THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608130145
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER AND PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: 142 lines
RELATIONSHIPS AND SOFTBALL sometimes don't make a great marriage.
Many a match has been broken because one spouse chooses to put a softball career ahead of family life.
But in the cases of some bleacher wives or husbands - as they've come to be known - supporting their spouses' play time has resulted in a grand slam for married life.
``It doesn't bother me,'' Jackie Davenport of Chesapeake said. ``At least I know where he is. He's either here or at church.''
Davenport's husband, Alvin, plays for Chesapeake church team Bethel Baptist and the Keith Enterprises men's team of Virginia Beach. The Davenports spent their second anniversary at the opening round of last week's 15th annual Tidewater Championships at Virginia Beach's Princess Anne Park. They had double reason to celebrate as Alvin's team earned a spot in the church division championship that was played Friday.
Jackie doesn't attend games much any more, but, after all, it was the Tidewater Championships.
``We dated for four years and I used to follow him around to all the different fields,'' she said. ``We're married now. I don't have to do that anymore.''
Her following him to games didn't stop the moment she said, ``I do,'' however. Immediately after the wedding ceremony, the couple high-tailed it to Petersburg for a - you guessed it - softball tournament.
The honeymoon, in the meantime, was put on the back burner.
Mary Helen Birch was spectating 14 years ago when she met her eventual spouse, and yes, he was also another softball fanatic.
For seven years, she made the rounds of the area fields before signing on as an official softball wife. She said the life has had its advantages and disadvantages.
``Most softball players, they don't worry about their families when they're young,'' the Chesapeake resident said. ``But they change. My husband did.''
At 46, Beaver Birch limits himself to just one doubleheader a week. Mary Helen attends all the games and keeps the scorebook.
Like Jackie Davenport, the honeymoon couldn't begin until softball ended. Married on a Friday, they went to Richmond for a weekend tournament and the next day, traveled to Hawaii. That's just a part of the scene, she says.
``We enjoy watching,'' Birch said. ``When we married them, we knew softball was their life.''
Added Jackie Davenport: ``We acquired a liking of sitting in chairs.''
What a hoot. Fans gathering Tuesday for the opening rounds of the Tidewater coed and men's church divisions got an extra treat as Hootie & the Blowfish performed at the adjacent Virginia Beach Amphitheater.
Little did the group know how their hit song ``Only Wanna Be With You'' dripped with irony. It may as well have been the theme song for the quintessential softball spouse out for yet another evening at the diamond to watch a husband or wife at play.
The band blared:
``Sometimes I wonder
``If we'll ever end
``You get so mad at me
``When I go out with my
friends. . .''
A testament to the stresses softball puts on relationships.
The oldest rookie: Sue Wright, 38, may be the oldest player on the Cummings/Easton squad, but she's still known everywhere as Rookie.
Wright, of Virginia Beach, who's played for 14 different teams in the last 23 years, got the name from coaches Eddie Walsh and Bob Henshaw when they put her on the roster for Sea Vacationers when she was just 16 years old.
And the name stuck.
``Most people don't know me by my real name,'' said Wright, who was inducted into the Tidewater ASA Hall of Fame two years ago with the Bay Skippers.
``Every team I moved up to was like a step up in caliber,'' she said. ``I was still younger than all the players.''
Now she's suffering a reversal of fortune. As her playing career comes to an end - she says she'll coach when she hits 40 - Rookie is sometimes known to her jesting teammates as Grandma.
No rookies here. This year's Tidewaters featured a couple of teams which were by no stretch of the imagination rookies.
The top two teams from the Tidewater Seniors Athletic Association battled it out in an exhibition game Friday to open the finals - the Bad News Bears eventually handing Kelly Karpets a 20-11 loss.
The over-50 bunch would then join the other four teams in their league Saturday morning at Red Mill Park for their league tournament.
While some of the guys don't quite have the speed they once might have had, they can still hit the ball and their play was well received by the crowd that was quickly growing to more than 2,000 in anticipation of the usual four championship games.
We're the best. The Tidewater Championships are so popular each season because they hold the key to area bragging rights.
There are nearly 800 adult softball teams combined in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth and by the time those numbers are dwindled down to the 32 that make the tournament, someone naturally wants to emerge as the best of the best.
That's what the event is all about.
For the winners - D.B. Henderson of Norfolk in coed, Mount Pleasant Mennonites of Chesapeake in men's church, Superior Pest Control of Chesapeake in women's and Harrisons of Portsmouth in men - the 5-foot trophy is only a small token of winning.
This is the first year in the tournament's history that a Virginia Beach team has failed to win a title.
Puttin' on the ritz. The Tidewaters rotate every two years between the four cities, and the event finally made its way back to Virginia Beach this year - giving the Virginia Beach Department of Parks and Recreation a chance to strut.
Tournament directors Jay Smith and Rich Sauls, along with a host of parks and recreation staff and as many volunteers, put on arguably the best event in the championship's 15-year history.
Also helping the cause were people from Edwards Inc. Pest Control, London Bridge Baptist Church, the Chesapeake Athletic Club, the HiTides, DAC and Sons and U-Save Auto. Members of the groups took care of the four fields for the three-day event.
And officials from the National Softball Association also helped in setting up the park each night.
City officials promise an even bigger and better event for next August. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by L. TODD SPENCER
AT LEFT: Mary Helen Birch attends all of her husband's games and
keeps score. At age 46, her former ``softball fanatic'' husband,
Beaver Birch, limits himself to just one double-header a week.
AT RIGHT: Dewey Fussell hits a homer for the Henderson team, which
won the championship.
AT LEFT: Kenny Kirby, left, and Gary Bullman, right, of Clancy's
Team watch their teammate Reggie LeBray come in after hitting a home
run in the men's softball championships at Princess Anne Park.
AT RIGHT: The tournament lasted too long for 6-year-old Jordan
Hyatt of Suffolk, who slept through the last game of the men's
championship.
Graphic
ON THE COVER
Kevin Darden, left, and coach Tony Robinson of the D.G. Henderson
and Son team are all smiles after winning the 15th Annual Tidewater
Softball Championships in the coed division. L. Todd Spencer took
the picture. by CNB