The New Jersey Senior Softball Association Headquarters

15 Buckingham Drive, Madison, New Jersey 07940

for information call:

Tony Ciavatta at 973-593-0059

October, 2004                    Volume 14                       Number 1

1. First and foremost, count your blessings and be thankful for all the good things in your life and especially if you and yours are enjoying good health and that you feel well enough to play Senior Softball, the game we all love.

2. We still need guys who will volunteer their time to help run the various leagues. It's a thankless job, but someone has to do it, otherwise there is no Senior Softball. So, please volunteer your time and try to help out. If I can do it, any one of you can certainly do it.

3. Team parity is still a problem in most leagues. We all want to win -- but do we want to win by a lopsided score? I know I don't -- I'd much rather win a close, well-played game. We're supposed to be playing softball to have fun, get some exercise and meet a lot of guys in our own age bracket (who may have the same ailments as we do) -- but we should not be playing softball to win at all costs.

4. Once again, I give my respect and admiration to the guys in their 70's and some in their 80's who are still playing softball -- most of the times they are playing against guys who are 10 years or more younger than they are. May the Good Lord continue to bless them. I think we all hope that we will still be playing softball in our 70's and 80's.

The dynasty continues. For the fourth consecutive year, Cash 4 College of Ocean County maintained their ranking as the top 60+ league team in New Jersey. With their final 12 - 8 triumph over a new challenger, Creative Industries of Union County, Cash 4 College cruised undefeated through their five games. Third place went to Ocean County's Buccaneers while the Legends, a team assembled to compliment the "A" division, finished fourth.

In the 8-team "B" division, Morris County's Madisonians captured the championship with a 14 - 5 decision over runner-up Murphy Style Grill of Middlesex County. Another Middlesex entrant, Joe Pepp's Bistro, gets the nod for third place by virtue of their 18 - 11 victory over Ocean County's Roma Savings, the fourth place finisher. Other "B" division combatants were Amigos (Morris County), Genesis (Ocean County), LA Law (Union County) and Survivors (Middlesex County).

With at least two teams representing each of the four NJSSA 60+ leagues and about half the 60+ league teams in New Jersey in competition, more 60+ players took part in the 2002 version of these games than in any previous year.

While the elite players still have the opportunity to display their wares, the success of this "parity" approach is documented by the greater number of participating players and teams.

Perhaps Monmouth and Mercer can generate sufficient interest to develop 60+ leagues in their counties to add to the competitive balance.

Many thanks to Bob Hospidor, Bill Hutcheon and Tom Jackson for their work on field preparation, especially at Del's.

With Howie Marlin's direction, Bob Rowland's implementation, and the input of Tony Ciavatta, Dom Deo, Art Kopacz and Ray Murphy, another senior softball event was brought to a successful conclusion.

BACK TO TOP

©1997-2008 ALS, Inc.