The long wait is finally over. The long hours in the gym, the dawn runs on the dunes, the miles put in in the swimming pool; and Batpak bodies are peaking at the right time. It’s show time, and every Batpak body on display is a finely-honed testament to peak fitness.

Its April 24th. The first opponents are the newly-promoted Marlay Mayhem, and, pre-match, BurnzY is wandering around telling himself the story of the Young Bull and the Old Bull. He has a smile on his face; its one of his favourite anecdotes.

BurnzY calls his troops in, and gives them what for. John O Flynn has escaped lightly, Peter has forgotten the Dora The Explorer rucksack and he won’t have to play wearing it tonight. It may happen again. The message is simple – enjoy our softball, enjoy Batpak, the wins will come. We are Batpak, we are the Old Bulls. We are who we are.

The game starts and Batpak score 6 in the first. Great hits from Peter, Anne, Ben, Julie, Steve – including a magnificent HR from Julie. Carol crosses the plate after a triple from new boy John O, and we have the 6, batting through the order. A great start, the Old Bulls are up for it. Marlay reply with 2, and we’re at 6-2 end of 1. Peter and Anne score again in the second, and by end 2 the score is 8-3. Batpak are enjoying the game and the banter is flowing, it’s softball and it’s all good.

Carol, John O’ and Tom with his first longball of the night score in the third, and Marlay reply with 2. Julie hits another long shot and her dutiful husband follows her home to add 2 more in the fourth; Marlay have no reply and its 13-5 after the fourth. They have scored the last of their runs, but Batpak aren’t finished. More hits come from just about everyone and everywhere - Anne, Ben, Julie, Steve, John O’ and another big shot from Tom finish off the contest. Final score ends at 26-5.

Captain Burnzy thanks his squad – they have done him proud. They are Batpak, the Old Bulls. Softball and fun is back, and Batpak love it. Long may it last...

"Finally... it only took us 8 years"!!, one Marlay player after the final out.

On a sunny Tuesday evening in Marlay Park, The 'Pak lined out looking to chalk up another win. Aware of the Marlay potential we were warned by Skipper Pete that this would be no walk in the park and we would need to turn it on right from the start.

Oh dear God why didn't we listen to him..?

BatPak led off with a conservative one run in the first, thanks to the solid base hitting of Dave. Marlay matched this with 2 of their own. The next four innings saw the Pak knock in only a single run while Marlay kept the pressure on stringing hits together and taking advantage of extra bases gifted by costly errors in the field. By the 6th we were chasing a lead of 8 runs. After a rallying call by Pete, who pointed out that we've scored more than that in one inning before and now would be a nice time to try it again! We took to the plate to set things right. Unfortunately a further 2 runs was the best we could do. Marlay continued to chip away and deservedly came away with a 12-4 win.

And so our unbeaten run against Marlay came to a very ugly end. Not one of our finest displays, in fact probably one of our worst plate displays with only 8 hits in the entire game, 6 of them coming from Dave and Emma.

Some positives to take from the game...

1. Stephen Ralf from the Pakkers more than capably standing in and pitching a great game.
2. We could never suck that badly again!

BatPak have scored the most runs in the league and have the best runs difference (+60). We have everything to play for. So lets learn from this one, move onwards and upwards and mark this one off as a minor blip on an otherwise successful season.

Captain's MVPs
Male - Dave Pepper
Female - Emma Kilbride

The future of softball in North Dublin is safe! BatPak arrived at Father Collins Park on Tuesday with a veritable creche in tow. With enough children to take the field in place of the their parents, eyes in the back of the head were required to make sure we left with as many that arrived

To the game. BatPak were still reeling from their defeat at the hands of the Mavericks in Week seven of the Leinster League Premier Division. Renegades on the other hand were basking in the vivtory over Oddsox Green, to place them ahead of 'Pak in the standings. Captain Pete named a strong team, with Drew returning as Pitcher, Sean catching, Caryn, Carol, JB and Ben in the infield, Dave, Emma, Peter and Julie in the Outfield. With Niall, Kieran and Anne on the bench, ten children, one grandma, one player returning from the DL, and an eight month pregnant first baser, BatPak's sideline was a noisy, expectant affair.

