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Discussion: Please, a story from anyone! Anything but Corona, Corona, Corona!

In the early 90's I ran softball leagues in the little town where I lived. I heard about a one day tourney in Gadsden a litle over an hour away. So I carried just a pick up team from my leagues to the tourney. Two players did not show leaving me with 10. The temperature that day was 105 with a heat index of 115!
We were 2/1 going into our 4th game. Halfway through the game our RF started having hip issues. So our catcher and RF exchanged places. Just as play was to resume, injured catcher calls timeout and informs the umpire that he cannot bend over and the umpire will have to retrieve the ball.
So for the rest of the game I pitched the ball and the umpire would retrieve then hand the ball to catcher who would then throw to me.My team went ahead 4/3 in the top of the 7th. The home team gets a man on base and the next batter who was 0/3 hit a homerun with an illegal bat. The umpire asked if we wanted to protest. With one voice our team shouted No Way and we headed home.
Mid-Late 80's played in a regional tournament in Agawam, MA with an All-Star team from our Rec League in CT. Team didn't fare too well in the tourney that weekend. Don't remember all the specific details like some idiot savants (you know the guys who can recall the score, inning, situations of every game they've ever played in), but will never forget that I went 0-19 that w/e from the 3 hole. Every ball hit (and there were may piss rockets) found the defenders... The joke on the ride home was that there is an 0 in Agawam and it was me!
Don't know about the rest of you but here in wisconsin during the 80's you competed for 2 trophies every tournament-the championship and the beer drinking trophy. The majority of the time the beer drinking trophy was bigger than the tournament trophy. Played to win so on Sunday you would have a later start time so your feet didn't make so much noise when you were running (lol)
Late August, early evening league game, very dry summer, same original RF player as above. High fly ball hit to right, he is smoking on the field! He takes one last draw and throws his cigarette on the ground then catches the fly and tosses the ball to the cutoff.
Someone yells, right field is on fire! Timeout is called and both teams run to the outfield and stomps the fire out. We finished the game.

3 weeks later, same outfielder, smoking again! High flyball to RF. He tosses his smoke aside, taking his eye off the ball. His momentum carries him forward, he misjudges the ball which hits him in the nose which prompts him to yell in pain. Mouth open, false teeth fly out, momentum carries him forward resulting in him stepping on teeth and breaking them!
I was a hardcore baseball player who swore that I would never play slow pitch softball. At age 35 I changed my mind. I joined a 35+ team with some friends who had been playing for years. We went to a tourney near Minneapolis and I started at 3B. I had my tiny Ozzie Smith baseball glove and was wearing baggy reversible basketball shorts. First batter in first game hits a piss rocket one hopper at me. Ball hits my glove and disappears. I am hopping around looking for the ball and can't find it anywhere. Everyone thinks it is in my glove but it isn't. Our coach, who is playing right center is screaming "THROW THE FU%*ING BALL"!! Then the ball falls out of the leg of my shorts which had wrapped around the ball Everyone starting laughing their asses off. We proceeded to run rule that team. Welcome to slow pitch softball. LOL!
Game for first place in a Friday night house league. An all deaf team vs a local team who’ve been playing in this league for years. Stands are filled. I’m umpiring. Deaf team is batting, bottom of 5th inning up by 4. Runner on 1st, two outs. Batter gets a base hit to left center. Runner on first attempts to go to third. Left center fielder makes a perfect throw to third. It’s pretty close but I have the runner out. The deaf team, who had the third base dugout, all started going crazy! They were making all kinds of noises and sounds which I had no idea what it meant. Then they started with the sign language which I had no idea what that meant. After a minute it appeared they said their piece and then the their coach comes up to me and shows me his scorebook where he wrote in big bold letters, “you need glasses”. Then he proceeded to take his glasses off and give them to me!! The whole place erupted in laughter, including me.
You had to be there to appreciate how funny that was.
Hey Stick, how about the time at the old Softball City when you guys won the championship and Turk was body slamming you upstairs in the bar making so much noise that John came up there from the office below and told him to cut it out. Good times at the old City!
May have posted this before, but we're all watching reruns: Southpaw, this happened in Cullman,AL. Finals of NSA Senior World Series, 60 AAA Division. I'm playing with a team from Central Arkansas. We're in the finals, having come through the winner's bracket. Championship game is late on Saturday night against another Arkansas team from Hot Springs, who have been our friendly rivals for years. We're down by 10 going into the bottom of the seventh, but have come back to trail by one with only one out and runners on 1st and 3rd. I'm the next batter. There's a brief delay after which I take my stance---at the scoring plate. Umpire says "that's OK, but we're playing over here." More than a little rattled at that point, I move to the correct plate.

