Seniors softball seems to be gaining in popularity in north country

Craig Bakay | Jun 14, 2017

Remember when you were a kid, before school started, at recess, lunch hour, whenever you weren’t in class but were still required to be on the school grounds. Chances are, if there was no snow on the ground, every diamond on the property would be in use. In many Southern Ontario school grounds, the game was called ‘scrub.’

Call it what you will, softball, lob-ball, slo-pitch, whatever, the image of a ball glove slung over a bicycle’s handlebars was common.

When school let out for the summer, the game continued, often on open fields, with bases defined by dragging your heel in the dirt to delineate a less-than-perfect square. Often, rules were set by stomping home plate, as in ‘no lead-offs’ and/or ‘call your field’ if there weren’t enough players to cover all the positions. Players rotated through the positions and everybody got their turns at bat.

That generation has become seniors now, but the memories still linger.

So is it any wonder that seniors seem to be returning to the game, albeit with a slower-paced approach?

This summer, there are no less than three, and probably four teams (using the term ‘team’ loosely) operating in the northern areas of Frontenac and L & A Counties, whereas it wasn’t that long ago there were none.

Cloyne, Arden and Sharbot Lake all have seniors softball programs operating this summer, with Sharbot Lake being the new kids on the block.

By all accounts, things got started about five years ago when the late Don Patry and Lauder Smith put an ad in The Frontenac News asking if anybody wanted to get together once a week in Cloyne to play a little ball.

As it turns out, enough people did. Some of them were from the Arden area.

“My wife Karen and I along with the Pratts drove up there and enjoyed it so much we thought we’d try to get something similar going in Arden,” said Gord Brown, the de facto ‘commissioner’ of Arden seniors baseball.

That was three years ago and from an inaugural season of about 10-12 players, the Arden contingent grew to around 20.

One of those was Sharbot Lake’s Mike Procter, who this year started testing the waters to see if there was enough interest for a team there.

“I’ve had all sorts of inquiries,” Procter said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we could fill two teams.”

That doesn’t surprise Brown or Rick Guthrie, who is one of the main organizers in Cloyne.

“I was lucky enough to play rec league until 2013,” Guthrie said. “But in many ways, this (seniors ball) is better.

“It’s all of the fun, with none of the stress.

“When you go back and catch that fly ball, it’s just as much fun as it always was.”

“I always come home with a few aches and pains, but yes, it is fun,” said Brown. “You know we have quite a few players in their 70s and a couple are over 75.”

Another aspect of seniors ball is that while pick-up games in the ’60s tended to be more of a guys thing (although there always seemed to be a couple of girls in the game), seniors ball tends to be co-ed, with more females than males on many nights.

There’s no real ‘league’ of sorts but there is talk of games between the communities including a potential Canada 150 ‘tournament.’

At any rate, if you’re 50-something-plus, you may want to check it out this summer.

In Cloyne, games are Friday mornings at the field behind the tennis courts. Contact is Rick Guthrie 613-336-3460.

In Arden, games are Wednesday and Sunday evenings at the Arden ball field. Contact is Gord Brown, 613-335-4843.

In Sharbot Lake, games are Wednesday and Sunday evenings at the ball field. Contact is Mike Procter, 613-279-2572.

All you need is a glove and it’s all about just having fun.