The weather cooperated for the continuation of the B Division end of season tournament on 8/25/2024, one week after rain stopped play a short time after the second round began. After taking a big lead against St Tims, St Johns had to fend off a big comeback before finally taking the game 17-13. FCOB overcame an early deficit, barely defeated Zion 31-29, then took St John, winning 13-8.

In the losers bracket, St Tims ultimately lost to Special Olympics, who had lost to Zion in the first round, while defending tournament champions Damascus (beaten by St Tims in the first round) defeated a tired Zion team. Damascus then came up on top of Special Olympics. They then sent St Johns home before taking on FCOB in the championship game. Damascus jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but FCOB chipped away before having a big inning. They ultimately won 18-13. Congratulations to FCOB. And congratulations to defending tournament champions Holy Family for winning the A Division tournament game against Cedarbrook the week before.

The completed brackets can be seen by clicking on "Forms", then "Handouts" the "2024 FCCSL EOS tournament bracket results". It will download a document that you can then open. Hopefully this will work as it is a new option we are trying out. In addition, the Homerun Leaderboard for the last two years should show up under the "HR Leaderboard" tab on the "Welcome" page.

Thus ends another season of the Frederick County Church Softball league!  Thanks to Andrew Derr for his leadership, and to all the managers and players for making this a successful season! The next updates will most likely be in January, so have a great Fall!

The 2024 end of season tournament had mixed results. The A division tourney had a short interruption from rain, but was able to be completed.  Congratulations to the winner, second ranked Holy Family. Holy Family beat Cedarbrook in their first game 19-9. Top ranked MUMC won their first game against Presby/NB 19-8 before losing to Holy Family in the second round 19-18. Cedarbrook defeated Presby/NB in the loser bracket 15-9 before taking MUMC 20-13. Then they ran out of steam, losing in a rematch with Holy Family in a close Championship game 16-15.

The B division tournament got through the first round before heavy rains flooded the fields at Pinecliff Park early in the second round. Zion defeated Special Olympics 20-10 in the first round. Then in the second round, they took the lead 12-6 over top ranked FCOB in the top of the 2^nd inning before the rain got too hard for the game to continue.

In the other first round bracket, St Tims out lasted Damascus, as the game was tied at 7 as the time limit hit. In the extra inning, St Tims scored 4 runs, then held off Damascus for a 11-9 victory. They did not score in their first half inning against St Johns/St Joes. St Johns/St Joes scored 5 runs in their half, still threatening with bases loaded before rain stopped the game. Rain was too heavy to let the game continue.  Both games will resume where they left off at 2 pm this Sunday, 8/25. The weather looks dry but hot as of now.

Congratulations to Division winners MUMC and FCOB who received trophies, as did home run leaders Cam Farrow from Holy Family in A division and Michael Belcher from FCOB from B division, each with 17 dingers.

Results from 7/28 and 8/4 were delayed by a much-needed vacation for our illustrious Commissioner, who does so much for our league. Hopefully, next year, someone will step up to help him out as treasurer or vice-commissioner, which we had in most of the league’s history.

All games were able to be played on 7/28, thou hot and somewhat humid. MUMC swept Cedarbrook, led by Rob Davidson who had two home runs. Holy Family dominated St John/St Joe, winning both games by very convincing margins, including a 40-9 thrashing. FCOB also had a sweep, over FPC/NB. Zion split games with Special Olympics #1, winning the first game15-8. Special Olympics #1 took the second game in a squeaker, 18-17.

The biggest news of the weekend was Special Olympics #2 winning their first game of the year, this time over St Tim’s, 13-8. St Tim’s had won the first game 36-6.

There were some make-up games from earlier rainouts during the 8/4 weekend, played in hot and humid conditions. Cedarbrook took three games from FPC/NB in low scoring affairs. Special Olympics #1 took four games from Special Olympics #2, again with very low scores.

In regular double headers, Holy Family swept FCOB in a game that featured the top two home run hitters in the league. Cam Farrow maintained his lead with Holy Family, hitting one homer. As  a team, they hit six, maintaining their team lead over MUMC. Mike Belcher of FCOB got within one of the individual lead by hitting three of four team home runs.  MUMC won two by forfeit against Damascus, depriving them the opportunity to add to their second-place home run totals. St John/St Joe split their games with Zion. 

