News and Items of Interest | Bama Senior Softball

We had some luck with the rain holding off and there was more excitement at Liberty Park as the RASSA Post Season continued. The two League Championship games were played on Thursday, 10/27, and all of the teams that advanced this far to compete for a trip to the World Series are to be congratulated!

In the first game, the second place Tuesday Green managed by Cecil Kwong faced off against the Red managed by Wayne Sheets. It was close for a while, but the Green finally pulled ahead and defeated the Red 16 – 11 to become the Tuesday League Champions.

After the first game, we were honored to have none other than our own colorful celebrity, Rick “NEON” Barlok throw out the ceremonial pitch! He had on so many bright colors that sunglasses were rendered useless. His pitch was called a “quite liberal” strike on the far outside corner. The applause that followed was deafening! Thank you, “NEON” for brightening our day! (See attached action photo.)

In the second game, the second place Thursday Gold managed by Duffy Vanderford faced off against the first place Green managed by Mike Madden. After the Gold pulled out to an early 9 – 2 lead, the Green finally caught up to tie the score. From that point on, it was an inning-by-inning seesaw battle to the very end. Tied 13 -13 after the top of the 7th, Green rallied to come back and defeated the Gold on a walk off hit in the bottom of the 7th 14 – 13.

Following the 2021 totally Gold World Series, the table is now set for a 2022 totally Green World Series. Congratulations to both Green teams! Since it will be too cold for shirts and skins, there is a rumor going around that one team may be wearing different jerseys. Otherwise, the umps will have to be careful on close calls at the bases. As you probably guessed, there are a few players who are on both teams. Coin flips determined which team the players would be on for the World Series, and this made it necessary for substitute players to be picked up. The resulting World Series rosters are as follows:

Tuesday Green

Kwong, Cecil – Manager

Cook, Desiree

Craft, Stan

Ferguson, David

Ferguson, Doug

Hill, Jim

Kuykendall, Dave

Shaver, Lynn

Small, Curtis

Thomas, Dwight

Watkins, Bobby (sub)

Thursday Green

Madden, Mike – Manager

Bedwell, David

Cheek, Phillip (sub)

Easterwood, Harold

Kilgore, Tom (sub)

Laskowski, Bill

Lathem, Frankie (sub)

Lilla, Mark

Little, Glen

Ray, Ken

Taylor, David (sub)

An updated schedule reflecting the results of the games played to date is shown under “Schedules 2022”.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PLAYOFF SCHEDULES

RASSA UPDATED REVISED 2022 Post Season Schedule 10-26-2022

NEW Feature

From The Ballpark
A blog where players and managers can make comments on the games.

2023 Picnic

Then it was time for everyone to socialize and enjoy a great barbecue meal with all the trimmings, while being serenaded by the wonderful music of Jeff Tyler and his drummer, David Hyatt.

With everyone full of barbecue, etc., Henry then recognized and welcomed Player’s Spouses and
Family Members, as well as special honored guests including Gilbert Belcher, Cecil Kersh, John
LaBue, Gerald & Alice Stephens and Harmon & Judy Turner. It was great to see all of them again!
He then thanked all of those who have made the overall operation of RASSA a success; and
recognized those original players when CASSA (now RASSA in honor of our Lead Founder, Russ
Arthur) began in 2004, who are still playing with us. These include Wayne Sheets, Hollis Beecham
and Ron Oliver.
Bill Lovell, Thursday League Director, then noted that the addition of 20 new 2023 active players
brought our active current player total to 88. He then called the names of the new players. All are noted in the RASSA Player Directory. He further emphasized the importance of all of us recruiting new players each year and encouraged the players to get 3 or 4 RASSA business cards on their way out and put them in their wallets to give out when they run into someone who might be interested in playing senior
softball.
Bill then asked all members of the Central Alabama Softball Hall of Fame to stand and be recognized.
He then specifically recognized the new RASSSA members inducted this year (Steve Belcher, Earl
Dunn and Rel Underwood)

