Keeping It Real

The Jersey Shore’s got nothing on Huntington.  

While Snooki’s on a book tour and The Situation poses for deodorant ads, a local producer has made You Tube celebrities out of a group of Huntington softball players who star in his online reality series, “Station Softball."

Adam Schleichkorn, the show’s creator, producer and camera man, grew up in Huntington and graduated from Whitman High School in 1999. On screen he is Helmet, the team’s pitcher.

Let’s make it clear right from the beginning. This show is not about softball. If you’re a sports fan and hoping to pick up a few pointers, be amazed by athletic ability or just enjoy a good game of ball, this is not the show for you.  Some of the guys are really good players, but Station Softball is really a reality show about a bunch of guys who have known each other since they were kids. Now they’re all grown up, and still a bunch of kids hanging out together.

The team seems to lose more than they win, but they take it all in stride, and the response by Cheech (Michael Koch), “Disappointing, disappointing, disappointing” becomes one of the recurring comments in the series.

It takes only a few episodes to start to see the personalities of each player, and clearly a few have jumped in front of the camera (literally) to take a leading role.

Galz (James Gallagher) is the breakout star of the show. He doesn’t seem to spend much time playing softball --after hernia surgery he missed most of the last season-- but he's still there on the sidelines entertaining the team and the audience with his goofball antics. Fashionably late for most games, he’s the player most likely to break into dance in the rain. He also has some of the funniest lines in the show. In one episode he can be heard in the background saying, “I’m like an oyster, I’m an acquired taste.” 

By some of the later episodes Galz is facing serious competition for the top spot as Head (Chris Revell ) gets comfortable in front of the camera and starts to become a fan favorite. The competition between them is friendly and makes for some of the shows funnier moments, including a dance- off during the special July 4 episode that has Galz winning by a cartwheel. Head still has bragging rights on the field though, declaring himself on every episode to be “the greatest softball player that ever lived.”

Most of the players are guys who grew up together and who’ve known each other since middle school and before, a fact that is obvious in the way they harass each other in that loving way that men do. From a woman’s perspective, it’s a glimpse into what guys are like when they’re just hanging around being guys together. It’s amusing and a little shocking all at the same time. For men, it will probably seem as familiar as how they relate to their own friends.

The rest of the team makes up a cast of characters who each brings his own personality and quirkiness to the unscripted show.  Garrett (Garrett Steinger) returns to the team in time to help win the first game of the real season after a yearlong suspension that is never really explained. His hair is as much of a star as any of the players. DT (Dan Taft) is introduced somewhere around episode 15 with a breaking news alert announcing his 3 episode contract. D. Gallz (Dan Gallagher) is James Gallagher’s brother, a more serious softball player who doesn’t say much on camera. Tuohey (Michael Tuohey), Playground (Dan Castoro) who rarely talks, and when he does, most of it seems to get censored out with a steady stream of bleeps, and Iceman (Matthew Bernier) all spend some time in front of the camera. 

Coach (Scott Schramm) acts as the scapegoat in many episodes, as the team blames him for everything from not enough players showing up to his management mistake of scheduling a game at 8 a.m. - one they lost by a score of 15-1. “If it’s too early to buy beer, it’s too early to play softball,” Head complains. 

Women are scarce in this show. It's clearly about the guys, with the exception of Mofo (Melissa Farrell). Famous for her chicken cutlets, she shows up on screen whenever she cooks them for the team.

There are also guest appearances throughout the season as various friends and brothers fill in as needed.  

Schleichkorn currently runs an Internet TV company, Hidden Track TV that features such popular web videos as "The Cheese Incident," "Worst Basketball Player Ever" and many others. Several years ago, his video “Fence Plowing” made national news after he posted a video of some friends running and breaking through a fence and the idea was copied and posted all over the internet.  

Right now Station Softball’s audience is pretty local - meaning everyone they all went to school with and their family and friends - but views are increasing and some of the team find themselves being recognized as they go about their business in town.

Each episode is less than 10 minutes, so there’s plenty of time to catch up with the storyline before a new softball season starts in April.

Will Galz and Head take their interpretive dance moves to Dancing with the Stars? Will Garrett get a haircut? Will Playground finally have something to say? Tune in to find out…