Larry Wolfe
The Boys of Summer, written by Roger Kahn, is a baseball classic. The title of the book refers to the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s, a talented team that usually won the National League pennant only to lose the World Series to those Damn Yankees. In Sun Lakes, we have our own “Boys of Summer,” the players who brave the heat to participate in our Summer Senior Softball League.
This is our second Summer League, and we’ve expanded to five teams this year. The team sponsors are A-1 Golf Carts, Frank Margiotta’s Farmers Insurance Agency, Robson Ranch, Ralph Vasquez’ State Farm Insurance Agency and the Young Realty Team. Team managers of the five teams are Kim Whitney, Doug Freisen, Randy Peterson, Jim Leckner and Rick Oien, respectively. After the first 10 games of the season, the standings were very close with A-1 leading the pack with a 6-4 won-lost record. Robson Ranch and Young Realty were one game back, both sporting 5-5 records; the other two squads were both at 4-6, only two games back of the leaders.
The top hitters (based upon a minimum of 25 at bats) were Dan Melosi (.829), Steve Andrews (.786), Tom Kasunic (.774), Tom Chilton (.760), Ken Brenden (.758) and Reyes Gonzales (.731). Chilton and Gonzales led the league in homers with seven each, followed by Melosi (6) and Kasunic (5).
The Summer League season continues through September 20 with games every Tuesday and Thursday morning at the Field of Dreams. Games start at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and 8:00 a.m. on Thursdays.