Larry Wolfe The Lady Sluggers will open their season with a home game at the Field of Dreams on Monday, Jan. 5. Below is their entire home schedule for the 2026 season. All games start at noon; doubleheaders are played against each opposing squad. Monday, Jan. 5, vs. the Roadhaven Rebels Monday, Jan. 19, vs.…
Larry Wolfe Our Fall Softball Season schedule of games was shortened due to the unusual amount of November rainfall. We lost a dozen games and several practice sessions due to the downpours and the resulting unplayable field. At the press deadline for this issue of the Splash, we had close pennant races in both divisions.…
Larry Wolfe Note: This article was first published in the November 2012 edition of the Sun Lakes Splash and is being republished in memory of Mike Core who passed in October. His career may have taken a divergent path from what Mike Core had planned, but it was a major success nonetheless. After earning a…
Larry Wolfe Our Fall Season is now well underway and will continue through Dec. 19. Opening day on Oct. 28 was enhanced by a hot dog cookout. Thanks to Vern and Janet Rodgers for organizing that event. As the legendary actor Humphrey Bogart said, “A hot dog at a ball game beats a steak at…
Larry Wolfe No, this article isn’t just about The Long Season, a book published in 1960, which chronicled pitcher Jim Brosnan’s candid personal diary of the 1959 baseball season when he pitched for both the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. That book was one of the first “tell-alls” regarding what life was really like…
Larry Wolfe In baseball and softball, it truly is “all about the stats.” No other sports are as focused on “the numbers” as are baseball and softball. The game’s individual matchups, such as pitcher versus batter, and the ability to track every action has led to a rich history of analyzing those statistics. The noted…
Larry Wolfe As of the beginning of July, we’re nearly halfway through our summer softball season. Our 22-week season started on April 29 and continues through Sept. 18. Doubleheaders are played every Tuesday and Thursday morning, with the first pitch at 7:30 a.m. That’s an attempt to “beat the heat,” but that doesn’t always work,…
Larry Wolfe A “Renaissance Man,” or modern-day polymath, is someone who has acquired knowledge, expertise, and proficiency in a wide variety of fields, usually unrelated. To the list of historical figures, such as da Vinci, Galileo, and Aristotle, maybe we should add Alex Santucci. Here are some of his interests and accomplishments: • Baseball player…
Larry Wolfe The Redeemed Team, managed by Ron Carmichael, won the Sun Division Spring pennant with a record of 9-5, outlasting Manager Jon Hendrikse’s Wolfe & Associates team and Manager Mike Gloyd’s Spooner PT club, both finishing tied for second with .500 records. In the Lakes Division, Manager Gary Hillabolt’s Young Home Team finished first…
Larry Wolfe He’s from Chicago. He’s Irish. What else could he be? I’ll let you ponder that for a while. Patrick Murphy graduated from Brother Rice High, Chicago’s premier Catholic college preparatory school, where he was on the football, wrestling, and softball teams. He attended Moraine Valley Community College before earning a Criminal Law Degree…