You know your Consulting Services representative for her patient guidance and technical know-how—but did you know she might be moonlighting as a pitcher or shortstop as part of a scrappy team of softball underdogs? She may have been practicing her form on the sly during your last series training, but she’s not likely to brag about the fact that, after just one hard-earned win last season, we’re headed to the playoffs!
Dubbed “bepress <magic>” after our beloved in-house programming language, our team plays in Berkeley’s novice co-ed league, whose other teams sport noticeably different lineups than our own: a handful of (mostly male) former baseball players make homerun after homerun, while the rest of the team is relatively unengaged apart from helping them meet the minimum player requirement (and the gender quota).
<magic>, on the other hand, features a very enthusiastic group of women whose athletic prowess, hustle, and enthusiasm make our team stand out. Among these stalwarts stand Kit Crawford, IT guru and third basewoman extraordinaire; Danielle Maestretti, CS rep and formidable batter, and Kathleen Cowan, Director of Sales and all-star utility player, who curates a playlist before each game and positions a boombox outside of our dugout. Imagine a bunch of repository experts jamming out to ‘80s tunes, and then add bleachers full of ardent fans—other bepressers, partners, sometimes even kids. These aren’t just any fans, either. These are the kinds of fans that make and wave large glitter-adorned posters, the kinds of fans that actually sewed a foam finger in the shape of the Digital Commons Network logo.
Tonight these <magic> fans will be watching some of Berkeley’s finest softballers cheer each other on: members of the design team Clayton Anderson and Paul Ryan might be rounding the bases or pitching a fast one; Kelsey Corrigan or Stephanie Rogers, both with Consulting Services, might be tagging a member of “Los Pollos Hermanos” out; and Allen Sprague, also with Consulting Services, will most likely be making some jaw-dropping catch. And Garrett Johnson, our fearless leader, will (as always) provide the leadership and strategy that has catapulted us to the top!
Even if we don’t win tonight, we think we’ve still got the other teams beat in terms of spirit and camaraderie. <magic> is the kind of team to pull pinch hitters from the bleachers and from the office, meaning we’ve never had to forfeit a game. So tonight, whether you’re watching the Warriors beat the Cavs, fiddling with the intro text on that new ETD series, or doing something that doesn’t involve looking at a screen, we hope you’ll be rooting your CS rep on from afar. Let’s go <magic>!
