A-1 Golf Cart Champions: Front (left to right) Dave Boone, Chuck Schaan, Ron Pennington, Dennis Bernaiche and Brian Jetter; back (left to right) Manager Gay Hillabolt, Gary Brinkman, Jim Dunn, Steve Holliger, Tom Kasunic, Chuck Swanson and Jim Leckner. (Photo courtesy of Core Photography).
Larry Wolfe
The A-1 Golf Cart team, managed by Gary Hillabolt, won both the winter league pennant and the end-of-year tournament titles. The golfers had to sweep a season-ending doubleheader from Mutual of Omaha, managed by Mike Gloyd, to clinch the title. They did just that with 14-11 and 17-11 victories on the last day of the regular season. The bankers settled for a tie for second with the State Farm Insurance squad, managed by Larry Kaufmann. A-1 finished at 13-7 compared to 12-8 won-lost records for Mutual and State Farm. (See a separate article in this edition of the Splash for a recap of the tournament).
The top ten hitters for the 2015-2016 campaigns were Reyes Gonzalez and Larry Kaufmann (both at .804); Steve Hilby and Tom Kasunic (both at .751); Chuck Myrick (.750); Randy Neumann (.738); Tim Baldwin (.714); Bill Corso (.705); Dave Martin (.693); and John Whitman (.690).
Reyes Gonzalez was named Rookie-of-the-Year while Tom Kasunic earned the Most Improved Player award. Owen Bae was honored with the Sportsmanship Award.
In order to have a successful program like ours, it requires a lot of volunteers. Thanks to this year’s team managers, Ken Brenden, Mike Gloyd, Gary Hatch, Gary Hillabolt, Larry Kaufmann, Dave Rinaldo, John Seigla and TJ Tjernlund. Kudos go out to all of our volunteer umpires and scorers, especially Umpires/Scorers Coordinator Dennis LePore and Chief Scorer Cyndy Hilby. Also encomiums (look it up!) to Field Preparation Chief Larry Delaney, Monday Program Czar Red Waterfield and Saturday Program Coordinator Ken Brenden.
Now that our organized league play has been completed, we switch to a recreational format for the summer months. The Field of Dreams is open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings for batting practice and pick-up games. Check our website at www.sunlakessoftball.com for start times as we start earlier and earlier as the temperatures rise. If you’re interested in joining us for league play in the fall, now is the time to come down to the field and get in shape!