With one week to go, MUMC has a three-game lead in the win column over Holy Family in the A Division. Meanwhile, FCOB has a two-game lead over St John/St Joe.  St John/St Joe has a bye in the last week, so unable to catch FCOB, without making up any of the rained-out games.

Stay tuned for final plans for the end of season tournament.  Please submit scores for the final week to Andrew and Bob Sunday night if at all possible, so that seedings can be determined as soon as possible. This will allow teams to scout their first opponents earlier!!

The recap of the games through 7/21/24 showed Cedarbrook sweeping FPC/NB, which was correct, but the standings had FPC/NB winning one of the games. After making this correction, Cedarbrook is in second place over HFCC, though they have played 3 fewer games.  Reardless, the Division A Championship remains wide open for the taking! Hopefully, more of the rained out games can be made up before the end of the regular season. Apologies for the error.

After a well-deserved beach vacation, your web manager has finally gotten all game results through July 21^st updated. Apologies for the delay.  Managers, please double check the results for your teams to make sure they are accurate, and report any corrections to Andrew and me. The home run leaderboard will be updated before next weekend as there have been about 30 home runs in the last 2 weeks. A note to MUMC, please check your home runs for July 7^th, as 5 were reported, but I believe there were more in the makeup games with St Johns/St Joes.

St Johns/St Joes made up two games with MUMC Father’s Day weekend, with MUMC taking both amidst a barrage of home runs at Middletown field 1, 10-1 and 25-12. Both games went 5 innings due to the heat, one by agreement, the second by the ten-run rule.

On 7/14, HFCC and Cedarbrook split their games with HFCC, taking the first game 19-16. Cedarbrook came back in the second game to win 11-7. The rest of the games played were sweeps, led by MUMC sweeping Special Olympics 1 by scores of 16-4 and 28-18.  St John/St Joe took two from Zion, 18-7 and 13-3. FCOB swept St Tim’s 20-8 and 21-10.

Several teams were able to make up some postponed games from earlier in the season on 7-21, as well as their regularly scheduled games. MUMC and HFCC played four games, with MUMC taking 3 out of 4. 14 home runs were hit in these games. Cedarbrook swept FPC/NB in three games, with the second game a nail-biter 12-11. FCOB split their two games with Damascus, with FCOB winning the first game 21-10. Damascus came back in the second game, doubling up FCOB 20-10. St John/St Joe won by scores of 26-7 and 15-11 over St Tim’s.

With three weeks left in the regular season, MUMC has a fairly commanding lead in the A Division over HFCC, followed by Cedarbrook and FPC/NB.  However, none of the teams are out of the running for division champs! In the B Division, FCOB has a one game lead over St John/St Joe. Damascus has been plagued by the most rained out games with 8 (tied with St Tim’s in postponements), and are in 3^rd place at the moment. Zion is still in the running, despite a 5-7 record, due to 4 postponements. St Tim’s, with their 8 postponements, are currently in 5^th place. The Special Olympics teams have shown plenty of determination, enthusiasm and sportsmanship in their games, despite not having won many games.

Rain and wet fields resulted in most games being postponed due to unplayable fields. However, two double headers did proceed, though one needed a borrowed field.

Holy Family took two from FPC/NB, 14-7 and 19-9. Stephen Brice had 3 homers, and Nick Rippeon had 2 for FPC/NB. Holy Family had a total of 7 homeruns, led by Cam Farrow with 3, and solo shots by Scott Farrow, Jordan Metz, TJ Quelot, and Andrew Derr, all on Middletown field #1. Cam leads the league in homeruns with total of 10 dingers.

St John/St Joe split their games with FCOB, after moving their games to Pinecliff field #2. St John/St Joe, came from behind to win 13-12 in the first game. FCOB came back  to crush St John/St Joe in the second game to win, 23-4. Kyle Detrich had 2 homers, with Mike Belcher adding his 8th homer of the season for FCOB.

