Meet the Bad News Babes, this season’s top-ranked women’s team
From the start of this year’s slow-pitch softball city league season, the Bad News Babes have been ruling over the women’s division.
Bad News Babes were first introduced to the league six years ago with a team of 14, and of which, nine were on the diamond without any previous softball experience.
Kassie Moore, the team’s manager, and Alicia Cordova started the team in 2012. The two women formed the initial group of 14 players based on mutual friends as well as women they thought would work well together.
Bad News Babes outfielder Nicole Sykes tosses the ball after catching it while playing against NST on Tuesday, June 27. Photo by Ashley GroganDespite her role in forming the team, Cordova was one of the Babes who knew hardly anything about the sport. This didn’t stand in her way; however, as she still insisted on forming a team so all the women could grow together.
During the winter that spanned from late 2011 to early 2012, Moore was put in charge of teaching the Babes how to play slow-pitch softball.
“They made me teach them in the snow and in the rain,” Moore said.
In addition to Cordova, some of the Babes on the field during the blustery practices included Angelica Guajardo, Cheryl Aschenbach, Codi Martell and Kelli Williams. Guajardo was another Babe learning for the first time, and while Aschenbach, Martell and Williams had previous softball experience, they weren’t willing to miss a chance to practice on the diamond with their new team.
While there were more Bad News Babes practicing in the snow, the aforementioned ladies were the only Babes to stay with the team all six years.
Since then, the Babes have added some members and lost others. This year’s roster includes 18 Lassen County women. Among said women, the softball experience level ranges from six years to 25.
Though the Babes started out their slow-pitch debut as quite the underdog story, fans would never guess such based on this year’s performance.
The Babes have reigned first in the women’s division since the start of the season. As of Friday, June 30, Bad News Babes held a record of 10-2 for the season. Their most recent loss was against NST on Tuesday, June 27.
Other than the loss against NST, the Babes haven’t suffered a loss since late May of this year.
Though Bad News Babes have a fairly steady hold on first place, their years of finishing second have kept them humble. As of now, the Babes are most aware of the Susanville Peaches, the women’s division’s second-place team.
Moore stated that besides the obvious goal of having fun, the ultimate goal for the team is to finish the tournament in first place.
“We always place second, but this year we want to be first,” Moore said.
The team is strong on the field and off. Moore expressed how impressed she has felt from the performance seen from the Babes.
“They are all team players. They suck it up and play where they never have before,” Moore said.
The team-player mentality has proved to be a great source of strength for the group of ladies. They have found that the more diverse a player’s set of skills is, the easier it is to bring the team together on the field.
The next game for the Babes will be Tuesday, July 18 against the Susanville Peaches at Riverside Park in Susanville.
