Caddyswag needs to get healthy for Edina Monday softball playoffs

This has been somewhat of a patchwork season for the Caddyswag Radio men’s rec softball team in Edina’s Monday Doubleheader League.

Injuries and family commitments have prevented Caddyswag from putting a consistent lineup on the field, however, the perennial contenders haven’t lost their hope of winning a playoff championship this summer.

Caddyswag stood 8-7 overall after splitting a pair of games last week at Van Valkenburg Park. Following a 15-8 victory over Southdale YMCA in its first game, Caddyswag lost to first-place Tradition Wealth Management 16-6 in its second game.

Tradition led Caddyswag 8-6 after six innings, then the defending playoff champions scored eight runs - six of them with two outs - to take command in the top of the seventh.

Shortstop has always been a strong position for Caddyswag - first with Jason “Turbo” Sirek and later with Scott Bantz - but neither has been able to play full-time this season. In the doubleheader Monday night, Phil Boerger, moved from his usual post in left field to play shortstop.

Several web gems into the first game, Boerger was having a great time at short.

Between games, he said, “I get an adrenaline rush at shortstop that I don’t get in the outfield. I grew up [playing baseball] as a shortstop and second baseman. I moved to the outfield for softball when I found out how hard adults hit the ball.”

Boerger knows only one way to play softball - all-out all the time. He is liable to slide head-first into a base or crash into a fence while chasing a foul pop-up. On one play Monday night, he chased a pop-up all the way into left field and made a catch right in front of left fielder Derek Alford.

Tradition Wealth Management is the youngest team in Edina Monday night softball. Most of the regulars played high school baseball for Eden Prairie or Wayzata a few years ago.

Boerger is impressed by the transition the Tradition players have made from baseball to softball. “Their baseball swings are now softball swings,” he said. “Defense translates from baseball to softball better than offense.”

If you can hit a baseball a long way, chances are you can learn to hit a softball a long way, Boerger said. Tradition players Trevor Divinski, Mark Ehresman, Parker Hlavacek, Griffin Schneider and Ryan Swanson could all hit a baseball a long way. The same applies to their softball power.

With Monday playoffs set to begin at the end of July, Tradition and Caddyswag could be headed for a rematch. However, both will have to keep an eye out for the other contenders - Southdale YMCA, The Hilltop Restaurant and a promising new team, the Bunt Cakes.

Slowpitch notes

AJ Page of Southdale YMCA hit another massive home run in Monday’s 15-8 loss to Caddyswag Radio. His swing seemed almost effortless as he drove the ball 375 feet the opposite way. In addition to the home run, he had a double and two singles on a four-for-four night.

In Edina Thursday night softball at Van Valkenburg Park, the top four teams in the standings are the Foul Tips, Clams, Viking Forest and R&B Softball.