In honor of Throw Back Thursday here is a bit of SASL history for everyone. In 2005 the South Asian Softball League began. It started out as a Spring season and a Summer season. What began as a pickup game in the parks of Syosset Woodbury Park moved to Plainview Middle School. In that 2005 spring season, 4 teams started what has become a sport and social organization. In that initial summer spring seaon, there were no statistics and no uniforms. The following summer season the league expanded from 4 teams to 6 teams.
Those 6 teams in 2006
- Outlaws
- Shock
- Deenz List
- Flying Mosquitos
- Dynasty
- HitMen
That year was the first year that we had trophies and stats. You may notice that the Outlaws don’t have that many stats. That is because that season the Outlaws were the last team to adopt taking stats. Ironically they were also the last team to adopt uniforms when they wore white undershirts as their uniform.
12 years after that amazing season 2 of those teams are still with us. One of those teams is making a comeback. In honor of the original teams of the South Asian Softball League. We take a look at the teams then and see how many of those players are still active in the SASL.
The Outlaws – ended up winning the Championship that season
| OutLaws | ||||||||||
| Player | Batting Average | At Bats | Hits | 1b | 2bs | 3bs | HR’s | RBI | TB | Runs |
| Shekeeb Khwaja | 0.357 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| Qais Ghafary | 0.429 | 35 | 15 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 23 | 0 |
| Zia Hatami | 0.623 | 53 | 33 | 25 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 48 | 0 |
| Amin Khwaja | 0.643 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| Sekander Yosofi | 0.590 | 39 | 23 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 30 | 0 |
| Hasam Khwaja | 0.412 | 34 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 26 | 0 |
| Omar Khwaja | 0.382 | 34 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 0 |
| Ibrahim Khwaja | 0.278 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Ramin Rasuli | 0.556 | 27 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 33 | 0 |
| Khalil Rahimi | 0.289 | 38 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 0 |
| Nooruddin Naderi | 0.625 | 40 | 25 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 42 | 0 |
| Amad Nader | 0.318 | 22 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| Najim Naderi | 0.444 | 27 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 0 |
| Ahman Hatami | 0.200 | 25 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 0 |
| Zabie Mustafa | 0.333 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Rafiq Hatami | 0.556 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
The Outlaws, just like their name suggested were this tough brash team that had some of the most feared bats in the game. The 2 “hefty lefties” wreaked havoc on the teams who tried to hide their weakest defenders in right field. They had the offense to basically outhit anyone. They were smart and were able to get the big hits. They had an outfielder that very few can really describe but anyone who has seen him would just refer to him as a vacuum cleaner in Shekeeb Khwaja. He could literally cover two positions by himself.
From the Outlaws we have a few players who are still active.
Zia Hatami – is on the roster of the Hit Squad
Sekander Yosofi – has returned after a multi-year hiatus to jump back on the Outlaws
Omar Khwaja – was just seen on the roster of Strike Force after almost 10 years away from the league
Ramin Rasuli – has not missed a step and has been making defenses pay and still hitting with pop to right field.
Dynasty – the inaugural winners of the South Asian Softball League championship
| Dynasty | ||||||||||
| Player | Batting Average | At Bats | Hits | 2bs | 3bs | HR’s | RBI | TB | Runs | |
| Navin Srivastava | 0.422 | 45 | 19 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 25 | 9 |
| Ameet Kamat | 0.640 | 50 | 32 | 26 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 40 | 17 |
| Amit Bhasin | 0.735 | 49 | 36 | 22 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 28 | 63 | 23 |
| Zeeshan Shaikh | 0.607 | 61 | 37 | 23 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 24 | 59 | 16 |
| Gaurav Bhasin | 0.492 | 61 | 30 | 19 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 45 | 14 |
| Kartik Papaiya | 0.525 | 40 | 21 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 36 | 15 |
| Hassan Sheikh | 0.426 | 61 | 26 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 32 | 13 |
| Abhishek Kumar | 0.549 | 71 | 39 | 28 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 53 | 22 |
| Tarun Suri | 0.400 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Mahesh Dhamija | 0.432 | 44 | 19 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 24 | 10 |
| Rob | 0.500 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Yakeen Patel | 0.429 | 28 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 28 | 8 |
| Jeff | 0.556 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| Balu | 0.500 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| Tommy | 0.545 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| Scott | 0.520 | 25 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 24 | 10 |
| Shairoz Khalid | 0.167 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Dynasty was the antithesis of the Outlaws. They were more buttoned up and went about their business with solid defense. They brought a transformational player in the league in Amit Bhasin who manned the shortstop position like no one else at the time. He matched his defensive prowess with an enormous offensive game. His 63 total bases that year were second in the league to a young rookie named Usman Ghumman (64) who played on a team named Deenz List. They also featured a 12-year-old rookie who many will recognize as playing on the Bengals this year in Shairoz Khalid. Ironically his nickname that year was Lebron.
Amit was joined by another rookie who many will recognize Zeeshan Shaikh. Together they formed a formidable 1-2 that was only matched by the hefty lefties of the Outlaws.
Amit Bhasin – is still on Dynasty
Navin Sirivastava – Met’s and Dynasty
Gaurav Bhasin – has continued to captain and manage Dynasty
Abhishek Kumar – has been a long time member of Empire
Shairoz Khalid – making his comeback this year on the Bengals
The original SASL boys of summer are still going strong. In total from the original 6 teams that played in the SASL 25 players are still going strong! South Asian Sports Network thanks all of the players who continue to take part and make the SASL the best league and best community.
