Larry Wolfe

The Sun Lakes Senior Softball Spring Tournament and Awards Ceremony was held in late April. The event featured a six-team seeded tournament, a cook-out and the annual awards ceremony. A large contingent of fans and players were on hand for the festivities. Thanks to event coordinators Dr. Roger Spark, Mike Core and everyone who helped to make the event a huge success; special thanks goes out to the cookout chefs Bill Serdar and Lou and Elaine Ricci and to the kitchen crew Shirley Brenden, Charlene Ellis, Terry Finley, Santa Marie Giordano, Lorna Hatch, Karen Sowney, Jody Strauss and Lynn Tanner.

The opening contest of the tournament featured fourth-seeded State Farm Insurance managed by Mike Gloyd and fifth-seeded Desert Cove Rehab Center managed by Steve Hilby. Manager Hilby and third sacker Dennis Colbert led Desert Cove to a 9-7 victory with three hits each while outfielder Doug Friesen paced the Farmers with three hits.

In the second game the third seeded Brenden Financial Services club managed by Kenny Brenden drubbed manager Dennis Kennedy’s sixth seeded Farmers Insurance team 16-3. Ronnie Pennington had three hits and three RBI for the winners while Dennis LePore had three singles for the losers.

In game three, the second-seed, A-1 Golf Carts managed by Gary Hillabolt, played the game two winners, Brenden Financial Services. The finance guys “upset the carts” 11-6 with a well-rounded offensive attack featuring five players with two hits apiece. Bill Whiteley and Kenny “Goombah” Ponzio led the winners with three RBI each.

After a break for the cookout and awards ceremony, the fourth contest pitted Desert Cove against the top-seeded Mutual of Omaha Bank team managed by Larry Kaufmann. The Bankers topped the Rehabbers 15-7 with Manager Kaufmann, Sammy “The Bull” Giordano and Ralph “Poncho” Vasquez leading the way with three hits apiece. Steve Hilby stroked three safeties for the losing squad.

The championship game featured the upstart finance guys from the Brenden team against the Omaha Bankers. In an exciting tight-knit affair, the Bankers scored three runs in the bottom of the last inning to beat Brenden’s Boys 7-6. With two outs Sam Giordano stroked a single up the middle scoring “Steady Eddie” Sowney with the winning run. Denny Davidson paced the winners with three base hits. Congratulations to the Mutual of Omaha team, winners of both the spring league and the championship tournament.

See a separate article featuring this year’s award winners.