Now I'm getting all kinds of "encouragement" from our dugout: "Hit it on the grass." "Hit a fly ball." "Stay out of the double play."

First pitch, I swing and miss completely.

Second pitch, I'm way ahead of the ball and hit a weak foul ball which falls near the 1B dugout.

At this point, our dugout is in despair.

Third pitch, I hit a line drive through the 5-6 hole that scores the tying run from 3B. The runner on 1B is the the fastest guy on our team, and when the LF briefly bobbles the ball, he scores all the way from first to win the game and the Senior World Series.

Now it's 15 years later. Do you think anybody on that team remembers that I drove in the winning run. Heck No! But they all remember me taking my batting stance at the wrong plate.
I'm late to the game of Senior Softball, but at age 60 I leave the rec leagues and start playing with a senior club. I have never had a big bat (until the Miken came along) and the first league games show it—a singles hitter. Nonetheless, I am a better-than-average pitcher and a manager picks me up for his tournament team. I tell him I am busy most Sundays and will miss half of many tournaments. That's O.K. he says, you can pitch two games on Saturdays.

First tournament I'm with the team and we are playing on a field with no fences. In my previous 47 years of softball, I have usually batted 7th or 8th, occasionally 2nd. That's where I am in the first game, batting 8th. Being down in the order and a pitcher, the left fielder plays me in short in the outfield. I hit one over his head and steam into third with a triple! Maybe the second or third triple in my career. Next time up, he doesn't recognize me and hit one by him—another triple! Last time up in the game, right center field is way in because I am reckoned as a pull hitter. It irritates me and hit a good shot to right center for...another triple!

Equals my life output for triples! I don't play that Sunday with lots of things going on at church. At the next tournament, my new manager has me in the clean-up slot! I tell him I am not that kind of hitter. He tells me he saw what he saw and he wants me batting fourth. I fail miserably trying too hard to justify my position. For the next six tournaments, I am batting fourth and doing a terrible job. Finally, he puts me in batting second and my average improves. Never batting clean-up again for any manager. Still pitching, though.

My biggest achievement in a game is my most embarrassing. First inning in the loser bracket game playing for third place and beyond in Las Vegas.
Our clean up hitter hits a three run homer, couple of batters later another solo shot, I come up and hit a home run, 60 AAA game and we are at our home run limit after the first inning.
The game is nip and tuck and we go into the bottom of the seventh trailing by one. The first two hitters fly out, I come up and hit a home run, which counted as an out, results, game over, we lose.
I had hit two home runs, gotten one RBI and a walk off home run resulting in a loss.
Worst part, it was the only two home runs I hit all year. The seven hour drive back home was not fun.
Oz I painfully remember that. At the time I believe he was a police officer in training. He was practicing his arrest techniques on me. Another time him and his partner pulled me over after leaving the complex. His partner cuffed me and put me in the back seat. After being hidden Turk comes into the backseat laughing his a— off at me. Big dummy.
Many years ago, playing on a company team, night league, on a field that always had the wind blowing in and was very difficult to hit the ball out. I hit one out, before i could start running the bases (long time ago, before hit and sit) the umpire called me out,he stated that I stepped out of the batter box. I questioned him a bit but eventully made my way back to the dugout, where a teammate asked what happened, he ask the question in Spanish, to which I replied in Spanish that A-hole ump had called me out for stepping out of the box, the umpire heard me (I thought he did not understand Spanish) I was wrong, he walk over to the dugout and sent me home.

Moral of the story never under estimate ump.