No games are scheduled for next weekend, though some teams are trying to schedule make-up games.  Fields are available, as they are already reserved, so keep Andrew informed if you are able to schedule games.

A record heat wave caused many teams to postpone their games on 6/23/2024. As it turned out, conditions were not as unbearable as expected due to a steady breeze and plenty of clouds, but it was still pretty tough.  FCOB swept Zion in the only originally scheduled double header played, winning12-8 and 19-6. Mike Belcher hit his league leading 7th homer of the season (tied with Cam Farrow of Holy Family), while Kyle Dietrich and Josh Ferguson each hit two homers, all for FCOB.

The two duel-church teams decided to play a double header despite the heat, as they were anxious to play.  FPC/ND crushed St John/St Joe 33-11 in the first game that ended due to time.  St John/St Joe got revenge in the second game in 5 innings, 22-12. Bret Merson, Colby Johnson, and Stephen Brice hit homers for FPC/NB, while Jesse Dubon hit a grand slam in the second game for St John/St Joe.

At the halfway point in a season riddled with postponements, Holy Family leads the A division, though MUMC has played more games and won more of them. In the B division, FCOB leads, though St John/St Joe and Damascus are just 2 games behind in the win column.

As mentioned before, Mike Belcher from FCOB and Cam Farrow from Holy Family lead the home run leaderboard with 7 homers over the fence. Rob Davidson fromMUMC is cloes behind with 5, followed byKyle Dietrick with 4. Managers, be sure to check the leaderboard to make sure we have all the info correct.

A full slate of games were played as the weather finally cooperated. In the A division, Holy Family took 2 from FPC/NB, 20-10 and 24-15. Cam Farrow had 3 home runs for Holy Family. MUMC and Cedarbrook split their games, with MUMC taking the first game19-8. Cedarbrook came back in the second game in a slugfest, 28-23. Rob Davidson had 2 home runs, and Robby Tucker had one for MUMC.

In the B Division, Damascus swept Zion, 25-8 and 24-5. FCOB likewise took two from Special Olympics #2, 25-7 and 14-1. Mike Belcher celebrated his birthday with 3 home runs for FCOB. St John/St Joe split their games with Special Olympics #1. In the first game, St John/Joe scored 7 runs in the last inning for a comeback walk-off win, 17-16.  Special Olympics #1 got revenge in the second game, big time, for their first win of the season, 17-7.

Rain earlier in the weekend before May 19th left most fields unplayable. However, Frederick Presbyterian/New Beginning (aka FPC/NB) and Zion got their games in at Middletown fields (maybe all that construction the last couple of years paid off!).  FPC/NB won the first game16-15. Zion got revenge with an 8-7 squeaker.

All games were able to be played on 6/2, though rain threatened to cause another rained out weekend. They all were sweeps, starting with MUMC beating FPC/NB 19-7 and 12-10. Rob Davidson starred with 3 home runs for MUMC. Cedarwood took two from FCOB, 21-11 and 23-1, both in 5 inning games. St John/St Joseph (aka St J&J) handled Special Olympics 2, 10-3 (a real close 7 inning game til the end!) and 24-3. Damascus won two from Special Olympics 1, 14-9 and 14-11. Zion swept St Tim's,18-6 and 26-15.

The home run leaderboard will be updated after the upcoming weekend, due to a circumstantial issue (namely the original is on a coputer that is not accessible this week). Remember to turn in scores and over the fence home runs to Andrew (and hopefully Bob Eaton) by Monday evening so this site can be updated earlier in the week.

Also let Andrew know if teams can schedule makeups from rainouts, so available fields can be verified. 

The website has finally been updated, after a slow start. The 2024 season has had mixed results so far, as the 3^rd week was rained out. In the A Division, Frederick Presbyterian/New Beginning has won 3 out of 4 games, while HFCC and MUMC have split all of their games, starting the season 2-2. Cedarbrook hasn’t fared as well, losing 3 out of 4 games.

In the B Division, FCOB has swept their 4 games, while the two Special Olympic teams have yet to win any of their games. St Tim’s and Damascus each have split their 4 games. The St John/St Joseph team and Zion have only played 2 games each due to byes, but won the all.

