MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Fall had begun, but summer-like temperatures at Del Mar Beach Resort here Sept. 22 suggested otherwise as Marines, sailors and civilians competed in a sunny, sandy over-the-line tournament.
Over-the-line is similar to softball and baseball but with a few glaring exceptions: A team consists of three players; the object is to hit a ball over a line 55 feet away to score a run, but runners don't actually run. Outs are made when the opposing team catches the ball.
For this tournament, teams played four-inning games.
"It was a new experience," said Lance Cpl. Tabitha Carter, a radio operator with 1st Marine Division, "Our (section) didn't have enough people to make a regular softball team, so the three of us decided to try this out for fun," said the captain of “Big Stix” and the only woman in the all-male division.
With its tongue-in-cheek spin on America's favorite pastime, the sport may appear in the Pendleton Cup Series next year, according to one Semper Fit Division official.
"We wanted to make this competition a little bit more visible for the Marines," said tournament director Wayne Frater, representing San Diego's Old Mission Beach Athletic Club. He said the competition attracts more than 1,200 teams to the Southern California area.
"We usually try and go to a bunch of different tournaments to get in some practice for the big San Diego competition," said Kevin Ratzlaff of team "New Jack City." He said he and his friends have been participating for the last eight years. "But we really drove all the way up here to support the troops. It's awesome that we get to play against the Marines right now."
With its interesting spin on America’s favorite pastime, OTL took tradition away from the stadium and onto Pendleton sand until the Naval Hospital’s team “Moneyball” reigned victorious. “Nurses With Wood” also from NHCP took second, and team “Drunk and Disorderly” took third.
To learn more about OTL and other OMBAC sponsored sports, visit
www.ombac.org.