LMAO.
from an umpires view.. 1 game I will never forget.. it was almost 20 yrs ago and I had only been umpiring senior softball a short time.. I had HP in a championship tournament game.. bottom of the 7th inning and the team had the winning run on 3rd with 1 out.. the outfield came in a little so they could make a throw to the plate on a fly ball catch... the batter hits a long fly ball to left and over the OF's head.. or so the runner thought... the runner on 3rd started celebrating as he ran toward home crossing the committment line and then the unexpected happened.. the LF never gave up on the ball and made a diving catch running backwards for the second out.. the 3rd base coach and many in the dugout were yelling at the runner that he had to go back and tag up.. as soon as he recrossed the CL going back to 3rd I called him out.. WOW.. need less to say the team went ballistic with the MGR. yelling at me trying to tell me that the runner had to tag up and that going back over the CL was an appeal play... well the game went an extra inning and they just fell apart and ended up losing
Guess I am a savant to a certain extent but I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night

1996: Lose second game to Nike Swoosh at Twin Creeks Usssa B State then run off 10 straight and double dip ML Sports to win Cali State. Same happens at Regionals in Carson City but then get on a run and get to the ship to earn our berth to B Worlds Tuscon Arizona. Lost to Bones though. Go 1 - 2 at Worlds getting squashed by a North Carolina team and a Florida team.

1997: Usssa "C" Regionals in Lancaster Labor day weekend. Lose to Oswego Drywall in our fourth game. We run off 4/5 games to get to our hometown rival Kuykendals for 5th place and who get's the hand me down berth to C Worlds. We score 18 in the first inning and the game is over hahahahaha

1998: Go to Arizona and Lancaster for early bird C Usssa NIT's and win both of them... go to C worlds in South Carolina and tank going 1 - 2 hahahahaha

1999: Playing a Usssa B Nit at Victory Lane outside of Phoenix Arizona. In the 4th place game vs Gorilla's (G-Men) who are ranked #1 in the Nation at the time. They are boat racing us up by 20 in the top of the fourth. They're getting way to confident hoping to run rule us.. we dodge the run rule in the fourth and creep back. End up beating them by a few runs in a three hour game. Lost to Johnny E/RSC from So.Cal the next game all for nil.

Savant out
My first softball game as an adult actually happened in Vietnam, summer of 1970. Charlie Troop, 2/1 Cav was running road security for infantry going into Cambodia. Mid-day we stop for C-rations next to a huge field which had been mowed. Some started throwing a ball around then yelled "Let's play a game."
In the 3rd inning I was on defense in CF. A high flyball came my way but well beyond me. As I started running back hoping to catch up to it an enemy mortar round hit in the treeline not far from me! So the ball continued in one direction while I reversed mine. Red Alert! End of game.
We had just started a league for our tournament players only My second year of playing softball in 20 years. First game of our new league Bases loaded Down by 3 in open inning I am up and the best player in the league is on deck I am thinking single to score a couple runs so the next guy could win it for us I hit a fly ball to right center that went over the fence to win the game Nice walk off I will always remember
League game from 2017. Late in the season, three teams are battling for the top spot. We play one of the teams. We are visitors and score 5 or 6 in the unlimited (last) inning to go up 13. They come up and we get the first 2 guys out. The next hitter is their weakest hitter (this past year this guy struck out swinging 3 times in a game). Our pitcher walks him, they start hitting and keep hitting, pitcher walks a couple along the way, this weak guy comes up again and hits a little dribbler along the 3rd baseline for a hit. Now we are only 4 runs up and their good hitters are coming up. And we end up losing 25-24. Knocked us into 3rd place at the end as we finished 2 games out of 1st and 1 game behind this team. We made no errors in their half inning and other than the walks they earned everything. Just goes to show even with 2 outs and nobody on, up by 13 in the last half inning, remember Yogi-"It ain't over, til its over"
Early 90's we are playing in the championship game in one of our league nights for summer league. Its the last inning and we are up barely in a very close game. They are down to their last out. The batter hits a soft linedrive to our shortstop who decides to catch it behind his back. He made the catch and all of sudden they start swearing and dropping F bombs. Im thinking what are they upset for, its us who should have been mad. What if he dropped it and they came back and won the game. The swearing got so bad both umpires had to warn them. The irony is that this was a church sponsored team.


56th Day of Isolation & Social Distancing: Some thoughts on the last eight (8) weeks..........

I hope they give us two weeks notice before sending us back out into the real world. I think we'll all need the time to become ourselves again. And by "ourselves" I mean lose 10 pounds, cut our hair, and get used to not drinking at 9:00 am.

New monthly budget: Gas $0, Entertainment $0, Clothes $0, Groceries $2,799.

Breaking News: Wearing a mask inside your home is now highly recommended; not so much to stop COVI D-19 but to stop eating.

