Delta Upsilon wins 3rd straight title

The Delta Upsilon intramural kickball team doesn’t just beat its opponents – it slaughters them. \n“The Slaughter Rule ends the game if a team is up by more than 15 runs after five innings,” senior team captain Dave Szafranski. \nIt’s a rule that the DU team became quite familiar with this year. \nThe team won every game this season that way and nabbed its third intramural kickball championship in a row. In what seemed more like a series of lopsided football scores, the squad racked up victories that included scores of 33-2, 33-6 and 35-1, to name a few. \n“The DU kickball dynasty,” as members proudly call it, is made up of a slew of former soccer players – an obvious reason for their success. \n“We all know how to kick a ball,” Szafranski said.\nIt may sound overly simple, but Szafranski said the league is full of players who fail in their attempts to blast the rubber ball into another ZIP code. \n“The key is to kick it low,” he said. “So many people come in and try to kick it a mile, but it just bounces off the walls and then it’s easy to catch.”\nBrian Arnold, a graduate assistant for IU’s RecSports program, saw the team in action on several occasions and said he quickly noticed the gap between DU and its competitors. \n“I think the main difference was that they seemed like much more of a team,” he said. “They had a good sense of the rules and how the game should be played.” \nSzafranski attributes the team’s success to the natural athletic ability and competitive nature of its members. Such ability was on display on what the team refers to as “The Web Gem.” \nIn last year’s championship game, the team faced a bases-loaded situation. It needed one more out to seal its second title, but failing to get that out would have resulted in a loss. The opposing player blasted the ball in what looked to be the winning kick. But senior Steve Schmitt leaped into the air and made a diving catch as the ball knocked him on his back.\n“Everything happened so fast,” Schmitt said. “It was one of those catches where you had to look down to believe you actually caught it.”\nAlong with Szafranski and Schmitt, seniors Kyle Murphy and Mark Keleher had the joy of playing on all three teams – something they say they’ll always remember.\nDespite their competitive natures, members of DU insist they’re mostly in it for the fun. \n“We take it seriously, but we’re just having fun,” Szafranski said. “We don’t think we own the school or anything. But it is pretty cool to win three in a row.” \nIt’s also unique, Arnold said.\n“It’s pretty rare,” he said. “Every once in a while we’ll have a team win back-to-back championships, but I’ve never seen a team win three in a row.”