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Deaf, sign-language clubs clash | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
"I don't know how to play," announced Ashley McCaffery, 19, of Brick, before approaching the diamond at Ocean County Park in Lakewood. "The closest I ever got to baseball was on Wii (video games)."
Still, Ashley was among a group of area men, women and teens — most were New York Yankees fans — who recently abandoned air-conditioned homes and live telecasts of a Bronx Bombers game to act out a sandlot-style version of America's favorite pastime in blistering 90-degree weather.
It was billed as the "first annual softball slugfest" pitting the South Jersey Deaf Club of Brick against Toms River's Ocean County College Sign Club, part of the college's Interpreter Training Program. But even before the contest ended — after five innings because of the heat — the group decided not to wait a year to play again. They're now planning a rematch for September, when temperatures should be cooler.
The spirited and somewhat unconventional game featured lots of good-natured teasing among people who already share friendships and an inter-dependence — those who use sign language to communicate and sometimes need interpreter services, and the interpreters-in-training eager to learn the language's nuances from expert signers.
And despite halfhearted attempts to adhere to official rules, the two teams demonstrated more cooperation than competition.
For example, when SJDC President Don Brennan of Toms River switched positions from pitcher to catcher, he was playing for the other side, because the sign club was short a few players.
Similar sharing of positions and teams occurred throughout the game.
"I had a team in May" when the event was originally scheduled and rained out, said Elizabeth Eddy of Shrewsbury, manager of the sign club's team and a third-year interpreter training student. Because some students have conflicting activities in June, she said, "the home team definitely has the advantage."
Larissa Capasso, Jackson, played for the college sign club and is a first-year interpreter student.
"I fell in love with the language and deaf culture after taking a basic signing course last summer," she said.
For some, the game also incorporated family. As a first-year student in the Interpreter Training Program at OCC, Ashley McCaffery represented the sign club but her opponents on the deaf club team included her brother, Eddie, 15; their dad, Ed, and mom, Diana, the SJDC secretary.
Diana McCaffery is deaf, consequently her husband and children are fluent signers. Ashley said the interpreter program helped improve her grammar skills in the language.
Family members didn't get a pass on the field, however. Siblings Ashley and Eddie wrestled on third base when he tried to hold her off until the ball arrived, and Dad later called her out at home plate, despite her pleas.
And at one point, Diana McCaffery signed to her daughter out on a base, asking her where she bought her shoes, until a teammate called out, interrupting the conversation with the admonition to pay attention to the game.
Also playing for the sign club, Matt Fraterman, 19, of Brick needled Eddie McCaffery at bat: "He's got (batting) gloves on, this isn't fair. He actually looks like he knows what he's doing."
Fraterman, neither an interpreter-trainee, deaf club member or baseball enthusiast, participated in the slugfest as a longtime friend of the McCaffery family. "He just likes the (sign club) shirt," Ashley McCaffery said.
The game was tied a few times, 1-1 after the first inning, 5-5 after the third. Hands, fingers and sand flew when disputes arose over a call. After one such confrontation with the umpire, Ed McCaffery explained to his wife that it was tradition and not impolite for a manager to kick sand at the umpire when they disagree.
Chief umpire Michael Sheehan of Brick left the game briefly without an umpire in the final inning while he escorted his 4-year-old daughter Hannah to the restroom.
Hannah served as water girl while her mom, Mary Beth Sheehan, took team photos. Mary Beth Sheehan is fluent in sign, but "I don't know baseball language," she said.
Both Sheehan parents are technically hard-of-hearing but consider themselves part of the deaf culture and participate in most SJDC activities, including the club's monthly "Jingo" games in Brick. Hannah is hearing.
"I didn't know girls could play baseball," Hannah said to her mother from her lawn-chair "bleacher" seat along the sidelines. "Sure," said Mary Beth Sheehan. "They can do anything boys can do."
SJDC won, 8-5 and the event concluded with a picnic under the trees. The rescheduled game also served as a last-minute fundraiser for a 4-year-old Brick girl with a rare form of brain cancer, Ed McCaffery said.
"We're just trying to help out. If people donate a dollar here or there maybe we can pick up an extra $50 for the family that they didn't have."
The child, Avery Lubrecht, is a neighbor; Ashley McCaffery baby-sat for her as an infant, he said.
