News story

SSWC Reopens Mavericks Investigation

May 1, 2000 – Senior Softball-USA

SACRAMENTO, California ˆ The Seacrest Mavericks, mired in scandal last year, are facing a new bath of bad news in 2000.

The Mavericks are the target of two Senior Softball World Championships investigations ˆ one old and one new.

The new investigation involves the Mavericks using a suspended player in a SSWC Qualifier in San Diego in March. SSWC also announced it is reopening its probe of the Mavericks' underage player scandal.

"We have informed Ken Lipinski, manager of the 50+ Mavericks, that we have received new information that he may have had knowledge of the underage players before competing in the 1998 World Championships in Chicago," said Terry Hennessy, SSWC executive director.

The SSWC also notified the other eight National Summit Softball organizations and the National Senior Softball Advisory Board about the reopened investigation. Lipinski is a member of the Advisory Board. A number of the other Summit softball organizations said they were already investigating the incident.

In a scandal that shook the sport last year, three players from the Mavericks were banned for life for falsifying records and playing underage. The team was stripped of its World Championships title and fined $1,500.

The banned players included Robert Bohanon, who was 43 during the 1998 World Championships; William Colt, who was 46, and Mark Oslon, who was 47.

At the time, SSWC commended Lipinski for stepping forward with the information that the players were underage.

But in the past few weeks, SSWC officials say they have received letters and testimony that implicate Lipinski.

"The next step is to finish talking to players and managers who have information about the incident," said Hennessy. "Then the board will draft a letter summarizing the information and ask Lipinski for a written response. We want to act quickly and fairly so that Lipinski has an opportunity to respond and we have a chance to put the matter to rest."

SSWC officials say they also are investigating a separate incident involving Lipinski using a suspended player on his roster at the March San Diego Challenge Cup, a SSWC Qualifier.

The player, Bruce Walker, was suspended last year and through the 2001 season for falsifying records. He appeared on the roster and played with the Mavericks during the SSWC qualifier.

Lipinski called the SSWC main office in Sacramento after the tournament and said that he told the San Diego SSWC tournament director and the other 50+ division managers before the games that he had Walker on his roster and that he was playing exhibition games. He said that no one objected.