With one baseball season winding down, another has just begun.
MSU’s Interfraternity Council played the first games of its inaugural softball season Tuesday night.
“We’ve always had football and soccer,” international relations junior Ryan Kohlmann said. “With this, we were just trying to see how many people would be interested in playing.”
The league, which consists of 12 fraternities, plays games that run an hour or four innings. Each team plays two games a week in the 10-game season with the top eight teams advancing to the playoffs. A championship game is tentatively scheduled for mid-October.
Kohlmann, Interfraternity Council director of sports and a Lambda Chi Alpha member, said the idea to start the league was that of Jonathan Rosenthal, the new Interfraternity Council director of academic programs. Rosenthal, a general management senior, transferred to MSU from Florida State University and played in similar leagues at the Tallahassee school.
“Through (council president) Paul Hage we came up with the idea for the league as a fun way for different frats to get out and interact with one another,” Rosenthal said.
The Alpha Tau Omega member also said the council is working on possibly having the championship game played at John Kobs Baseball Field on campus.
The games are played at the East Lansing Family Aquatic Center and Softball Complex, 6400 Abbott Road. And city officials seem as excited about the league as the players.
“I got handed the torch to help get them going,” East Lansing recreation coordinator Dan Sullivan said. “We hope things go well and that they’re here for a long time.”
Even though the first night of games was a little chilly, that didn’t stop the teams.
“I’ll deal with it,” supply chain management senior Kyle Dennis said. “If it gets a little cold, it’s alright. I’m just out here to have fun and win, too.”
The first game, Alpha Tau Omega defeated Zeta Beta Tau 14-1. Phi Kappa Tau earned a 7-3 victory over Lambda Chi in the second game. In the last game, Delta Chi defeated Alpha Sigma Phi 27-0.
There is a possible reason for some of the teams’ sluggish play.
“We really didn’t have time to plan things out,” Kohlmann said. “We had to start as quickly as possible due to the weather and some teams didn’t have time to practice.”
Rosenthal even came up with a credo for the league.
“It’s the boys of summer playing in the fall.”
