Detailed Viper History
The Virginia Vipers Softball Club (VVSC) for Veterans has its
genesis in the Fairfax Adult Softball league during the fall 1997
season. Yet the mighty
Vipers moniker was much less appealing in the flagship season:
the Woodchucks. The founder of the fighting Woodchucks was a
Tennessean, Jimmy Sneed, who had moved to Northern Virginia to
pursue his dream of running the most successful softball
organization on the planet and to pursue a career as an electrical
engineer.
Jimmy found himself in the metropolis of Centreville, Virginia at an
apartment complex known as the Woodway at Trinity Center, which
resembles the set of Melrose Place (for you 90’s T.V. buffs).
Sneed joined the complex’s coed softball team to play in the
spring 1997 season.
Jimmy’s hard-core desire to play softball again compelled him to
compete with this disastrous COED team.
On this squad, Jimmy met another die-hard softball player –
Matt Bradley – who would become another piece of the foundation for
the VVSC for Veterans.
After the COED team’s season of futility, Jimmy and Matt formed a
men’s team to compete in the Fall of 1997 and the Woodway Woodchucks
were launched; over the next few years, this group would morph
itself into the Virginia Vipers Softball Club for Veterans.
Jimmy’s inaugural season of piloting the Woodchucks ended with a
respectable eight- win-against-six-loss season.
The Woodchucks were in a position to win their division until
the last night of the season.
Not only did Sneed lead the team as its manager, he managed
to outhit his team mates to win the Woodchuck’s first batting title
and Keith Warren was the first Most-Valuable-Player in the VVSC for
Veteran’s history. Good
things promised to come but the Spring 1998 season proved to be a
less-than .500 effort with Keith Warren winning the battle title and
MVP. The positives in
the spring season were that Sneed continued to add building blocks
to the team’s foundation by adding Steve Valvanis, Bill May and Shey
Edwards. The three
would eventually became staples for the VVSC for Veterans.
Sneed made his move in the fall and changed the team’s image,
entering the “fallball” under the Vipers moniker.
Unfortunately, turnaround in terms of record would not happen
yet and the Vipers finished with six wins and eight losses.
Success would continue to elude Sneed and the Vipers in early
1999. Finishing with
only three wins against seventeen losses, the Vipers actually lost
both ends of the double header by a combined score of 42 to 3
managing only two hits in the second game of slow-pitch softball
doubleheader.
The fall of 1999 would find Sneed toiling away at adding players and
improving the Vipers.
Finally, his diligence paid off two-fold.
The Vipers had a winning season with nine wins and five
losses and Jimmy Sneed took his first Most-Valuable-Player award as
a Viper. Yet, 2000
would be a year that showed more retraction than improvement as the
Vipers managed a ten and ten record in the spring and a losing
record in the fall.
The Vipers finally turned a page in the spring of 2001 and began
their slow rise to becoming an elite team in Fairfax County.
Carl S. Ey had run a few military-centric teams.
He combined with Jimmy Sneed to help run the organization.
The Vipers introduced Eric Wooten – pure hustle – to the team.
Second place was the finish and our batting champion, Dave
Keitel set a Viper record with a .780 average over a 20-game season.
It remains the Viper record to this day.
Yet, 2001 would be a critical year in the Viper’s history.
Needless to say all softball was interrupted on the fateful
day of 11 September 2001.
Many of the Vipers would not return to the field as the
service members and government service members who enjoyed playing
with the Vipers were called away to support our country.
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 9-11 and to
this day our website continues to pay tribute with a 9-11 logo.
We finished with a sub-.500 season and more bad news followed
as long-time Viper, Todd Musa was diagnosed with leukemia.
Musa fought hard and put his cancer into remission as he joined the
Vipers on the field again in the Spring of 2002.
Todd’s strength was an example to all of the Vipers as the
team finished with a winning record but the team could not break the
glass ceiling and didn’t finish in the top two.
The fall of 2002 saw the transfer of leadership from a
Sneed-solely run team to a combined leadership team of Carl S. Ey
and Jimmy Sneed. After
the two combined, Carl S. Ey was called away to Operation Iraqi
Freedom for a year.
Combined leadership was a great move but Jimmy continued to run the
show in Carl’s absence.
As 2003 began, the momentum was beginning to race as the Vipers were
competing in many leagues.
The Vipers finished with thirteen victories in the spring
good enough for second place.
New technology was impacting the game as the Miken Ultra II
bat was on the field and the Viper power numbers increased
significantly. The
Vipers added a quick leadoff hitter in Dave Marsh who provided
plenty of long-ball punch and the organization’s collective spirits
began to soar.
Shortly after the successful spring 2003 campaign, we lost our team
mate and friend, Todd Musa.
He and his wife Erika will be in our prayers eternally.
The fall of 2003 was a winning campaign but the Vipers were
beginning to measure success with trophies yet the Vipers didn’t
finish on the leader board.
The bright spot in the fall 2003 season was the addition of a
pure power hitter in Ron Pack.
Carl S. Ey returned in November of 2003 and began to ardently
work on sponsorship.
The Vipers softball club took off in 2004 competing in six leagues
and amassing an 87-65 record over all leagues.
“Hardware” was part of the equation now and the Vipers
competed in their first Master’s league (over-35) adding more
military members and more government service professionals.
Additionally, the ladies got on board and the Vipers COED
team was part of the club’s success!
2005 proved to be an average year with seventy total wins against
sixty-three losses. But
2006 was the first year that the Vipers ran the table with
twenty-one wins and no losses in their COED summer league.
Additionally, the over-35 squad went seventeen and three.
This was the year the Vipers added their official tournament team
competing the World’s Largest Softball Tournament in Richmond.
Reality on the tournament circuit was a surprise as the
mighty Vipers could only manage one victory against seven losses in
Richmond. This
disappointing effort in the Richmond tournament became a rallying
point for the Vipers in years to come.
The Vipers had a winning record in 2007 at the World’s Largest
Softball Tournament and enjoyed a great year on the field in league
play. Every team except
the Masters team and one fall team had a winning record.
Yet the Fairfax league recognized the Viper’s prowess on the
field and placed the team in Division Two in 2007.
Additionally, 2007 was the first year the Vipers would play
in over 200 games in a season (from March to November); simply
unheard of for one club to play in that many games.
The following year, the Vipers showed some real dominance in
the Reston league winning the division and championships out there
but other than that bight spot, the season was fairly mundane.
The Vipers played in more than ten tournaments in 2009 playing over
200 games again at a .659 winning percentage to include their first
national tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.
At this point, the Vipers Softball Club had five league teams
and a travelling team.
Sponsorship had grown and all league registration fees as well as
proper uniforms were covered by sponsorship donations.
2010 would be another successful campaign with strong competition in
league play and further success in the thirteen tournaments.
The Virginia Vipers Softball Club for Veterans won the
World’s Largest Softball Tournament in Richmond and placed second in
Las Vegas, Nevada. They
finished the season with 120 victories against 89 losses.
Shortly after the 2010 season ended the Vipers worked with a D.C.
law firm to officially establish the Virginia Vipers Softball Club
for Veterans as a 501C3.
After years of competition on the tournament circuit and
league play, the VVSC for Veterans decided to make itself an
official entity that had allowed and will continue to allow veterans
and government employees a venue to compete in the local and
regional softball programs.
The New Year (2011) brings with it a fifteen tournament schedule,
league play in three different counties and over 65 participants in
the club.
