Published: April 2, 2009

Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) will be ram-vanning not one, but two softball teams to Rose Hill for the spring intramural schedule. The LC Widdlers, the new team on campus, will join Jean Claude Ram Van (JCRV) in Men’s A-League Softball this season.

There had been a demand for a new team at FCLC due to the growing number of athletes on campus looking to play the game they love. Ori Markowitz, FCLC ’11, wanted to join the existing JCRV but was turned away.

“I still had the desire to play the game as much as I did in high school,” Markowitz said. “I went to ask Mike Ferrer, a member of JCRV, if there were any extra people he needed for his team. Unfortunately, there were no open spots, so I decided to start my own team.”

Markowitz knew there were friends of his in McMahon Hall who wanted to play softball. He recruited nine friends, mostly from the 12th and 14th floors of McMahon Hall, to fill out the 10-man roster.

When it came time to choose a name for the new team, the group came to a consensus.

“We decided on the name LC Widdlers because we wanted a funny name that would make us seem like a team of idiots,” Markowitz said.

Markowitz registered his team on the Fordham Web site shortly thereafter. When the school confirmed the LC Widdlers’ eligibility last fall, the team was allowed to participate in the spring Intramural softball season.

Markowitz has made the effort to get the new team on the practice field for the upcoming season.

“I find a meeting time to practice when the players do not have class,” Markowitz said. “We take swings in a batting cage and perform some fielding drills. When the softball fields open in April in Central Park, we will practice there, too.”

While the majority of the LC Widdlers have played baseball sometime in their life, the rules of Intramural softball pose a challenge to the team because they differ from baseball.

“The batter starts with a 1-1 count,” Markowitz said. “That means as a batter you have to be aggressive at the plate because two more strikes and you are out.  Also, the time limit for games is only 50 minutes. The game action moves quickly so the players must be alert at all times.”

With the introduction of the LC Widdlers into Intramural softball, the potential for an unprecedented FCLC rivalry has been born.

“It is definitely a rivalry to look forward to,” said LC Widdlers team member Anthony McGowan, FCLC ’11. “We are friends, but I am going to be trash-talking JCRV for sure when we are on the softball field.”

The veteran JCRV softball team has expressed its own feelings about their new adversaries and the potential for bad blood.

“I think they will absolutely be a rival,” said Adam Dexter, FCLC ’10. “I will be excited to play them. There will be a lot of fun trash-talking going on.”

Joe Lynn, FCLC ’09, another member of JCRV, disagrees.

“I do not think so,” Lynn said about the possibility of a rivalry. “We only play them once.  But I like that we have another LC team on our side against those from Rose Hill.”

Justin Stark, FCLC ’10, said, “I do not see a potential rivalry right now,” he said.  “Once we play them, we have to see if they are on our level.  They have to earn our respect.”

While it remains to be seen if there is a rivalry in the making between both teams, Markowitz feels that the LC Widdlers are starting to bond together.

“We are already having a good time,” Markowitz said. “As we get used to the softball league, I hope we will continue to improve.”