We low maintenance chicks are having our moment right now. We don't have nails to fill and paint, roots to dye, eyelashes to re-mink, and are thrilled not to have to get dressed every day. I have been training for this moment my entire life!

When this quarantine is over, let's not tell some people.

I stepped on my scale this morning. It said: "Please practice social distancing. Only one person at a time on the scale.

Not to brag, but I haven't been late to anything in over 8 weeks.

It may take a village to raise a child, but I swear it’s going to take a vineyard to home school one.

You know those car commercials where there's only one vehicle on the road? Doesn't seem so unrealistic these days.

They may open things up next month -- I'm staying in until July to see what happens to you all first.

Day 56: The garbage man placed an Alcoholics Anonymous flyer on my recycling bin.

Appropriate analogy: "The curve is flattening, so we can start lifting restrictions now. Or could it be..... "The parachute has slowed our rate of descent, so we can take it off now."

People keep asking: "Is coronavirus REALLY all that serious?" Listen y'all, the churches and casinos are closed. When heaven and hell agree on the same thing, it's probably pretty serious.


Never in a million years could I have imagined I would go up to a bank teller wearing a mask and ask for money.


I am home schooling. Then first day I tried to get this kid transferred out of my class.


Putting a drink in each room of my house today and calling it a pub crawl.


Okay, so the schools are closed. Do we drop the kids off at the teacher's house?


For the second part of this quarantine do we have to stay with the same family or will they relocate us? Asking for myself....


Coronavirus has turned us all into dogs
We wander around the house looking for food.
We get told "No!" if we get too close to strangers.
We get really excited about going for walks and car rides.


I was in a long line at 7:45 am today at the grocery store that opened at 8:00 for seniors only. A young man came from the parking lot and tried to cut in at the front of the line, but an old lady beat him back into the parking lot with her cane. He returned and tried to cut in again, but an old man punched him in the gut, then kicked him to the ground and rolled him away. As he approached the line for the 3rd time he said, "If you people don't let me unlock the door, none of you will ever get in to shop."

yes- churches and casinos are closed but abortion clinics, marijuana stores and liquor stores are considered "essential" and are open?? Makes perfect sense doesn't it???
Two Pitches, Three Outs

Twin Creeks Leagues at one time had a no swear rule - if you swear it's an out. They also had each batter start with a one and one count. First inning of the game the batter is in the box, messing around for quit some time. I finally got tired of waiting and threw a pitch. The batter looks up, the pitch hits the mat and the umpire calls it a strike. The batter starts arguing with the umpire. The whole time he is standing in the box, so after waiting I finally pitched a second ball which also hit the mat. The umpire declares strike three you're out. The batter turns and tells the umpire that was f'ed up. The umpire declares an additional out for swearing. The on deck batter walks up and tells the ump "that was bullsh*t!". The umpire then assesses another out for swearing, third out. My teammates didn't know what happened as they thought I was walking off because I was thrown out. And yes, we did go on to win the game. Fastest half inning ever!
For a good number of years, one of the toughest teams we played was GA/Al Masters from 50's through 60's; maybe even 65's--not sure they were still under that banner.
Anyway, they usually whipped us soundly although we had a 1 run game at midnight in Augusta and another at midnight in Marietta.
We actually won by 10 once in my pre-season practice tourney and then they trounced us in Montgomery 2 weeks later. The worst that ever happened was another game in Marietta. After the top of the 7th we were ahead by 18 runs! In the bottom of the 7th, they scored 19!!!
About three years ago, we were at Worlds playing in the championship in Las Vegas at BLD park. We made the finals winning through the consolation bracket. As home team in the bottom of the seventh, down by one with two outs and the bases loaded, our batter hits a pop up over and between second and first. The second basemen runs to catch it, misses as it bounces off his leg. The ball rolls toward the foul line. The runners on second and third score and we are jumping up and down, so excited to have won. Wait, the runner on third was called out because he stepped in the corner of the batters box. Umpire called him out as the third out and neither run counted. We lost Worlds because the runner was watching the ball and telling the batter to run, not realizing he crossed in the batters box. I have never been so high and then so low, all in a matter of seconds. OUCH!
Local league semi-final game. We are home team and come back in the bottom of the 7th to score 6 runs to tie the game. Bases loaded, no outs.

