Phil Tonseth ‘23
Editor-in-Chief
Led by the star guest appearance of Ian Hurst ‘22 in the championship game, with Tom Langstaff ’22 rolling up on his bicycle just in time for first pitch, a ragtag group of kiddos from UVA Law’s class of 2022’s sections D and G, aptly named BDE, won the 38th annual spring softball invitation hosted by the North Grounds Softball League (NGSL) this past May. BDE managed to navigate and overcome a field of 18 different teams made up of more than 130 law students over the two-day event. While the traditional national audience of law schools was unable to attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BDE’s efforts were nonetheless noteworthy for their ability to win 9 of the 10 games they played with nary a sober soul on the team. Doubling as the resident pretty boy of the team and speedy centerfielder, Ian Jones ’22 reminisced on BDE’s journey,stating: “it will probably go down in history with Michael Jordan’s threepeats and Tom Brady’s seven championships as one of the greatest stretches in the history of sports. Maybe greater because Jordan and Brady had the advantage of competing while completely sober. I mean, what’s more iconic: Jordan’s flu game or the BDE hangover game?”
Beginning the Friday afternoon following finals, the 18 team field played a three game round robin. The seeding was determined through team record and score differentials for the single elimination tournament that lasted all of Saturday. In true ceremonial fashion, Dean Risa Goluboff ‘00 threw out the first pitch to begin the tournament. Immediately following, NGSL presented ReadyKids with the $15,000 donation to show the true focus of the tournament. Then, the kiddos got down to business. With games occurring across both fields at The Park and at Copeley, softball was in full swing on Friday. Whether it was 1L section teams that wanted to celebrate finishing their hardest year, the NGSL all-star teams who finally got a chance to show off why they decided to come to UVA Law, or 2Ls and 3Ls who banded together to create teams just to participate in the fun, Friday’s action was jampacked and intense.
Pictured: Dean Goluboff throws out the first pitch to start the tournament. Photo Courtesy of virginia.edu
BDE did not start out as the tournament favorites. The NGSL Blue Team, led by Will Hinton ’21 and Brian Patterson ’21, pummeled their opponents into submission on their way to the #1 seed. For their efforts, and despite losing one of their three round robin games, BDE was seeded 7th overall for elimination Saturday. NGSL Blue could not translate their round robin success into the finals, as Clawschool Clubbers, the 2L team led by SBA President Niko Orfanedes ’22 and Christina Kelly ’22, upset NGSL Blue in the quarterfinals. Not to be outdone, BDE faced their stiffest test of the tournament in the semifinals, barely edging out class of 2022’s section A, led by Nate Wunderli ’22. NGSL did not want to be outdone, and thus NGSL Gold defeated Clawschool Clubbers in the semifinals, setting up the ultimate showdown between the all-star team and the ragtag kiddos.
The much-anticipated matchup quickly turned into a rout, as BDE put up 11 runs in the first inning behind the skills of Fred Quesada ’22 and Lizzie Pate ’22. Following the first, the outcome was never in doubt, as Libby Murray ’22, Kelli Finnegan ’22, and Ellen Page ’22 repeatedly broke the back of NGSL Gold with their wizardry, both at the plate and on the field. In the end, BDE won by a run-rule disqualification after five innings by a score of 32-17. Looking back on BDE’s efforts, Alyssa Metcalf ’22, one half of UVA Law’s softball power couple with Ray Roesler ’22, said “I’m surprised Phil has enough of a memory of this weekend to even be writing this article, but I think we can all agree it was one for the books.”[1]
Pictured: After a long day of softball, victory was sweet for this crew. Photo Courtesy of the Victors.
Most importantly, the tournament succeeded at its base goal, raising over $15,000 for ReadyKids, a local nonprofit that provides services and learning programs for disadvantaged children in the area. This fundraising, spearheaded by tournament directors Sam McCarthy ’21 and Nicole Pidala ’21, was drawn from multiple law firms[2] and different events coordinated by Ethan Silverman ’20 and his company, Fantasy4. NGSL is very much looking forward to hopefully returning to a normal tournament this upcoming year, and I hope to see all of our lovely readers out on Copeley very soon.
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pjt5hm@virginia.edu
[1] For reference, this article did a lot of heavy lifting for my memory: https://www.law.virginia.edu/news/202105/north-grounds-softball-league-raises-15000-charity. Also, I hydrated with Bud Light, sorry mom.
[2] S/O to Hogan Lovells, Bradley, Simpson Thatcher, King & Spalding, Skadden, K&L Gates, Davis Polk, Norton Rose Fulbright and Proskauer.