Rain Shuffles West Metro League Rec Tournament

Sept. 1, 2009 – Steve Simmons New England & North Regional Director, Clubs & Leagues

EDINA, Minn. – The West Metro Senior Softball League started summer league action in April and had played all their games without interruption, until it was time to host a SSUSA North Region Recreational Tournament on July 21 at the Van Valkenburg fields here.

That was the Ken Brown / Chuck Lindgren Memorial Tournament and on the morning of the tournament rains fell heavily leaving the playing fields looking like swamps and the decision was made to postpone the tournament for a day and play the event on July 22.

This was unfortunate for the out-of-town teams, two Rochester Relics teams from that southern Minnesota city and the Lumberjacks from the northern Minnesota city of Bemidji. All three teams were unable to make the trip to the Twin Cities the following day. This reduced the field of teams by three and one of the Roseville Senior Softball League teams also lost players so they merged with an existing Roseville team.

All of this shuffling left the tournament with eight teams, which made for an easy reschedule of games. All teams played three games with the final games determining first, third, fifth and seventh places. The three Roseville Senior Softball League teams took the top three spots and the other five spots were filled by the West Metro teams.

The tournament champion was John Orf’s Ancell team, beating Forest Products 18-12 in the championship game.

There were several noteworthy aspects to this tournament. The tournament had a healthy 60 Major / Major Plus representation among its players. Players from both the MN Prize 60’s and the MN Masters 60’s were liberally sprinkled among the rosters. Both these teams are 60 Major teams.

In addition Dave Reed, a member of Miken/Tanel Sports from Florida, who was vacationing in Minnesota and staying with West Metro player Arlan Williams, took part in the tournament. So did Steve Strommen who plays for the Top Gun 60’s in California and Ken Young who plays for Brix & Stix of the Villages in Florida. Finally Gordy Gerlach of Ricker’s also was involved in the one-day competition. All four of these players are on 60 Major Plus teams.

Gerlach, in fact, was just coming off a national championship. His team, Ricker’s, won the Senior Softball World Series 60 Major Plus championship this past July 4h weekend in Detroit.

What makes these recreation tournaments so interesting, and entertaining, is that 60 Major Plus championship players, like Gerlach, are paired with or against some players who will never play in a sanctioned senior tournament. It is a rewarding experience for all involved.

It is a fun event as well. Reed and Williams joined the team, “Lefty Heaven”, formed by West Metro president Bob Hartshorn which was comprised entirely of left handed hitters. The team finished 1 & 2 with their two losses coming by one run in extra innings and by two runs after once leading by double digits.

The final noteworthy item was the look at the youngest and oldest players in the tournament. Joe Boeltl, at 51, was the youngest player but he only lasted one game before going down with a back injury. Bob Lundegaard, at 77, was once again the oldest participant and he played all three games. This marked the fourth time (out of 12) that Lundegaard has earned this honor.