Jay Braun 2nd Tool With 1,000 Hits

Reaches 2,000 Total Bases, Too

Jay Braun, center, lined a single to right center field at Barcroft 4 on September 6, 2023 to become the second Tool to reach 1,000 hits.  He ended the season with 1,010, only four short of Doug Walker's team record.  He holds the ball that was signed by his teammates.  On October 25, 2023 Jay blasted a two run homer at Gunston Park to become the first Tool to achieve 2,000 total bases.

Jeff Hart's 100 Game Hitting Streak

                    Jeff Hart singled to left center in his second at bat against Badabing to achieve the seemingly impossible, a 100 game regular season hitting streak [Virginia Highlands 4, September 24, 2021].

Jeff already had eclipsed the previous record of 75 set by Sam Wallach in 2019.  The streak ended that same night in the second game of the doubleheader.  Also ending was a 72 game overall hitting streak that included playoffs and tournaments.  That streak was second best to Matt O'Connell's record of 84 games.

The 100 game streak began on April 5, 2017 in a spring game against Brookland Beefcakes at Jennie Dean Field.    

Doug Walker's Gets 1,000th Hit

Reaches Unreachable Milestone

Doug Walker holds the 1,000th hit ball surrounded by his happy Tools teammates who celebrated the first Tool to achieve the lofty milestone.

Doug Walker successfully fulfilled a 30 year journey that once seemed improbable, becoming the first player in the history of Beecher Tool and Die Softball to get 1,000 regular season career hits.

On April 11, 2018, Doug knocked a line drive up the middle and over the head of a Jay's Saloon second baseman that fell safely in the sixth inning of game one of a twin bill.

Umpire Hank Kopcial stopped the game, walked to the pitching rubber and called Doug over to present the ball that did the honor of being batted into history, the Tools applauding the incredible feat.

The countdown to 1,000 hits, the Walker Watch, began late in 2017 as Doug neared the milestone.  The excitement built but time ran out and he finished that year with 995, five shy.  There was no stopping him in 2018.  Congratulations, Doug.

After winning the 2023 spring playoffs, the Tools hang out at our sponsor, Crystal City Sports Pub.  From left, Terrence Dolan, Chris MacDonald, Andy Zimmerman, John Frauenheim, coach Mark Sarver, Ben Peden and Andrew Klang.

The 2023 Tools rally around pitcher Chris MacDonald (left) after another big win, teammates are Andy Zimmerman, Ben Simon, John Frauenheim, Terrence Dolan, Sam Wallach and Jay Braun.

The Tools Bowl was an alternative activity on a night when the Tools had a softball bye.  We closed the place.  From left, Jeff Hart, John Frauenheim, Ben Simon, Mark Sarver, Chris MacDonald, Andrew Klang, Chris Hamm and Ben Peden.

Twinbill Sweep August 24, 2011
Marked Tools 30th Anniversary Playing in Arlington League 

On August 24, 1981, a new entry in the Arlington softball league took the field wearing green and white jerseys, white pants with green stripes and green stirrups. Beecher Tool and Die triumphed in that first game 2-1 over eventual league champion Mable's Pizza. It was the first career win for pitcher Bill Kreykenbohm. We lost the nightcap 17-10 and with a 13-4-1 record, lost that first pennant by just 1/2 game.

On August 24, 2011, just one day after the city was shaken by a 5.8 earthquake, the Tools were rocking as we celebrated the anniversary with a 13-10, 13-3 sweep of Jay's Saloon. The last of the 1981 Tools, coach Mark Sarver, played in his old uniform. Someone remarked that Sarv's pants were older than several current Tools. Sarv pointed out that his pants still fit. [See photo.]

Tools founders Bruce Urban, Bill Anhut and Chris Girolamo could not possibly have imagined that the team they created would still be playing softball 30 years later. The green and white uniforms disappeared long ago and we've worn red jerseys since 1988. An amazing number of players stayed 10 years or more and four played more than two decades.

Sarv missed that first doubleheader in 1981 while on a family vacation. He played his first game on September 4, 1981, getting his first career RBI to put the Tools into the lead of what became an 11-2 win.

To the best of our memory, here are the original Arlington Tools of Fall 1981: Bruce Urban (coach), Bill Anhut, Chic Baboyian (who never appeared), Bill Brown, Craig Crenshaw, Les Davison, Bob Emeritz, Rick Fisher, Chris Girolamo, Bill Kreykenbohm, Mark Sarver, the late great Rocco Saracina, Ken Surprenant, Allen Urban, Billy Walters.

Mark Sarver celebrated his 30th anniversary as Tools coach in
September 2015 with a big night.  The Tools overcame a 13-3 
deficit to win, Sarv had three hits, a pair of RBI, scored all the way
from first base on a double and his last inning base hit started
the winning rally .  Not bad for the league's oldest player.  A 
few weeks later, the team gave him his 700th win.  Through 2024
Sarv had 882 coaching wins.