 In all, 3 out of the 8 games were decided by 2 or fewer runs in the A Division.

There were 4 games out of 12 that were won by 2 or fewer runs in the B Division.

Home runs were flying in both weeks that were played, with 14 in week 1 and 12 in week 2. Cam Farrow from HFCC leads the league with 4, while close behind are Jay Walls of Cedarbrook and Mike Belcher of FCOB with 3 apiece. There are 5 others with 2 each, and 6 more with 1 each.

Be sure to report scores and over the fence home runs to Andrew Derr and Bob Eaton, preferably by Monday evening, so the website can be updated a quickly as possible. When checking the site, look for “A Division (2024)” or “B Division (2024)” for the current year’s stats. I have to designate the year in the title of each year’s divisions and teams in order to maintain some stats from each year.

Welcome to the 2024 season! I was away for the first part of the season, so did not get a chance to set up this year's divisions and games. It will be fully set up before the May 19th games, so thanks for your patience!

There are two divisions, with Division A having 4 teams and Division B having 7 teams. We have already had one rained out week, so let our hard working commissioner know if you can work out make up games, so he can check with the County for available fields. Please include me in your reports of game scores, so I can update the site as soon as possible each week. My email is b.eaton@comcast .net , phone 301-514-3609. Good luck to all teams!

The humidity was low, but the temps were hot for the 2023 Frederick County Church Softball League end of season tournament at Pinecliff Park.

In the A Division, congratulations to tournament undefeated winner Holy Family, who defeated MUMC twice along the way! Regular season champs and number one seed Cedarbrook took a surprisingly early exit, losing their first two games to New Beginning and MUMC. They had lost only one game all season.

In the B Division, no team went undefeated. Damascus Road took the eventual win, but not until they were defeated by FCOB in the first championship game. FCOB lost their first game of the day, then worked its way through the loser bracket. They played a total of six games, falling to Damascus Road in the second championship game.

Thanks to all the managers and players for a successful season! Special thanks to Andrew for his leadership as Commissioner. Looking forward to next season. Hopefully more teams can be found to join and expand our league.

Four sweeps were recorded out of five double headers on the last day of the regular season, with the Division B championship and tournament seedings on the line. New Beginning swept their double header with Frederick Presbyterian to retain 4th place. New Beginning had three home runs. Holy Family  and MUMC split their games, resulting in a tie for second place in the A Division. A record 16 home runs were reported in this double header at home run friendly Middletown field #1. Cedarbrook, the A Division winner, had a bye. Frederick Presbyterian finished in 5th place.

Damascus Road swept St Tims to win the B Division championship over St Johns. FCOB thwarted St John’s efforts to win the B Division by sweeping them, with a walk off in the first game and surviving a walk off effort in the second. They finished the season in 3rd place. Mike Belcher hit two more homers, both in the second game. He will end the regular season second on the leaderboard, three behind the league leader Jay Walls of Cedarbrook, who had 14. Meanwhile, Special Olympics doubled up Zion to finish out their season in 4th place. St Tims and Zion rounded out the final standings in that order.

Thus ends the 2023 regular season, with only one week rained out and very few forfeits. See the "HR LEADERBOARD" tab above for the final regular season home run tally. Tournament seedings and schedule will be sent out as soon as they are finalized for next week’s end of season tournament. Thanks to all the players for a very successful season, and for Andrew Derr’s leadership in keeping us organized!

The 2022 End of Season tournament was played in one day after the initial day was rained out. Few final scores were reported, but congratulations to Cedarbrook and Damascus Road on their championships in their respective tournaments.

In the Division A tournament, 3^rd seeded Cedarbrook first beat 2^nd seeded Holy Family, then defeated top seeded New Beginning in the next round. New Beginning rallied through the loser bracket to meet Cedarbrook in the Championship round. They trailed early, but came back to tie the game late at 10-10. No score in the 8^th inning. New Beginning finally broke through in the bottom of the 9th to win 11-10 and force a winner-take-all title game, which started at 8:45. In front of dedicated spouses, children and friends, New Beginning took command, leading 11-6 by the 5^th inning. However, Cedarbrook took the lead with 11 runs with one out in the 6^th. New Beginning pitcher Andrew Brice took a rocket shot to his glove hand, and went down. He tried to continue to play, but couldn’t. One of Cedarbrook's pastors (and infielder) Ken Jackson led everyone in a prayer for healing, a powerful moment for all who were there.  Both teams agreed that it was time to call the game, and Cedarbrook was declared the champion with a 17-11 victory.

