For the sixth time, the Carolina Colts advanced to the "Great Eight" round of the Raleigh city men's softball post-season tournament, defeating Custom Mail Solutions Wednesday night with stellar defensive play, scattering 11 hits over seven innings to earn an 8-1 victory. 

The infield put forth a heroic defensive effort, turning four double plays and stranding 12 CMS baserunners, more than making up for a relatively anemic offensive performance in which the team recorded but nine hits, all but one of which were scattered over the game's final four innings.

The Raleigh Red Devils meanwhile proved unable to join their Colts brethren among the quarter-finalists, falling to Hardin Hitters in a slugfest that took an hour and 47 minutes to complete, 26-20.  Hitting was in abundance for the Sons of Satan, with Bruce Wilson, Jesse Visconti, Kevin Spradling, Lester Mir, John Teal, Andrei Acris and Pat Parks each recording multiple hits in the contest - including a 5-for-5 performance by Mir and an impressive 4th inning triple by Parks, but a combination of even better hitting by Hardin coupled with a CATS men's softball record twelve defensive miscues proved to provide an insurmountable challenge.

The Colts take to the diamond again tonight at 6:30 at Field #8 of the Walnut Creek Softball Complex with a chance to advance to the tournament's semi-finals, a feat thus far accomplished by only two prior Colts squads - the last in 2000.

xx

In April 1995 the Carolina Colts men's softball team took the field, and within two years its founders were dreaming of achieving a long-term goal:  operating a league rather than individual teams.  For the Fall 2008 softball season, that dream will finally be realized as Capital Area Team Sports dramatically expands its involvement in the Raleigh softball scene.

What began in May as an effort to add a new team to join our existing two (the Carolina Colts and Raleigh Red Devils) mushroomed, so quickly and so significantly that CATS will almost assuredly field a total of seven teams this fall - enough to have a league exclusively comprised of CATS men's softball participants.

"'A League of Our Own' isn't just a movie title, it's our new goal," advised CATS Executive Director D.P. McIntire.  "We have over 50 players who've expressed interest in playing softball for us this fall, and with over a month to go before the city leagues' team registration deadline, there's no reason to think we can't achieve the goal of increasing our softball presence from two teams all the way up to seven in that time."

Two new clubs were originally planned, but the level of interest has spurred plans to organize three additional new clubs.  "This is something no one in Raleigh has ever come close to doing to our knowledge, but it's something I think we can accomplish, and much faster than we had originally hoped," explained McIntire in expanding the initiative.

Each CATS team would comprise a 12-man roster, necessitating that 84 players don one of the team's uniforms this fall.  But with the bulk of the Colts and Red Devils rosters returning plus all this new interest and enough time to effectively recruit even more players, this unprecedented step is achievable.  So if you or someone you know has an interest in joining us in "A League of Our Own" this fall, please contact us - we'd love to get you on the field this fall!

xx