After 5: Diamond Days

Though the sport’s heyday in Springfield was in the 1980s – when the city was known as the softball capital of the USA – the popularity has waned little.

Springfield-Greene County Park Board Recreation Supervisor Mark Nelson employs 50 to 60 part-timers and needs 50 umpires to keep the area’s softball players active in Park Board leagues.

Softball seems to attract people from all walks of life, personally and professionally speaking.

“Some people are out there for fun. Some people are out there to be competitive again,” says Justin Sassanella, who organizes two teams for his employer, Ozarks Technical Community College. “You’ll see a little Jekyll and Hyde, I suppose.”

Connections

One of OTC’s teams hails from the main campus; the other is from Richwood Valley. The rosters comprise teachers, advisers and adjunct faculty members who play on Tuesday nights. Sassanella, the college’s recruitment specialist, organizes OTC’s teams as a way to build connections to the school and among the staff.

“We’ve had some games where the Richwood Valley team has played against the main campus,” says Sassanella, who played professional baseball seven years ago for a New York Mets rookie team, “We like to invite the entire school out to come see the teams, cook some hot dogs and have a good time. It is really great to see some folks out of character, to get them out of their suits and ties.”

That’s a high point of the game for Tony Stokes, operations manager for Cox Fitness Centers and outfielder for Trauma Junkies, made up primarily of paramedics and emergency medical technicians.

“That’s one of the best things about doing something like that,” Stokes says. “Just getting out of that working environment and seeing people relaxed and having fun is really good. It relieves the stress.”

Fun is the name of the game for Dawna Riley, Stokes’ teammate who organizes Cox’s Trauma Junkies. Riley, an ambulance EMT, plays first base and describes opposing softball team players as young and fit.

“Being EMTs, we’re not really that athletic,” Riley says. “We work 24-hour shifts, sit around and eat a lot.”

Jack McCracken, owner of JCM Construction, takes his softball a little more seriously.

He is on several teams, including the men’s Springfield Crush and the co-ed Lake Rats.

The Crush is good enough to qualify for nationals.

McCracken enjoys close, competitive games. “Blow outs – we don’t really enjoy,” he says.

For show

Perhaps the most fun had is by an unorthodox group of teams in the Branson show league.

This late-night league, played sometimes past midnight and run by John Dailey, has no umpires and is made up of crew and staff from Branson’s theaters. Dailey works in the lighting department at the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre and says his team is made up of a variety of performers and backstage types.

“We’ve got two from Shoji, four Baldknobbers, one from 50s at the Hop and a member of the National Guard who used to be a Shoji member,” Dailey says. “He got back from Iraq last year.”

OTC’s Sassanella plays in Branson, too, on a team called The Slackers.

“It is really, really laid back,” Sassanella says. “We go out there and have a good time. The population of entertainers down there is pretty close knit.”

Play Ball

Springfield-Greene County Park Board Recreation Supervisor Mark Nelson says are signups are just about to close for the fall season. Would-be players should call (417) 837-5817.

“It’s really easy,” Nelson says. “You’ve got to pay your registration fee, come up with some equipment and join a team. We’ve got new people joining all the time.”