More sports

Dockside milestone win is right around corner

The team has 48 straight wins, believed to the longest ASA streak; the 50th is not far away.

By DOUG KATES
Published July 4, 2006

LARGO - A Dockside softball player was approached by a competitor from another team and was about to be asked, "How did you guys do tonight?"

But midway through the question, the opponent stopped speaking, smiled and simply shrugged his shoulders.

By now, everyone knows what the Dockside team does every time it takes the field. The ASA co-ed softball team has won 48 games in a row since February 2005.

The 48th win was a 10-3 decision over Doc's on Wednesday and is believed to be the longest ASA co-ed winning streak in the nation. Dockside has already earned local TV attention. Soon, the team will be the center of a story to be published in a national softball magazine.

Dockside coach Jeff Peterson is pretty confident his team will keep the streak alive until the magazine story is published. He said his team has been playing together since forming in 1998 and has developed a bond among all team members. Players show up only minutes before gametime, and besides a few throws and pregame exercises, there are few preparations.

They just take the field, have fun and add another win to the record.

But it wasn't always like that.

Assistant coach Dana McCutchan said the group lost every game when the team started. They began practicing every week, even on Sundays, and soon began to work together.

"We know each other pretty well," McCutchan said. "All of us used to be neighbors. Being good friends has helped everyone out."

His wife, Tammy, said Dockside would be the only team practicing on Sundays. The only time they skipped a Sunday practice was when the Bucs were on TV.

First baseman Steve Peterson said the friendship commitment is the reason for the team's success. He said there are stories about how the team has brought in ringers, cheats and bribes umpires, but he laughs at all the accusations.

"We don't quit," Peterson said. "We've come from behind in a lot of these games. We don't give up, and that makes it sweeter."

In the recent victory over Doc's, there was no score after 2¹/₂ innings. When Doc's took the field in the bottom of the third, at least one player was celebrating the tie.

It didn't last, however.

Dockside rallied for six runs in the bottom of the third inning, and one frame later held an 8-1 lead.

In the sixth, Doc's began to put together a rally of its own. With two runs in, no outs and the bases loaded, there was a glimmer of hope the underdog could close in and pull of an upset. But in a couple of seconds, the hope disappeared. Shortstop Jeff Peterson, second baseman Carolynn Chin and first baseman Steve Peterson combined efforts on a 6-4-3 triple play.

There was no challenge for the lead in the seventh inning.

Doc's was the last team to defeat Dockside, but since that day the Largo team has earned 20 trophies over five seasons and has won several tournaments.

Other ASA teams from across the region have learned about the winning streak and have issued challenges to Dockside. To date, the team has not decided which challenges to face and which tournaments to attend. One such event is a national tournament in St. Augustine. The Largo group has already received an invitation to compete but has not decided whether to go.

The season is half over, and for now, the friends and neighbors are concentrating on another league title. Fifty wins would be the next milestone. That game would take place July 12 if win No. 49 is achieved.

"Everybody guns for us," Jeff Peterson said. "But they haven't gotten us yet."

[Last modified July 4, 2006, 06:17:46]