AYF Softball: A "Varantian" Three-Peat

Softball stands full of fans (Photo: Alexandrea Bedirian)

The only true team sport at the AYF Olympics is softball, which is co-ed by design and involves no points. Softball does not contribute to the chapter totals for Olympics. Yet, it is one of the most competitive events at the Olympics. Chapters play for fun, fraternity and pride, and it’s a popular part of the weekend for both players and fans.

This year, softball was the sport of the day, since there was no basketball on Saturday, and it was the best weather of the weekend. Bicentennial Park was the perfect location with a great day for the picnic and for the kids to run around and play.  

With four softball fields, the venue was ideal. The close proximity of the fields led to a quick and smooth tournament. There were 12 teams participating, and Detroit and Chicago both had A and B teams.  

In the first round, Providence, Detroit A, Greater Boston and New Jersey had byes. All the scores in that first round were routs. Chicago A beat Manhattan 22-7. Philadelphia bested Detroit B 22-8. North Andover defeated Chicago B 32-2. The West Coast team shut out the mixed team 26-0.  

In the second round, Providence made quick work of Chicago A 15-5, and Detroit A took care of the West Coast 24-2. There were two upsets as the other two seeded teams were eliminated.  North Andover tagged Greater Boston 21-4, and Philadelphia surprised New Jersey 19-12.  

“Overall, I think the tournament was a major success again. Providence and Detroit both played at such a high level, and behind them there were a bunch of competitive teams. We played decently, but Philly hit consistently and took advantage of our mistakes. We have a young team, and experience is crucial in the tournament, as Philly, Detroit and Providence showed. I think a highlight was the spirit and fight our team showed when Philly would pull ahead and we’d claw back into it,” said New Jersey coach Garo Sarajian. “Another highlight was that our players wanted to continue playing after the loss, so we played a friendly match against Greater Boston who had also been eliminated. I think with a little more experience and maybe some more practices over the summer and some tips from alumni, we can be competitive again.” 

The semi-finals were set: Providence versus Philadelphia and Detroit A versus North Andover.  Detroit ended North Andover’s Cinderella run 24-2. Philadelphia held the powerhouse Providence to only 10 runs, but Providence’s stingy defense held them to three. 

The winning Providence softball team (Photo: Mark Gavoor)

We were all set for a repeat of last year’s championship game: Providence versus Detroit A. Providence jumped out to a five run lead in the first, and Detroit tied it in the second, but Providence seemed to have the edge in a few areas that made a difference. Their outfield played back and kept the ball in front of them, so the Detroit hits were singles and doubles rather than triples and home runs. Both teams ran the bases aggressively, Providence a little more so. Since you pitch to your own team in this format of softball, Providence put the ball in the players’ sweet spots more than Detroit did. In the end, Providence prevailed over Detroit A with a final score of 18-8.

The Detroit softball team (Photo: Mark Gavoor)

Detroit coach Alec Kourtjian commented on his team and the Providence game: “The team was led by captain Michael ‘FB’ Nercesian, who was participating in his final Olympics. He was stellar at the plate and in the outfield throughout the entire tournament. He was accompanied by the sure-handed twins of Mher and Sasoun Tcholakian, who dominated against North Andover with multiple home runs. The energy started with lead off hitter David Coburn, followed by shortstop Aram Sharigian who has an absolute cannon of an arm, gunning down the quickest runners. Not to mention Mourad ‘Moose’ Tossounian, who maybe should be nicknamed ‘Hawk’ now, because he was tracking and hawking every ball hit towards him which saved multiple runs. 

We had a lot of contributions from the whole team, including Mr. Consistency Armen ‘Oaker’ Oknayan, Taline Boman and Melanie ‘The Rocket’ Sarafian, whose speed and hitting really made a difference, especially in the final to keep our rallies alive. Also, the camaraderie and energy was great to see when our reserves got into the games against LA and North Andover. They all made plays and showed the depth of our team. 

We were very confident going into the championship against Providence but knew it would be a tough battle. It was a rough start and we battled back to tie the game, but ultimately Providence played better and pulled away with the win. Providence has a great group of talented players, and they will for sure be the team to beat for years to come. And I always enjoy the smack talk from Providence’s Kenny and Shahan Topalian, who are diehard Detroit sports fans, deep down. I’m really proud of our team and how they competed. I know they’re disappointed, but we’ll be back next year for another run at the championship.”

I love the nicknames of these Detroit players.  

Coach Steve Elmasian had this to say about his Providence team:

“We let the outfield do what they want. We don’t want to overcoach. Against Detroit, they decided to play deep and keep the balls in front of them. As a result, what might have been triples and home runs were singles and doubles.  

We scored five runs in the first inning and put them back on their heels. Detroit came back and tied it in the second. I thought it was a flip of the coin at that point. Honestly, we had to work out a few things in our first two games. We were hitting a lot of fly balls and not hustling on the bases. We fixed that against Detroit and were more aggressive on the bases, and I believe that made a difference. We had something like nine runs in a later inning, and that seemed to take the steam out of them.

We are looking forward to the future. The only player we are losing is Nareg Mkrtschjan aging out. We should have a pretty solid team for the next few years.

Teams congratulating each other (Photo: Mark Gavoor)

In closing, I have to say that AYF softball and moving the picnic to Saturday was one of the best decisions for the Olympics weekend. It has taken on a life of its own. The crowds, the lines at the concessions and the way everyone cheers for their own team shows just how popular Saturday has become.  

Kudos to Detroit, a wonderful community that can host such a great Olympics and field such competitive teams. We look forward to seeing them in Boston for the 91st and keeping it going.”