With school out for summer, it can only mean the Sedona Adult Softball League will soon pack the diamonds at Posse Grounds
Park.
After years of covering the Sedona Parks and Recreation’s softball summer league, the staff of the Sedona Red Rock News assembled our first team last year under the direction of our captain, Assistant Managing Editor Ron Eland.
Our team, The Paperboys, is primarily comprised of newspaper staffers, with a few notable exceptions who are willing to fill out our ranks.
We range in skill level, but we are looking to play our best and have a good time on the field. We’ve been practicing weekly to get ready for the season, working on fundamentals.
Last season, we won a few games, earned hits at most of our at-bats, racked up a handful of doubles and made a couple of double plays.
This year, we hope to win a few more games than we did last year. But at every game, we had friends, family and other coworkers in the stands cheering us on, which even made defeats worth the effort.
Personally, I need a little more exercise because an occasional hike can only do so much. A few hours a week at practice and at games worked wonders last year and I’m hoping I can repeat it.
My hits have also improved if I pretend I’m not hitting a softball, but deflecting a blaster bolt with a lightsaber. I’m a nerd. Work to your strengths.
The other teams in the league were good sports last season, offering encouragement when foes made good plays. Only a handful of players were unsportsmanlike, but these incidents were few and far between, isolated from the spirit of their teams as a whole. I would encourage all the players to remember that we’re all neighbors once we hang up the gloves in August.
Winning a tournament isn’t the intent of a summer slow-pitch softball league. It’s a way for friends, coworkers and relatives to share a few hours competing together. We hope all the teams remember than summer softball leagues are about community first and competitiveness second.
I highly encourage other businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, clubs and groups in Sedona to form teams. The team registration fee is nominal if footed by a company’s expense account or split evenly among the players and it builds rapport among employees better than any retreat or weekly staff meeting could.
We hope Sedona residents come support their friends and neighbors this season, which begins Thursday, June 2.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
