Ever watch a professional baseball player say a brief prayer before he steps into the batter's box and wonder what he's praying for? A base hit? A home run?

What if the pitcher is praying harder? Does the team with the most earnest prayers win? Do prayers from fans count?

No such questions arise at Chapel Hill Church League Softball games, played each Sunday throughout the summer on the fields at Chapel Hill's Homestead Park.

Teams gathered around home plate for a communal prayer before each of this summer's 144 regular- season games. The same goes for last weekend's post-season tournament. Not one prayer concerned itself with earthly rewards as might appear on the scoreboard.

As hands are clasped, players concern themselves more with the cross than with crossing home plate.

"We never pray for victory," said Michael Cornett, a player for the Church of the Holy Family and the League Commissioner for the past decade.

Cornett said that pre-game prayers have helped league members keep the right perspective. That perspective wasn't always the overriding feature in the league, until players from former member Mount Carmel Baptist Church encouraged praying before games.

"Several years ago, we were dealing with some issues regarding a bit too much competitiveness," Cornett said. "We'd gone from pure fellowship (decades ago) to a point where the level of competition went up. ... These prayers were the number one thing helping us swing back to the middle and keep perspective."

Now, fans listening in are more likely to hear expressions of gratitude, fellowship and a desire for good, clean fun.

"The main thing we pray for is that nobody gets injured," Hurt Covington of Christ United Methodist Church's, "because we're really too old for this."

Deep Roots

Though Cornett has been involved with helping to organize the league since the 1990s, the league can trace its roots to the 1960s when it was a less formal league of small churches -- like Efland Cheeks, Oak Grove, Antioch, Chestnut Ridge and Orange United Methodist -- who played sandlot softball wherever a space might be available, even in cornfields.

Later, league play migrated to fields like those on Ephesus Church Road, Culbreth Middle School and, later, Cedar Falls Park, all the while, reflecting a truly unique brand of ministry.

"This is 175 people from 12 churches playing together every Sunday for three or four months out of the year," Cornett said.

Currently, the league consists of 12 teams, playing twelve games each over the course of the summer, which culminated in a season-ending tournament this past weekend.

This season, the teams included Christ United Methodist Church (11-1), Durham's Church of the Good Shepherd (10-2) located on Garrett Road, Christ Community Church (10-2), St. Thomas More (9-3), Church of the Holy Family (8-4), the Chapel Hill Bible Church (7-5), United Church (6-6), University Baptist Church (5-7), Orange United Methodist Church (4-8), Hillsborough United Methodist Church (3-8-1), the Union Grove Methodist Church (3-8-1), State Paul AME Church (3-9), and the Community Church (1-11).

Unacceptable Losses

Cornett said 2009 saw a few more forfeits than he was comfortable with.

"About 10 years ago when I first started as commissioner, a third of the games were being forfeited, and it was awful," he said. "You'd come out here and you never knew if you were playing a game. That was my number one goal: to get teams who were really participating."

Through rules changes, including a "three-forfeits-and-you're-out" clause, no-shows were virtually eliminated.

"A third forfeit meant your team sat out the next season and you had to wait until there was an opening to get back into the league," Cornett explained. "That happened to several teams, and others were waiting in the wings. Within three years, we were forfeiting only about 5 percent of the games.

"This year, two churches forfeited twice and came close (to sanctions), but they were smaller churches, but they made it through the season and made it through the tournament. I'm just thankful that none of the teams forfeited out."

Post-season

All 12 teams showed up in full force for last weekend's tournament, which actually consisted of two smaller tournaments.

The top eight seeds played in one tournament, and the bottom four in another. Both tournaments were single elimination, with fellowship games for teams losing in the first round.

"Those who lost in the first round on Saturday played in what I call a 'fellowship' game, so everyone in the tournament played at least two games," Cornett said. "That makes the whole event more fun."

In a Sunday match-up of finalists from the 9-12 seeds' bracket, St. Paul AME used a three-run homer in the fourth inning and a four-run sixth inning to power a 12-6 victory over Hillsborough United Methodist Church.

"These guys did awesome," St. Paul AME coach Doval 'D' Watson said. "They came out ready to play."

"We hit the ball today," Hillsborough United Methodist Church coach David Daniel said, "but we just hit the ball right at 'em. Plus, they're a great team."

First things last

In the championship game of the top-eight bracket, the final showdown came down to the Church of the Good Shepherd (10-2) squad and the team from Christ United Methodist Church (11-1).

Good Shepherd coach Robb Harmsen predicted a great match-up.

"We've played them twice, and their one loss was to us, but they got us back for that last week," Harmsen said. "Hopefully, we'll continue to do more of what we've done in this tournament. We won 21-4 in our first (qualifying game), and we won 8-0 in the second. It's gone well. We've got a good team, and we've had a lot of fun."

Still, Harmsen admitted that his Good Shepherd squad had a bit of a monkey on its back going into the final game.

"I've been playing for six or seven years now, and we've never had a losing record," he said. "We even had a season where we were 10-1 -- but we've also never won the tournament."

Christ United Methodist Church coach Craig Wood said his squad would take nothing for granted entering the final game.

"We've lost one game in two years," he said, "but that one game was to Good Shepherd, who we're playing for the championship on Sunday. They're a good, solid team, they have great fielders, and they hit good line drives."

"We went through a few seasons where we were 1-10, and we've finally gotten to a point where we play good fundamental softball," Christ United's Buck Branson said. "We don't make errors, and we hit line drives. That's the key to softball."

Branson said the road to the championship has not been without its close calls, however.

"We had some tough games," Branson said. "We beat Orange (United Methodist) in the first game, but it was only 13-9, and they'd scored three of those runs in the last inning. Any game in softball within five or six runs is close. They had good arms in the outfield and three or four super hitters -- as good as anybody I've seen."

Harmsen agreed that the league featured a good bit of parity in 2009

"I think it's the same 12 teams as last year," he said, "and there was definitely a top half and a bottom half, but there were also a lot of games that were real close."

In fact, Church of the Holy Family coach Jim Ray said his 8-4 team was literally inches from reaching the final game.

"We were down to Christ United, 9-8, with two out and two men on," Ray recounted. "Their shortstop made an incredible diving catch. He misses that, and we score two runs to win."

Getting even

Saturday's win by Christ United catapulted the Methodists into a championship matchup versus Church of the Good Shepherd on Sunday evening, when they took the tournament title with a 5-0 shutout.

Christ United's one loss in the regular season was to Good Shepherd. The Methodists evened the series later in the season, "but this win was sweeter," Covington said.

"Defense won it today for us," Covington added. "We happened to get some good hits, but that earned us enough runs to stay ahead with great defense."

"As long as I've been playing, I only remember making the championship game one other time," Good Shepherd coach Robb Harmsen said. "We always seem to have a great season and then lose in the tournament."

"They're a good team, they made good plays," Harmsen said, "and we didn't hit the ball where they weren't."

Cornett said he hoped to see the same teams back in 2010.

"If everyone wants back in, we'll have our 12 teams next year," Cornett said, "and that's the most we can schedule in on two fields every Sunday. There are other churches that call every year, so there are others who want in."

As for who reaches the tournament, that's secondary to fun in a league that's more about fellowship than fist-pumping. Perhaps that's a prayer answered and what truly counts when any truly final score is tallied.

- chn -