Battle of the Clubs

by The Cowl Editor on April 26, 2018


Friar Sports


BOP Takes This Year’s Annual Softball Game Against Friars Club

By Jessica Looney ’20

Sports Staff

bop friars club providence college softball game
Photo Courtesy of Corrie Traverse ’20

On Sunday, April 22, the Providence College Board of Programmers (BOP) went head to head with our favorite tour guides, also known as Friars Club, in the most obvious way to show who’s best: a game of softball. BOP ultimately pulled out the win, with a final score of 17 to 15.

The MVP of the game was BOP’s Kenji Fujita ’18, who took softball to a whole new level, dominating the field and at bat. With BOP’s Sean Sweeney ’18 pitching for his team, home runs were inevitable. A few anonymous Friars Club members were slightly skeptical of BOP’s batting tactics, but that is to be debated elsewhere. Chris Froio ’19 also contributed a great homerun for BOP.

BOP recently accepted several new members to their squad, Sydney MacKillop ’20 being one of them. MacKillop says the game “was a great experience as a new member,” and really got everyone together as a club.

Another one of BOP’s newest members, Corrie Traverse ’20, also killed the game, pulling her high school softball skills out of nowhere. Traverse said, “We worked super hard the week before so it payed off and Kenji really stepped up as a coach.” Olisa “Simba” Obioha ’20, said it was “a hard fought game, and Friars Club showed lots of effort, but BOP came out on top.” He boldly added, “the trophy’s back where it belongs.”

Despite the loss, Friars Club had a lot to say. The game was close, and there were some really great plays throughout the whole game. With a phenomenal pitcher, John Birle ’19, and a great catcher in Maggie Zied ’19, Ryan “Fridge” O’Malley ’19, Andrew Widmer ’18, Jake Bamford ’20, Yucca Reinecke ’18 and Geoff Hite II ’18 all pulled out home runs, sending the softballs over the fence. It was absolutely an “all around great game,” says Hite.

A Friars Club win looked promising for most of the game, until BOP pulled ahead in the top of the sixth inning. Friars Club member Jamie Rush ’20 walked away from the game admitting that the loss was not too upsetting. Rather, the softball game “was just an awesome way to get two groups on campus together.” Jack de Poortere ‘20, another Friars Club member, stated, “Regardless of the loss, our sideline definitely had more fun” and advised BOP to “make sure they clean the trophy before the give it back to us next year.”

“The Friars vs. BOP game has become a tradition” says Christian Maloney ’20. “I’m already counting down the days until the next one… 363 days to go,” he added eagerly. Stay tuned for next year, to see who will come out on top.