In the Division B tournament, top seeded Damascus Road went undefeated to take the championship. They defeated St Ignatius in their first game, who then went on to beat Zion in the loser bracket. In the meantime, 3^rd seed FCOB defeated St Timothy in their first game, only to lose to Damascus Road. St Timothy ended St Ignatius’ day in the next round of the loser bracket, after trailing earlier in the game. FCOB then beat St Timothy a second time 7-5. Both of the games between these two teams were tight, where a hit here and there could have changed the results. FCOB then faced Damascus Road again in the championship game. But Damascus Road was too much, winning 13-3. The full brackets for both tournaments are shown below.

Thus ends a challenging season. We look forward to next year, and hope we can get more teams and players, so more games can actually get played!  Special thanks to Andrew Derr, who took on a lot of responsibility as Commissioner and defacto Treasurer.  Hopefully, someone will step up to take on the Treasurer role next year.

Week 2 of the 2021 Frederick Church Softball League was played on August 29^th under generally cooler, albeit still very humid, conditions at Pinecliff Park.

 In the A Division, Holy Family took on host MUMC for the opportunity to play top seeded Cedarbrook in the Championship game. The score was close throughout, with MUMC prevailing 10-8.  In the Championship game, MUMC stayed close to Cedarbrook and led 5-4 at one point. However, Cedarbrook went on a 16-run rampage to overwhelm MUMC, winning 22-7 in 5 innings, and included one home run over the fence for Cedarbrook. Congratulations to both teams, as the #1 and #2 seeds had made it to the finale.

It took a little longer to determine the B Division tournament champion. Top seeded FCOB was down 11-0 against 3rd seeded St Ignatius, but battled back to 11-5 going in the last inning. With the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the 7^th, St Ignatius held on to take the game 11-8. They then played undefeated 4th seeded Damascus Road in the first game of the Championship, which started as a pitching duel.  St Ignatius ultimately won 9-4 forcing a winner-take-all second Championship game. Damascus Road fought back in the second game, but fell short, with St Ignatius winning 9-6. This game featured a home run over the fence for St Ignatius.

It also featured an inspiring at bat by a Damascus player, who had a badly injured ankle. Rather than taking an automatic 3^rd out in the 6th inning due to not having a sub available to bat, he hobbled up to the plate.  He promptly hit the ball to short right field, and hopped on one leg to first base for a single.  Everyone on the field and in the stands gave him a round of applause. For some reason, he asked for a pinch runner! Seriously, though, this was a great example of the dedication of those who play the game!

The winning teams were awarded highly stylized shirts, designed by our Commissioner, Gidget Gill! Pictures of the winning teams are posted in the Photo section, which can be reached by clicking on the “ABOUT” tab, then “PHOTO ALBUMS”, then “LEAGUE PHOTOS”, then “2021 SEASON”.

Congratulations to all the teams in the league, who made it through another difficult season.  Hopefully, things will be more back to normal next season, so have a safe off-season! And keep checking this page for updates throughout the year.

The weather was the best of the year, and the field conditions were generally good at Pinecliff Park, despite rain a couple of days earlier (aside from the deep batter's boxes for righthanders!). Both Cedarbrook and Seventh Day Adventist went undefeated as they won their respective post season tournaments for 2019.  In the AB Tournament, 4th seeded Cedarbrook blanked 2nd seeded CRUCC for their win, while 1st seeded Seventh Day overpowered 3rd seeded St Katharine Drexel in the CD tournament. Pictures of the winning teams will be posted shortly.  Remember to get team pictures next year so they can be uploaded to the website.  It would be great to utilize more of the features of the website, so look for more information to come.

Congratulations to all the teams in the league for getting though another season!