Friday, July 23, 1999
Nerves highlight 1st day of Metro
Experience helpful for Apt
BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer
This is no ho-hum week of softball in the local league. This is big-time.
For evidence, look no further than the B&V Beverage Braves, playing in their first Bud Light/Metropolitan Cincinnati softball tournament.
It shouldn't have felt that different. B&V, a Class B squad formed this season, was playing at its home complex, Rumpke Field in Colerain Township. But for most of Thursday's tournament opener, it felt like a whole new ballgame. A jittery B&V fell into a 10-3 hole before rallying in the seventh to win 14-12 over The Brick Yard.
When you're opening one of the nation's premier softball tournaments, it should feel different.
“There was about five of them playing their first year, and I think they just had the heebie-jeebies,” said Metro veteran Brian Apt, who slugged two B&V homers, including the game-deciding two-run blast in the seventh. “We just talked to them and said, "Relax a little bit. Hit the ball like it's a league night game and have fun.' I guess it worked. We're going to have to give them that speech every game.”
B&V advanced to a 7:30p.m. game with Ross Electric/Rick's Tavern tonight at Rumpke.
Apt, 35 and playing in the Metro for the seventh year, was the spark. His second-inning two-run homer breathed life into B&V, and he put the game away in the seventh — all despite a back injury that keeps him off the field and in the designated hitter slot.
“He pumped us up,” said Ron Mahlerwein, a 21-year-old playing in his first Metro. A one-time sub who became a regular, Mahlerwein's grand slam in the sixth drew B&V within two. But he said Apt was the biggest reason B&V responded after a gut check.
“We definitely need someone like him on our team,” Mahlerwein said. “Experience is big. I know I needed help, anyway.”
Apt just hates to lose — especially on a stage this big — though it doesn't matter if it's B&V's regular Wednesday night league or either of the other two leagues he plays in.
That competitive nature was on display even after Thursday's win, when he and an old opponent engaged in an increasingly heated argument before walking away.
“The main objective is to win. When you win, it's fun,” Apt said. “There's no losing. Unfortunately, somebody's got to. That's what I keep telling them. Someone's got to walk off the field the winner.”
A College Hill resident, Apt played baseball at Aiken High School and got into softball a few years ago.
“Oh, yeah, it's fun. I'm addicted to it,” Apt said with a laugh. “My wife don't like it too much.”
A truck driver for a food service by trade, he even sometimes stops on the road at batting cages.
“I've got to deliver to some of the ballparks, and thank God they're not playing when I get there, because I'd probably stay and play,” he said. “Sometimes I'll hit a few rounds, then hop back in the truck. It kind of breaks up the day.”
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