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The 34th Legislative District Democrats held their annual picnic and Celebrity Softball game Saturday featuring City Council and School Board members and their challengers, plus others in the political scene. Food and cash donations for the West Seattle Food Bank were collected. The first pitch was tossed at 4:35 p.m. in the friendly confines of Field #3 in Lincoln Park during the mostly sunny afternoon.

Incumbents played challengers campaigning for their jobs in office. Congressman Jim McDermott stopped by briefly and took a swing at the bat, even though he is not in a race. Event organizer and Alki resident Michael Heavey was the catcher for both sides. The referee was Dave Upthegrove, State Representative from the 33rd Legislative District running for reelection. The announcer, and co-organizer was State Committee Candidate #2 Karl de Jong.

Michael Maddox, with the 43rd District Democrats in the Capitol Hill, Downtown area, pitched for the challengers. "I'm not running for anything," he said. "I play softball in the gay leagues and I was supposed to play with the incumbents but was placed on the challengers team. But now I'm back with the incumbents because that's a good place to be."

City Council Member Bruce Harrell and 34th District Chair Tim Nuse hit well throughout the game and some of the balls they walloped seemed to fly all the way to the Fauntleroy Ferry Dock.

Late in the game, 34th District State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, who is not facing a political challenger, seemed to be facing a challenge during his turn at bat. After his two strikes, Council Member Sally Clark convinced the ref with a bit of clowning around that her teammate was injured and the ref bought it, so he was swiftly replaced by governor candidate Jay Inslee who got a base hit. Tim Nuse then got a double. They eventually crossed the plate.

A couple innings later Nuse homered and it took five minutes to recover the ball in the woods beyond center field.

Sally Clark was then robbed of a potential home run when her deep fly ball into right-center field was effortlessly caught by Diana Toledo, a King County Council candidate. Toledo proved this was no fluke as she got on base soon after with a real smack at the ball.

The score, according to most, was 12-11, with the incumbents winning. However, they were ahead 10-1 earlier, and, due to some inning and batting order manipulations arranged to benefit the West Seattle Food Bank with mini-challenges during certain innings, the challengers almost caught up.

"I thought it was really a lot of fun," said Tom Rasmussen, West Seattle resident and Seattle City Council Member who hit well. He added, with a jocular tone, "I did better than I thought I would do. With a little practice, I'd be a real knockout."

"The conditions were great," said Sally Clark adding with a bit of tongue-in-cheek, "I will say that the field was a little muddy. Running around the bases nobody slipped. There were no injuries. Things felt good. I am proud of this Parks and Recreation field here in Lincoln Park. It is a natural surface. I will say there's a little gravel mixed in so it's not a great sliding surface. You didn't see any slides today which might have something to do with it, not that we weren't aggressive."