Al” Hawkins, John “Squatch” Hawkins, Vince “Pako” Brooks, and Eric “Shady” Shadle.

The Dreadsox continued to play in Division 2 of the BB/SAA Co-Rec Sunday only league during the summer season, and finished with a 2-7 record. We finally discerned that a large reason why we were not able to get enough people to show up for games in years past was because we were playing all of our games on Sundays. So, the Dreadsox moved to the Co-Rec weekday league in the fall season, and were placed in division 4. The Dreadsox finished the fall 1998 season with a 4-10 record, and hope to improve in 1999.

1999: We Demand Retribution!

The Dreadsox stayed in the BB/SAA Co-Rec Weekday league, Division 4 for the spring/summer 1999 season. The Dreadsox picked up a couple new players for the 1999 season. Marc “Psycho” Nagel added height at first base, and Sue “Big Boss” Foss came complete with a rowdy cheering section. (There’s nothing else quite like having a 2-year old girl in the dugout.) The Dreadsox showed great improvement, which enabled them to attain a .500 record for the first time in team history, finishing the summer season with 8 wins and 8 losses.

Upon losing a few players to work, injury, or flakiness, the Dreadsox hit the free agency market prior to the fall 1999 season. They placed a notice in the classified section of the Microsoft newsletter that they were looking for female softball players, and struck paydirt with the aqcuisitions of Susanne “Su-Xanadu” Hartsock, Susan “Smiley” Lyons, and Angela “Babble-On” Porter. They also found Barb “The Barbarian” Blakeslee as a walk-on (more acurate to say that she found them as a jog-on, as she happened to be jogging along a path next to the field the Dreads were playing on one evening, and asked if we were looking for an extra player). Unfortunately, Barb sprained her ankle a week or two later, and was injured all season.

With the help of the new players — and the continued improvement of their veteran players — the Dreadsox shattered the .500 barrier, finishing the fall 1999 season at 10-4, the best record in team history to date.

Due to their strong 10-4 finish in the fall 1999 season, the Dreadsox were moved up to division 2 of the BB/SAA Co-Rec Weekday league for the spring/summer 2000 season. The Dreadsox again picked up a few new players for the 2000 season. Stephanie “Stun Gun” Dunniway was a welcome addition to the outfield, Kay “K.O.” Ounaphom fit in like a champ at rover, Mary Scott “The Chief” Senan added much needed chatter on the diamond, and husband David “aka Cody Brown” Senan worked well as another big target at first base. The Dreads also welcomed back Sheri “Shaggy” Smith to the lineup, where she played great at second base. The new players helped the Dreads finish with a respectable 8-10 finish in the summer season.

The Dreadsox played in division 4 in the fall of 2000, and welcomed Deborah “Howler” Wolfe to second base duty. The Dreadsox faced some tough competition, and lost a few close games en route to a 4-10 fall season.