Which was soon to be silenced. BatPak started the game with one hit, three immediate outs and no runs. The previous week's absence of hits remained, as did Renegades form. The home team batted round the order, running in eight runs through a combination of errors from 'Pak and some hard, accurate hitting throughout the home team's lineup. BatPak's heads immediately dropped. Surely not a second successive defeat? In the second inning, Carol and JB scored on hits from Caryn and Pete. Two runs to which Renegades replied with one from Dago. BatPak's frustration boiled over in the field, but this soon turned to smiles in the third inning, inspired by successive hits at the top of the order from Ben, Emma and Drew. The scores continued with Dave, Carol and JB all hitting, including a 300 yard plus ground rule double from JB that on most pitches would have seen a home run. He made it home however on the back of a double from Pete, and 'Pak had pulled six runs back. Renegades remained ahead with a further two runs from the bottom two batters, but BatPak had most definitely got the proverbial bit between the teeth, both at the plate and in the field.

Errors were less and confidence had returned to the team. Renegades drew blanks in the next two innings, with BatPak levelling the scores at 11-11 in the fifth inning, thanks partly to a solo home-run from Ben. But it was the sixth inning that ensured the victory for BatPak. Eight runs came in, including a repeat of JB's longest ground rule double, Drew judging to perfection his hit to right-field, the ball stopping three inches in front of the fence, and having barely recovered from his first home-run Ben managed a second. In the bottom of the sixth inning Dave, running in from left-field for a catch fell heavily. Despite not moving, the umpire allowed play to continue, and with the ball lodged under Dave the Renegades scored one of their two remaining runs. Dave went off the field, his injury nothing compared to Joanne's stoic performance against Blazzers, replaced by Kieran.

A final flurry of seven successive hits brought five more runs for BatPak and put the game firmly beyond Renegades, whose positive start to the game ended with three fly balls. BatPak had achieved a nineteen run swing from eight down in the first inning to a winning margin of eleven. A truly gritty performance from 'Pak, and a much needed confidence booster ahead of next week's home game against the league leaders Dodder Dynamoes.

Captain's MVPs
Male - Jon Barry
Female - Carol O'Toole

A return to league action this week for BatPak, and a return to Tymon Park, recent scene of defeat snatched from the hands of victory against Oddsox Green two weeks before in LLPD4. Against us, the only undefeated team in the Premier Division, a buoyant and fluorescent Dodder Dynamoes (Orange and Blue), finalists at last years ECCS, with a squad containing five of Derek Ward's National Squad.

The New York Yankees, Arsenal FC, even Inverness Caledonian Thistle. BatPak can today announce that it is joining this stellar group of teams and clubs that have moved their home ground.

There is one inescapable truth about BatPak; we love our sweets. Jellies, bon bons, jelly beans, pastilles, you name it, we love them all. And there were plenty of jellies on the sideline last night. Unfortunately for us, our bats turned to jelly 15 minutes into last night’s game with the Oddsox Green. We didn’t like our jelly bats, in fact we hated them, we never want them again and we won’t take them home with us again if they ever behave like that again.

On a sultry Tuesday evening with the Dodder River's habitants threatening to cause havoc to anyone with bare skin, BatPak took on Kiely's Kegs in their first away game of the regular season.  Due to injuries and holidays Captain Peter Mullen was forced to name a makeshift lineup which saw Niall Byrne return from semi-retirement in center-right, Joanne Tyrell making her BatPak starting debut on 2B and regular short-stop Jon Barry appear on the pitcher's plate.

BatPak Thirty-Somethings Act Their Age!!

This game was dominated by BatPak's batting, and for the second week running they brought in over thirty runs.

Renegades had themselves hit twenty-four runs in Week One, and so the game looked set for a slug-fest. The home team obliged, the away team did not.