1st Annual Blue and White-WKCR Kickball Game

How a scrappy underdog won a unanimous moral victory

By Chris Brown

Illustration by Ines Alto

Sparks were flying on a beautiful day in Morningside Park as The Blue and White lined up against WKCR in their first meeting on the kickball diamond. The long-awaited match between Columbia’s two favorite student journalism organizations arrived on a crisp late April morning. Hard rain the day before did nothing to dampen either team’s spirits, and the game kicked off at 12:30 p.m. The Blue and White came in as underdogs to the favored KCR and fought hard. KCR still won the day, however, with a final score of 6-1. 

KCR came out swinging and put up a quick three runs in the bottom half of the first, then went quiet for the rest of the game. A standout performer for KCR was shortstop Mason Lau, CC ’27, who caught every single ball kicked his way. Maxim Koretsky, CC ’26, the KCR first baseman, also had a great day at the plate. KCR’s player-coach and event organizer, CJ Gamble, CC ’27, was legendary in her knowledge of the intricacies of kickball and ability to organize her side. 

On the Blue and White side, pitcher Chris Brown, CC ’26, pitched to a final line of 7 innings pitched, giving up only 2 runs. Brown struggled at the plate, however, going just 1 for 5 with three flyouts. Staff writers Sepp Zammuto, CC ’29, and Evan Rossi, CC ’26, gave great performances at the plate, but the Blue and White struggled to string hits together during the middle innings. One of the great defensive plays of the day came when first baseman and Illustrations Editor Iris Pope, CC ’28, combined with Zammuto to catch a difficult fly ball. The difficulty of the catch caught the KCR baserunners off guard and some quick defensive thinking by the magazine created a triple play to end the 5th inning. 

Drama was abound in the bottom of the 7th inning as former KCR station manager Ted Schmiedeler, CC ’26, of Oak Park, Illinois, blasted a ball deep into centerfield. The ball was cut off and dropped, leaving Schmiedeler to continue running the bases. As he rounded home, the ball was tossed to Brown, who turned and relayed it hard to catcher Rossi. Schmiedeler slid into the plate right as the ball arrived, and both sides were in uproar. The Blue & Whiters all said ‘out’ while KCR celebrated the home run. The only way to solve the issue was a game of rock-paper-scissors between Schmiedeler and Brown, which Schmiedeler won with an underhanded use of scissors.

The most important run of the game came in the top of the 9th as Rossi got on base with a leadoff single. He then stole second base and advanced to third on a groundout. Executive Assistant to the Managing Editor Lilah P. Robert, CC ’28, came up to bat and, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, drove in the Blue and White’s first run of the game. According to reputable sources, breaking a shutout is comparable (or better) to winning the game, and so the Blue and White have declared themselves to have left the diamond with a moral victory. 

Both sides shook hands and extolled the virtues of semi-independent student journalism after the game. The Blue and White, though defeated today, left with valuable lessons to bring the next time around. We leave the invite open to the people at WKCR to come back and challenge us again next Spring.