I'm putting my stuff in the bag and getting ready to head over to the field for the championship game. One run is all we need.

One of our decent hitters up and he's been around the block and knows that any type of fly ball is all we need. However...

...two hopper to third base, steps on bag (1), throws home (2), and catcher is elated but his team tells him to throw to first. Our batter had stopped running and is tripled up.

We go to extras and they score 11 in the top of the 8th, we come back with 3.

Wow...
A number of years ago, like 20 or so, we were playing in a tourney at BLD. It was the bottom of the 6th and we were the visiors in a tied game with the home team having the bases loaded with on out. The batter hits a grounder to our short stop who goes home to stop the run from scoring. The runner from third who was out, goes to first to run. After he touches first base our coach tells the umpire that the runner on first had already ran for a previous hitter that inning so he is called out, out number 3. our team come to bat and scores 24 the top of the 7th, 18 without an out. We ended up winning the game and tourney.It was a good win and haven't scored that many runs in an inning since.












that game will alway
When you have played this game since 71, I have literally forgotten more than I remember. It was 93 (I think) in Springfield Mo. Our Sun Devils team was playing Ruth Reality in the 40 World's. They had two monster hitters, I mean BIG BOYS. We were ahead by 2 in the 7th and their Monsters were up with one out, first Big Boy mishits the ball and gets a single. Next Big Boy walks up and even though I am a svelte 250lbs, he is easily 100 lbs more. I call time and walk out to the pitcher; Ed Wood a great fielding pitcher. I tell him, Ed throw chest high right down the middle. He looked at me like I was crazy, he never wanted to give up a hit much less the trying runs. I tell him, Ed, they have already hit their 3 HRs, he is either going to hit a bomb and 2 outs or he will a one hopper to you, game over. It took probably 30 seconds for it to sink in, then his eyes got big. Walking slowly back to the plate, I was praying he hit a bomb and did not go middle. Ed threw an absolute BP pitch, chest high, Big Boy probably hit that ball 400'. Dead silence throughout the park, he just walks back to the dugout, next guy one hopper to Ed. Game Over Let's go eat.
1990's, Church league game. We are home team, bottom of 7th, down by 1. Leadoff batter, #6 in lineup gets a single. Coach, me, not paying attention. #8 batter jumps in batter's box and gets a double, fast runner on first, We win, WE win!!
Whoa; opponent catches the mistake and calls umpire's attention to it. One out, runner back to first, down by 1. #7 in lineup bats and gets a single. 2 men on, chances are looking good for the W!
#8 takes his appropriate time at bat in the batter's box; dribbler to SS, Double play! Game over!!
This took place many years ago(in the younger years). Tournament taking place in Richland Washington. The climate in Eastern Wa. is dry & arid. The tournament director was a little goofy. The field was an old field with the old "billboards" covering the outfield fence. Middle of game, the left fielder starts screaming(like a little baby) & comes running into the infield. Umpire inquires about the problem. Left field says,"there's a rattlesnake in my field". Goofy director takes a bat & heads out to LF. Instead of killing the viper, director scoops it up & throws it over the LF fence. Game continues. Minute or two later a good size guy comes up to backstop & says "who threw that snake over the fence?" Goofy director says it was him. Well it seems big guy, his wife, & two kids were having a picnic when rattlesnake lands in the middle of their blanket. He wanted to kill the goofy director but cooler heads prevailed.
Jim Valvano said "never give up" and it applies to so much in our lives. A few years back our loaded team with young stars and a couple of grandpas is undefeated (12-0) but pushed by several equally talented teams. We are playing one of those teams and down by 16 in the bottom of the sixth inning and we have 2 outs with a runner on first. The other team is already hooping and hollering that they have slain the dragon! Our first base runner asks the ump, "how much time is left." He says 2 minutes and immediately runs to second and is thrown out to end the inning.

The ump says, "game over." We protest vigorously that we are entitled to another inning since there are 2 minutes left. He says, "no, you are making a mockery of the game!" Now it really starts getting heated and my brother and I notice the director of the county sports sitting in the stands who also happens to be a friend for many years. We quietly walk over and ask him if we are entitled to another inning. He says yes and directs the ump to play ball.

The other team, still cocky as they come, bats but does not score. We come in and the adrenaline is pumping and get 17 runs with only one out for the win and go undefeated for the season. Never give up!
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