Seniors take the field for softball activity

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 2, 2009

By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Ron Boyer has the build ó and power ó of a major leaguer.
He stroked a pitch deep into the right-center alley Wednesday morning and in a few bounces the softball banged against the fence. While the fielders were still in pursuit, Boyer angled around second and churned toward third.
Boyer eased in with a triple, though he could have registered an inside-the-park home run without breaking a sweat.
But this was practice and, heck, Boyer is 69.
Wednesday mornings have become a special breakfast club this fall for men and women practicing for the senior adult softball competition that will be part of the 2009 N.C. Senior Games.
Players 55 and older ó the oldest is 87-year-old Duard Cress of China Grove ó have been practicing from 9 to 10 a.m. every Wednesday, trying to remind their bones and muscles what it was like to play baseball and softball in those years when their bodies were more flexible.
“I don’t care how it feels,” Al Rankin, 75, of Cleveland, said of the mornings after. “I’ll work it out.”
As with most of these Rowan County players, Rankin isn’t out of condition. He does YMCA water aerobics and walks routinely. But baseball, as with any sport, calls for movements that the body hasn’t exactly been making for awhile.
“It’s almost like doing something totally new,” Rankin said.
Richard Johnson, 64, of Salisbury, found himself running a couple long trips around the bases during the practice. It led to some heavy breathing back on the sidelines, but he said it felt good to have the juices flowing again.
“I’m enjoying this,” he said. “A lot of people should try it. They don’t know what they can do till they try.”
Phyllis Loflin-Kluttz, coordinator for the Salisbury/Rowan Senior Games, said she appreciates the players’ desire. A week ago, she drove up to the City Sports Complex on South Boundary Street when it was cold and the field was soaked from rain, expecting no one would show up for the morning practice.
But there were her seniors, out on the field warming up.
“My eyes filled up with tears,” she said.
What did the players tell her?
There’s no crying in softball.
Loflin-Kluttz says about 36 seniors have signed up for softball so far. She anticipates eventually having enough players for four Rowan County teams, competing by gender and age brackets done in five-year increments.
“We collect new people every week,” she said.
Loflin-Kluttz thinks when the senior softball competition begins next spring, the Salisbury-Rowan team will play at least three different counties as part of the qualifying to reach the state finals.
As a warmup, the seniors will play an exhibition at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium against former pro football players Tommy Barnhardt, Ben Coates and Natrone Means, besides whatever former pro baseball players can be rounded up.
When winter sets in and workouts outside becomes impossible, Loflin-Kluttz says practices will be moving to the Hefner VA Medical Center’s Building No. 6 gymnasium. When the warmer weather returns, the players will go back to the Sports Complex.
Cress, who lives on Shue Road near China Grove, is a veteran softball player, but more recently he has brought home gold medals in N.C. Senior Games by pitching horseshoes.
On Wednesday morning, he returned to the mound, pitching softballs.
“I’d like to take a team to Raleigh that would win it,” Cress says, unable to hide his competitive spirit.
Before Cress went to the mound, coach-player C.M. Yates told him he had better warm up.
“Let me tie my shoes,” Cress said.
Marie Graham, 71, said the hitting part of the game has been the toughest to recapture ó the timing, that is. The pitcher seems so far away, Graham said, and she can’t help but be impatient at the plate, waiting for the ball to arrive.
“But I enjoy this,” she said, waiting for her next turn at bat. “I really do. I’d like to see more women out here.”
The practice sounds are familiar to any ball player.
Balls popping against leather.
The ping of an aluminum bat making contact.
Foul balls banging against the fence.
Footsteps stomping toward home.
There are a lot of groans and laughs, too.
After some preliminary warmups Wednesday, Yates called everyone together near the third base dugout to determine who would start batting practice in the field and who would hit.
Any volunteers for catcher, Yates asked.
“I can catch,” Rankin said, “but I can’t throw the ball.”
Rankin’s confession drew a lot of laughs.
The others knew the feeling.
Seniors interested in playing softball are being invited to contact Loflin-Kluttz at 704-216-7780; Tim Pittman, 704-638-5289; or Rufty-Holmes Senior Center, 704-216-7714.