The Chronicles of Christina

With the first two weeks under our belts, the Wells Fargo softball league season is officially in full swing. As teams have started to stake their claim in the standings, a few newcomers to the spring season are making their voices heard. The One Hit Wonders are the newest team to join the roster for 2015. Captain, Eric Johnson, and assistant captain, Angela Lane, are opening up to give some insight into what the newest team of the league plans to bring to the plate...

Q: How did your team come together?

A: Eric – I play softball with a few other teams outside of WF. One of my teammates reached out to me after he had filled in on a fall WF team and gave me a high-level rundown about what the WF league was all about. I loved the concept and the website, and thought this would be a great opportunity to do some team-building at work, as well as play more softball, so I placed a memo and sign-up sheet in our break room on Research Drive (across from CIC) and encouraged any and all interested to join.

Q: What departments of the bank are represented on your team?

A: Eric – Our team represents the CFS Fraud Operation’s department. We service consumer card products – both debit and credit - as well as Dillard’s and American Express accounts and personal lines and loans. Our functions currently represented on this squad include fraud prevention, claims, training, and business strategy.

Q: Who came up with the name? How?

A: Eric – Will Stewart, our Charlotte Fraud Prevention site manager, had the best submission of team names of the group. He’s known for having a great sense of humor and quick to make a witty remark, so it was fitting that he had the best idea for the name.

Q: How would you describe the season thus far?

A: Eric – for us, both hectic and promising.

Hectic because I haven’t been able to play in a game yet with business travel and the flu, so Angela has had to take the reins for the first two weeks. Our jersey order was messed up so I had to enlist the help of others on the team to travel to Pineville to pick up the replacement jerseys while I was in Des Moines. The first week was hectic for everyone with the terrible weather, as we had a few of our TMs confused by the rainout line and thinking week one was postponed. Our first practice at Renaissance was apparently double-booked on the same field as another team, so I had ten people standing around with nowhere to practice and nobody from Parks and Rec available to help (we eventually got on another field because one of the teams who had their field reserved had one person show up).

Promising, most obviously, because we’ve already won a game two weeks into the season. While we have a few softball veterans on the squad, we also have several who are new to the sport. I knew from the first practice we are going to be a fun, and in time, competitive team. In just a few short hours, I saw some of my teammates who were just learning the fundamentals of throwing, catching, and hitting actually throwing live batting practice, making plays in the field, and hitting the ball solidly. On the way out of the first practice, these same teammates were glowing with excitement for the season, eager to practice, and told me how much fun they were having – one person even said “I really love this. I didn’t expect it to be this much fun. I can see myself playing for the long haul.” That is the kind of squad we have. I know when you first start up a group from scratch with all levels of experience; growing pains are to be expected at first. We may not win it all in 2015 (not saying we won’t), but we’ll be a force to be reckoned with soon enough!

A: Angela – Aside from Eric’s description I would have to add FUN! We all came into the season having only one expectation and that is to have fun. We had a terrible loss the first game, and that could have potentially diminished the morale of the team. But it didn’t. We came to work the next day with our heads held high and talked about how much fun we had, regardless of the score. Truthfully, I think that contributed to our win on Thursday. I’ve never seen a group with 100% positivity and support for one another. Knowing you’re playing for a team that’s not going to judge your results, seemed to allow everyone to relax and do their best!

Q: Any predictions for the season? Who are you most concerned to play?

A: Eric – It would be crazy to predict anything other than we’re going to surprise some of the other teams. We can be that trap game on any given week. Being our first year in the league, we don’t know the “top dogs” from the bottom-dwellers, and will approach all games with the same mindset. Come playoff time, we’ll be a much more fine-tuned instrument.

Q: If you could tell the retuning team’s one thing about your team, what would it be?

A: Eric – Don’t sleep on the One Hit Wonders. Hide your kids, hide your wife.

Q: Thus far, who is/are your team’s MVP(s)? Why?

A: Eric – My pick, from a teamwork perspective is Angela Lane. She has been a lifesaver for me and the team, stepping in for me while I’ve been ill or out of town. She has made our lineups, organized the team, and led us in our first win! I’ll defer to Angela to give us the on-the-field MVP thus far.

A: Angela – Ha, thanks Eric! With confidence, I would say Jordan Duvall (pitcher) and Ismael “Ish” Amparo (short stop) are our MVPs. Jordan has lead the team pitching and so far in the season has 13 strike-outs. Ish is an excellent short stop and has lead the team at bat with 3 RBIs.

Q: This past Thursday, your team picked up their first win against the Wells Royals. Did that give the team confidence?

A: Eric – Oh yeah. We lost our first game pretty bad, so getting this win was huge. And not saying I’m Babe Ruth, but I’ll be returning in week three to help the team build off of the huge win. We are definitely headed in the right direction, and are hoping to gain some momentum!

A: Angela – Absolutely. As Eric stated, our first game wasn’t pretty. It was a terrible loss. Yet, week 2 came around and nobody even mentioned that game. We were warming up for the first game and said we just want to score in the first game. And we did! We scored 5 runs! That boosted our confidence, regardless of the fact that we lost. We knew we had it in us to win a game. As stated by a few team members, “we are getting better each game!” And that’s what was important to us. So going from not scoring in game 1 to winning game 3 – I’d say our confidence has boosted!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a very impressive win over the Wells Royals last Thursday, the One Hit Wonders seem to be a great addition to the league. With their strong pitcher, Jordan Duvall, their amazing shortstop, Ismael “Ish” Amparo, Robert Zapata peppering singles all game, and great leaders like Angela and Eric at the helm; this team looks like they have what it takes to give even some of the best teams in the league a run for their money.

As the season unfolds, it will be exciting to see if their positive outlook and comradery will be the secret weapon this team needs to compete with some of the long standing talent in the league.