HISTORY
	The Viper's softball club began in the Fall of 1997.  However, the original team had a much less appealing name, the Woodchucks.  Yes, I said the Woodchucks.  I moved to the Northern Virgina area from Tennessee in October 1996 and my first apartment was in Centreville, VA.  The apartment complex was named Woodway.  The apartment complex started a coed softball team in the Spring of 1997.  I was itching to get back to playing softball.  I decided this would be the place to start so I signed up.  It was here that I met Matt Bradley.  After a disastrous coed season we decided to form a men's team to begin play in the Fall of 1997.  The following is a season by season report as I remember. Fall 1997 Our first season was a success as we finished 8-6 - third place in our division.  We actually were in position to win the division all the way up to the last double header.  I was lucky enough to end up as our batting champion for the season and Keith Warren was our MVP.  We thought we would only get better, but little did we know that we would take a few steps back before we would move forward. Spring 1998 During this season we added more players to the core of our team that would be huge contributors in the seasons to come.  Steve Valavanis joined us as our new third baseman, Bill May joined us as our left fielder (yes, the man who today is nicknamed Jabba the Gut) and Shey Edwards joined us as a utility player.  Overall this season ended up a negative one as we finished 7-12 - sixth place.  Keith Warren won the batting title with Steve Valvanis pushing him the whole way.  The final margin was a mere eight points.  Keith also became our two time MVP. Fall 1998 The first season, officially, as the Vipers.  This turned out to be another season under .500 as we finished 6-8.  That record was only good enough for fourth place.  The batting title race turned out to be a great one with a three way battle going down to the last few games.  Steve Valavanis, Jay Oflahaven and Kevin Wilkerson battled to the end.  This time Steve was able to win his first batting title by finishing with a .725 average, good enough to win the title by six points.  Steve also captured his first team MVP award. Spring 1999 This season turned out to be by far the worst in the history of the Vipers.  We finished 3-17 in eighth place.  We virtually had no offense and never really threated in many games.  The worst was a double header; which we lost both games; 22-3 and 20-0.  In the last game we only managed 2 hits, both by Kevin Wilkerson.  Luckily, we have never seen anything even close to that bad since.  I managed to win my second batting title in what would be the worst average ever to win a batting title for us.  I finished at an even .600.  Bill May won his first MVP award. Fall 1999 This season saw the addition of new players that, again, have become integral members of the Vipers.  The new players were:  Dave Keitel (the best pure hitter I have ever played with), John "The Menace" Wilhelm, Paul Nagel (one of the best pitchers I have ever played with) and Ben Bennett (the best person I have ever played with).  With these additions we managed to have a very good season despite the fact we had to play the final six games of the season with eight players.  We actually won five of those six games and finished 9-5 in second place.  Dave Keitel won his first batting title by hitting .692.  I had the honor of being voted my first team MVP award. Spring 2000 This was a break even season as we finished in third place with a 10-10 record.  We had another key addition during this season as Todd Musa joined our team.  Todd was not the greatest softball player in the world, but he was the strongest person I have ever met.  As for the softball John Wilhelm won his first batting title by hitting .718.  Dave Keitel and I shared the MVP award.   Fall 2000 Another losing season as we finished a disappointing 5-8-1 in fifth place.  We had trouble just getting players to show up and it really hurt us.  We were very inconsistent winning big games when everyone showed up, but losing games we should not because of lack of players.  Matt Bradley won his first batting title with a .735 average.  Matt won the title by eight points over Dave Keitel.  I managed to win my third MVP award. Spring 2001 This season brought in two player that would forever change the Vipers, Eric Wooten and Carl Ey.  Eric gives more effort every game than anyone I have ever played with or against.  Carl is the only person I have ever played with that wants to play and win as badly as I do.  With these key guys we had our most successful season to date.  We finished in second place with a 13-7 record.  With this duo we added a new weapon to our team,  which was the home run.  We had never hit many home runs, but with the addition of these two guys we had a constant home run threat.  Dave Keitel would win the batting title with an incredible .780 average.  This is still a Viper record.  Eric Wooten won his first MVP award. Fall 2001 The season began in August and we started off slowly, but the worst came on September 11.   Our country was attacked ruthlessly by terrorists in New York and right here in Washington DC.  Many of the people we play with are military and contractors that worked at the Pentagon.  By the mercy of God none of our teammates were hurt in the attacks.  However, our hearts go out to the ones who were not so lucky.  We will never forget this day!  As for softball we had another sub par season saw us finish 6-8 in fourth place.  We lost Dave Keitel and Eric was unable to play this season.  Combined with missed games by Carl, we were unable to establish any consistency and were never really in the division race.  I managed to win the batting title with a .689 average and was lucky enough to win another MVP award.  Just after the season ended Todd Musa was diagnosed with Leukemia.  Despite the odds Todd managed to fight over the next six months and his illness actually went into remission.   Spring 2002 Todd managed to fight off his illness and he rejoined us for the spring season.  I have never met anyone who was as strong as Todd was over this six months.  As for the season we had another good season and we finished in third place with a 12-9 record.  The season was disappointing in the way it ended.  We last a playoff game with the team we were tied for second place with.   Trailing by seven runs entering the bottom of the seventh inning we rallied for seven runs to tie the game and had the bases loaded with only one out.  Unfortunately one of our best hitters hit into a questionable double play were the first basemen clearly dropped the ball, but the umpire called the double play.  We would lose by two runs in extra innings.  What made the loss even worse was the team we lost to played in the playoff tournament with eight players and were swept in two games.  Carl won the batting title with a .717 average and Eric Wooten won his second MVP.  Despite the good season we were once again shocked when Todd's illness returned in full force. Fall 2002 We did not field a Viper team in the Fall of 2002.  Myself and many of the key players played on Carl's team in the fall. Spring 2003 Another good season saw us finish 13-7 and in 2nd place.  We competed for the division title and should have won it.  However, a few bad breaks cost us the title as we fell only one game short.   This was the first season of the Miken Ultra II and we saw an increase in the power numbers.   We also added another huge member to our team.  Dave Marsh stepped into our leadoff role and immediately sparked the team.  He even lead the team with five homers.  Eric won his first batting title and his third MVP award.  As our season ended we received the horrible news that Todd had lost his battle with his illness and passed away.  Todd will always be remebered as a great friend.  We will always remember Todd and his wife Erika in our prayers. Fall 2003 The fall was another disappointing season as we finished 8-6.  We dropped several games that we should have won and finished in third place.  However, with the Miken Ultra II we set several team records.  We added Ron Pack to the team.  Ron is quite possibly the best  power hitter we have ever had on our team.  Ron managed to connect for 12 homers.  Ron also captured his first batting title and first MVP award.  With the Ultra II being banned we will be hard pressed to match the offensive numbers from this season; especially the thirteen homers in one game.