"I don't know how to play," announced Ashley McCaffery, 19, of Brick, before approaching the diamond at Ocean County Park in Lakewood. "The closest I ever got to baseball was on Wii (video games)."
Still, Ashley was among a group of area men, women and teens — most were New York Yankees fans — who recently abandoned air-conditioned homes and live telecasts of a Bronx Bombers game to act out a sandlot-style version of America's favorite pastime in blistering 90-degree weather.
It was billed as the "first annual softball slugfest" pitting the South Jersey Deaf Club of Brick against Toms River's Ocean County College Sign Club, part of the college's Interpreter Training Program. But even before the contest ended — after five innings because of the heat — the group decided not to wait a year to play again. They're now planning a rematch for September, when temperatures should be cooler.
The spirited and somewhat unconventional game featured lots of good-natured teasing among people who already share friendships and an inter-dependence — those who use sign language to communicate and sometimes need interpreter services, and the interpreters-in-training eager to learn the language's nuances from expert signers.
And despite halfhearted attempts to adhere to official rules, the two teams demonstrated more cooperation than competition.
For example, when SJDC President Don Brennan of Toms River switched positions from pitcher to catcher, he was playing for the other side, because the sign club was short a few players.
Similar sharing of positions and teams occurred throughout the game.
"I had a team in May" when the event was originally scheduled and rained out, said Elizabeth Eddy of Shrewsbury, manager of the sign club's team and a third-year interpreter training student. Because some students have conflicting activities in June, she said, "the home team definitely has the advantage."
Larissa Capasso, Jackson, played for the college sign club and is a first-year interpreter student.
"I fell in love with the language and deaf culture after taking a basic signing course last summer," she said.
For some, the game also incorporated family. As a first-year student in the Interpreter Training Program at OCC, Ashley McCaffery represented the sign club but her opponents on the deaf club team included her brother, Eddie, 15; their dad, Ed, and mom, Diana, the SJDC secretary.
Diana McCaffery is deaf, consequently her husband and children are fluent signers. Ashley said the interpreter program helped improve her grammar skills in the language.
Family members didn't get a pass on the field, however. Siblings Ashley and Eddie wrestled on third base when he tried to hold her off until the ball arrived, and Dad later called her out at home plate, despite her pleas.
And at one point, Diana McCaffery signed to her daughter out on a base, asking her where she bought her shoes, until a teammate called out, interrupting the conversation with the admonition to pay attention to the game.
Also playing for the sign club, Matt Fraterman, 19, of Brick needled Eddie McCaffery at bat: "He's got (batting) gloves on, this isn't fair. He actually looks like he knows what he's doing."
Fraterman, neither an interpreter-trainee, deaf club member or baseball enthusiast, participated in the slugfest as a longtime friend of the McCaffery family. "He just likes the (sign club) shirt," Ashley McCaffery said.
The game was tied a few times, 1-1 after the first inning, 5-5 after the third. Hands, fingers and sand flew when disputes arose over a call. After one such confrontation with the umpire, Ed McCaffery explained to his wife that it was tradition and not impolite for a manager to kick sand at the umpire when they disagree.
Chief umpire Michael Sheehan of Brick left the game briefly without an umpire in the final inning while he escorted his 4-year-old daughter Hannah to the restroom.
Hannah served as water girl while her mom, Mary Beth Sheehan, took team photos. Mary Beth Sheehan is fluent in sign, but "I don't know baseball language," she said.
Both Sheehan parents are technically hard-of-hearing but consider themselves part of the deaf culture and participate in most SJDC activities, including the club's monthly "Jingo" games in Brick. Hannah is hearing.
"I didn't know girls could play baseball," Hannah said to her mother from her lawn-chair "bleacher" seat along the sidelines. "Sure," said Mary Beth Sheehan. "They can do anything boys can do."
SJDC won, 8-5 and the event concluded with a picnic under the trees. The rescheduled game also served as a last-minute fundraiser for a 4-year-old Brick girl with a rare form of brain cancer, Ed McCaffery said.
"We're just trying to help out. If people donate a dollar here or there maybe we can pick up an extra $50 for the family that they didn't have."
The child, Avery Lubrecht, is a neighbor; Ashley McCaffery baby-sat for her as an infant, he said.