Our picnic was held on Tuesday, September 19th, and a very fun and meaningful time was had by all.
Henry Rumble, Commissioner, welcomed everyone and recognized those who directly helped with the
picnic.
David Ferguson, Tuesday League Director, followed by naming our RASSA Saints (See web site) who
have left us and those who are on our prayer list (See web site); and then giving a prayer.
Then it was time for everyone to socialize and enjoy a great barbecue meal with all the trimmings, while
being serenaded by the wonderful music of Jeff Tyler and his drummer, David Hyatt.
With everyone full of barbecue, etc., Henry then recognized and welcomed Player’s Spouses and
Family Members, as well as special honored guests including Gilbert Belcher, Cecil Kersh, John
LaBue, Gerald & Alice Stephens and Harmon & Judy Turner. It was great to see all of them again!
He then thanked all of those who have made the overall operation of RASSA a success; and
recognized those original players when CASSA (now RASSA in honor of our Lead Founder, Russ
Arthur) began in 2004, who are still playing with us. These include Wayne Sheets, Hollis Beecham
and Ron Oliver.
Bill Lovell, Thursday League Director, then noted that the addition of 20 new 2023 active players
brought our active current player total to 88. He then called the names of the new players. All are noted
in the RASSA Player Directory. He further emphasized the importance of all of us recruiting new players
each year and encouraged the players to get 3 or 4 RASSA business cards on their way out and put
them in their wallets to give out when they run into someone who might be interested in playing senior
softball.
Bill then asked all members of the Central Alabama Softball Hall of Fame to stand and be recognized.
He then specifically recognized the new RASSSA members inducted this year (Steve Belcher, Earl
Dunn and Rel Underwood)
Dale McWhorter, Board Member and Treasurer, then asked Lisa Rutherford, Bob Hunter’s daughter,
to present the 2023 Gentleman Bob Hunter Sportsmanship Award to Ron Oliver. Dale noted that
this is a very special award because the players vote on who the recipient will be each year. (See a
detailed write-up on Ron on the RASSA web site)
Dale then announced that Erin Leist was the winner of the 2023 Bob Hunter Scholarship Award of
$1,000. Since she was attending class, Lisa accepted the award on her behalf. Erin was born and
raised in Laurel, MS, where she was a member at First-Trinity Presbyterian Church. She is currently a
senior at Samford University studying interior design and hopes to pursue a career in residential design
in Birmingham after graduation. She is an affiliate member of South Highland Presbyterian Church,
Bob and Carolyn’s former church, where she contributes her time and talents to the congregation.
Dale concluded by congratulating Erin on her scholarship award and hoping that she will be able to
come to the park for a visit before our 2023 RASSA season ends.
Henry recognized Sandi Wilson, Vestavia Hills Parks and Recreation Superintendent, and
summarized her role and what she has done for RASSA. Sandi initially worked for Trussville P & R
and joined Vestavia P& R as P & R Superintendent 2020. After playing at three previous parks, with
the last one being Green Springs, RASSA was very fortunate to begin a long-term relationship with
Vestavia P & R and Sandi. is a key part of this. When we began playing on the beautiful fields at Liberty

Park, we thought we had died and gone to heaven! Sandi was there for us from the very beginning
and has done a terrific job over the 3 years we have played here. She has always responded quickly
to any concerns or issues, and she demonstrates the best in management responsibility by always
delivering when she says that something will be done. We just wanted to express a small token our
appreciation to Sandi for being a key part of the success RASSA at Liberty Park, and we hope both
she and RASSA continue to work together for a long time to come.
Jeff then tested the crowd with a sing a long ending with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”.
Henry then presented a few special verbal awards – no plaques or certificates – just recognition. He
began on a more serious note with the following awards:
The “Humanitarian Award” went to Phillip Cheek for his annual participation in clean-up efforts
following damage caused by storms.
The “Come Back Player of the Year Award” went to Tom Kilgore for his courageous efforts to return
following his serious accident.
Since there are 3 games on both Tuesdays and Thursdays, we need an umpire that is willing to do one
of the 3 games at 9:00. So, the “Umpire Extraordinaire Award” went to Pat Buchner for helping us
out by excellently umpiring one game on each day. This is rare, and since Pat may return to playing
next year, we will need to get lucky again or have volunteer player umpires next year.
The “Over and Above Assistance Award” went to Ken Sransky for his voluntarily showing up early
on both Tuesdays and Thursdays to help the League Directors set up the equipment for the games.
Sometimes he gets here so early that he sets up before the League Directors get here, and he even
occasionally shows up with sausage biscuits which he readily shares.
The “Tenacity and Positive Outlook Award” went to Rick Erdimer. Unfortunately, he has kidney
disease. While waiting for a transplant, he must have dialysis every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
The amazing thing is that he continues to play softball on both Tuesday and Thursday with a smile on
his face. He thanked Rick for being a role model for all of us.
Then he moved on to the lighter awards.
The “Dubious Balance Award” went to Henry. As a result, he and Phillip Cheek, his reliable crane,
have developed a new softball statistic. It is the “hits versus falls ratio”. The objective is to get more hits
than you have falls each game.
The “No More Ponytail but Continues Tail Gaiting Award” went to Rel Underwood.
The “Higher Than a Kite Award” went to Jim Hill for his unique pitching style.
The “Best Beard Award” was a tie between David Taylor and John LaBue.
The “Yellow Bucket Award” goes to Beth Moore. Beth, we really do appreciate your encouraging
us to recycle.
The “Biggest Badest Biceps Award” went to Ed Girard.
The “Best Dresser Off the Field Award” went to Ron Oliver.

The “Brightest Dresser on the Field Award” to Herb McLure.
The “Dirt Dauber Award” went to Steve Southern for his amazing slides that we all wish we could
still do.
There was a 3-way tie for the “Big Bopper Award”. The winners were Stan Craft, Ken Ray and
Dwight Thomas.
And finally, there was a 3-way tie for the “Funniest on the Field Award”. The winners were Phillip
Cheek, Harold Fincher (aka Finch) and Dwight Thomas.
Next, Rel Underwood read a short poem honoring the iconic Jimmy Buffet and then asked Jeff to
close things out with the song, “Margaritaville”.
Henry then concluded by thanking everyone for coming and wishing safe travels home.
If you didn’t make it this year, we hope you will in 2024 when we will be celebrating RASSA’s 20th
birthday!