The 27th Annual NAGAAA Gay Softball World Series came to a close this weekend in Washington, D.C. It was a record-setting year for the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance’s annual tournament and organizers are proudly talking about the success, which drew an estimated 5,000 people to the nation’s capital to see the series.

“This was the largest of all of the gay softball world series’ ever,” said Rebecca Hamel, the series publicity chair. “We had 164 teams registered and 164 showed up, so that was very exciting.”

This year San Diego struggled at the series, with none of the six teams representing the America’s Finest City Softball League making it into the top four in the six divisions of play at the tournament. Representing Southern California for the 10th year in a row, the Los Angeles Stray Cats the was the team on top of the Open Division.

The Moby Dick’s/Agouron Hitmen represented San Diego in the Open A Division, the highest level of play at the 2003 series, going 1-2 in pool play. On the opening day of the tournament the Hitmen stumbled against the Dallas Fuel. After being held scoreless for four innings, the Fuel was able to post 10 runs and the Hitmen never recovered, losing the game 15-3. On day two of the tournament the Hitmen battled back and forth with Philadelphia Woody’s and held a one-run lead going into the last inning of the game, when Woody’s scored two to win the game 11-10.

The Hitmen’s lone pool play win was against the DC Metz, who went on to take second place in the tournament. The Hitmen were the visiting team in the match up with the Metz and trailed by one run going into the seventh inning, but managed to rally and score four runs and take a three-run lead into the bottom of the inning. The Metz were unable to answer the Hitmen and lost the game, 13-10.

Double elimination games got started on Thursday, Aug. 21 with the Hitmen seeded number nine out of 16 teams in the A Division. They faced the number eight seeded San Francisco Seals. Once again it was a back and forth game for the Hitmen until they lost control in the fifth inning and the Seals scored 10 runs to go on and win the game, 13-4.

The loss sent the Hitmen to the loser’s bracket early in the tournament, where they faced the Atlanta Venom on Friday afternoon. At game time the Hitmen were forced to begin play with only nine players and a mandated automatic out in the 10th batter’s place because two players were stuck in traffic trying to make it to the fields. However, the Hitmen showed true grit behind the effective pitching of Andre Lalias, who held the Venom hitless through the first three innings until the late players arrived. By the time the other two players arrived in the top of the fourth, the Hitmen were riding a 5-0 lead over the Venom.

The Venom found their bats in the bottom of the fourth and rallied to tie the game at 5-5, then they took the lead in the fifth inning by scoring one run. The Hitmen answered with a run in the sixth, tying the game 6-6 going into the seventh and final inning. In the top of the seventh the Hitmen scored two to make it an 8-6 ballgame, then held the Venom scoreless in the bottom of the seventh to win the game and advance.

In the losers bracket the Hitmen were forced to play their next game immediately following the their victory, and they found themselves facing the Dallas Fuel, who had defeated them in round robin play. The Hitmen took a 5-0 lead early on, but the Fuel kept chipping away at the lead to come from behind and defeat the Hitmen, 6-5, and eliminate them from the tournament.

“We had a good tournament and remained competitive in every game, despite the scores,” John Gore of the Moby Dick’s/Agouron Hitmen told the Gay and Lesbian Times. “Each loss came down to one inning and could have very easily been the other way around. We were all very proud of our performance and were able to show the country that we are still a competitive team and not to be taken lightly.”

In the A Division championship the LA Stray Cats prevailed for the 10th year in a row, winning the Championship game, 6-5, after the Metz beat them, 6-5, to force a second game. The Houston Force took third and Dallas Fuel, who eliminated the Hitmen, took fourth.

“The A Division was really exciting and, of course, the Stray Cats were going for 10 in a row,” said Chip Burns, the Washington D.C. representative to NAGAAA, about the championship game. “The D.C. Metz actually beat them in the first final game and it forced an if game to decide who would win. The Stray Cats did it again.”

In the Open B Division the Seattle Monarchs took first by defeating the Chicago Spin Devils. In third place was the Fort Lauderdale Mystery and the Seattle Rain Fire took fourth. San Diego’s B Division representative, Club Extasis, went 2-4 to take 17th place in the division out of 31 teams.

“The best thing about the B Division, and probably all of the divisions, [was] it seemed like the teams were all very well balanced and the games were all competitive.” said Extasis’s George Biagi about his team’s performance. “Our two victories were over the Virginia Cavaliers were both exciting games that came right down to the wire. Our last loss was a disappointing loss because we were leading for most of the game and then Rolo from San Francisco had a big rally and beat us by a run.”

The Chicago Cougars took first place in the C Division, beating out the Los Angeles Bandits, and it was an all Atlanta semi-final with the Packers and Comets finishing in third and fourth place.

Last but not least, in the D Division the Los Angeles El Dorado Knights took first and the Washington DC Rams were the runners up. Third place went to Atlanta’s Woof Wackers and Dallas’s Angel Boys finished in fourth.

At press time, no representatives of San Diego’s women’s teams were available for comment. Check back next week for a complete wrap up of the Women’s Division championship at the 27th Annual NAGAAA Gay Softball World Series.