In 1996, Joanna Tabit's Corporate Cup team, the Steptoe and Johnson law firm, lost their first game in the Kanawha Valley's Corporate Cup's double elimination softball tournament.
Though they had already sacrificed their chance of a first-place win, Tabit said the team was committed to climbing the bracket.
She remembered impressive plays like an outfield throw to the team's underestimated female catcher. The catcher caught the ball, tagged the runner closing in on home plate and was the hero of the game. Though it was an uphill battle, plays like this allowed the team to pull through.
The Steptoe and Johnson team played five other games that day, securing the runner-up position.
"It was a second-place finish that felt like first," Tabit said.
Corporate Cup can be highly competitive, but not all teams are as relentless as the 1996 Steptoe and Johnson softball team. A common joke among her co-workers at the time, Tabit said, was that the law firm geared their hiring practices towards employees who would benefit them the most in the cup.
Tabit made her start in the early 1990s and finished over two decades later in 2014. She only stopped when she was appointed as a circuit judge in Kanawha County.
If it was up to her, she would still be out on the field, softball bat in hand.
"I love my job," she said, "but I do miss [Corporate Cup] during the month of June,"
While Tabit, 55, has been around for the majority of the cup's 31-year existence, she said that the only major change she noticed was in the time it took her to recover.
"When you're doing this in your late 20s or early 30s, it's very different than when you're doing it in your 50s," she said.
The Corporate Cup does demand a level of physical activity, but Tabit said that it does an exceptional job of accommodating the various ages that participate. For example, she said track and field events have two classes: open and 35 plus.
This year's event, hosted by the YMCA of Kanawha Valley, begins June 4 and will last three weeks, ending June 25. Businesses and organizations in the Kanawha Valley will take part in sporting events ranging from volleyball to bowling to cornhole.
For the first time ever, the cup is offering two leagues: the classic "competitive" league, along with a new "recreational" league.
Mary Cook, director of the recreational league and a board member at the YMCA in Charleston, said the league was created to give smaller businesses and organizations the opportunity to participate in the cup. In this league, small businesses and organizations can pair up to create a full team.
Cook said the YMCA is trying to avoid organizations opting out of the event after failing to fill a roster of participating individuals.
"The Corporate Cup has sort of been the same organizations over the number of years," she said. "We are really trying to make this easier for more organizations to get involved."
In the recreational league, teams will select 14 of 17 events to participate in. Teams will also choose three charities to benefit, including the American Red Cross, Ronald McDonald House, the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Society, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Participants receive points towards the Corporate Cup based on the number of hours volunteered, with a maximum of 100 points per organization allowed.
The recreational league is an effort by the YMCA to remold the Corporate Cup into something that works for each member of the community. Cook said that incorporating every characteristic of the Kanawha Valley into the cup is just another way that the Charleston YMCA is securing its national reputation as a strong Corporate Cup community.
As always, Cook said that the most important part of the cup is fostering camaraderie among co-workers as well as providing Kanawha Valley businesses and organizations with a unique, fun networking opportunity.
Tabit echoed Cook's sentiment, with an emphasis on the great times she had during her years in the cup.
"It's really a bunch of 30- and 40-year-olds acting like they're in high school again," she laughed.
Reach Jared Casto at jared.casto@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4832 or follow @JaredCasto on Twitter.