The Barrett family, Evers, Mike, Susan, Jack, and Bonnie gathered for a photo along the third-base line at Sun City’s Veterans Memorial Field.
They were celebrating the Monarchs’ 8-7 comeback win over the Adjusters in the first round of the Sun City Softball Club’s post-season tournament.
Evers, age 5, shouted “go grandpa, go” during the exciting night of softball Aug. 13. Grandad, age 85 years young, came through with a single and three key putouts at home as catcher.
The finals of the winners’ and losers’ brackets advanced to the best-of-three series to determine the champion, on Sept. 2, 3 and 4 at Veterans Memorial Field. Winners bracket teams were the Monarchs, Lumberjacks, Hurricanes and Capitals. It was a double elimination format so teams got two losses before elimination.
There were several highlights from the tournament’s first week.
“It’s tremendous, entertaining and lots of fun,” Jack Barrett said before the game. “I’ve been playing softball for 20 years, at third base, first base and now catcher.”
The Monarchs have one of the most veteran players and a relative rookie on their team. The newcomer is left-fielder Jerry Moy, age 67.
Moy’s athletic background includes football and track-and-field for the Northern Illinois University Huskies. Moy made a diving stab for a catch.
“I tell the other players I’m 67 and one-half,” Moy joked. “This is my first year in the league and I love it. I get some hits, but the two catches were a lot in left field.”
It was indeed a thriller as the Monarchs pulled out the win over the Adjusters. The Adjusters overcame a 6-4 deficit with a three-run top of the ninth inning for a 7-6 lead. Two runners were on base when Don Grex clubbed a pitch to right field for the game winning hit. The Monarchs, 11-5 regular season record, came in seeded second behind the Lumberjacks (13-3).
“We’re just thrilled to get the win, it was a tough game,” Grax, who got the game ball, said. “Generally in the tournament, the games are so close, you have to scratch out runs.”
Action continued to be fastpaced at the Sun City Softball Club’s post-season tournament at Veterans Memorial Field. Paul Thompson of the Travelers fields a ground ball against the Coyotes. The Travelers kept their season going with a 9-6 win over the Coyotes in a losers bracket game Aug. 22. A highlight of this week’s games was the Hurricanes’ 1-0 win over topseed Lumberjacks. (Photo by Steve Peterson/My Sun Day News)
The Adjusters struck first with a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat. The Monarchs answered with a three-run first inning, and extended it to 6-2.
It was almost uncanny fashion how the next game was decided in virtually the same manner. With a concert taking place down the street on Aug. 14, the first seed Lumberjacks took on eighth and final seed High Octane.
The Lumberjacks led 5-2 entering the top of the ninth inning, but High Octane rallied for a 6-5 lead. The Lumberjacks weren’t about to be denied, and gained the winners’ bracket spot with two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Bill Klivinger and Chuck Martin had the big hits.
“We have a bunch of great guys,” Lumberjacks manager Joe Gattone said. “We have the best run differential in the league and never give up.”
“It was last place against first place, but we gave them a great game. They have a lot of fast runners,” Joe Mastrange of High Octane said.
Earlier in the tournament, the Hurricanes beat the Travelers 6-5 and the Capitals beat the Coyotes 6-2. The Coyotes bounced back in the losers’ round with a 12-3 victory over the Adjusters on Aug. 15.
