Top row, left to right: Sam Alkhoury, Len Gann, Ed X, Steve Jackson, Greg Stroud, Peter Romeo, Tom Gallo, and Greg Bradley. Bottom row, left to right: Brad Jones, Brand Eigen, Loren Halverson, Debbie Seguin (team manager), Rick Bounarigo, and Morlin Hastings.
Morlin Hastings
The SaddleBrooke Rattlers of the SaddleBrooke Senior Association (SSSA) traveled to Tucson and came away with a Championship! The SB Rattlers were a perfect 6-0 in the two-day Tournament. Len Gann pitched all six wins, his masterful pitching combined with solid defense in the field held their opponents to just 35 runs for the tournament (an average of less than 9 runs per game).
The SB Rattlers started out strong with an 18-2 victory over Just Us. The SB Rattlers’ bats cooled off a little, but still picked up their second win 12-1 against One Time. Their third win of the day, 18-6, came against Global Attack, a team that traveled down from Canada to play some AZ Senior Softball. A team’s results on the first day of the tournament determines their seeding for the single-elimination games on the second day. The SB Rattlers were awarded the No. 2 seed going into the second day.
Wind was a big factor on day two of the tournament. Len came through strong, giving up just 4 walks and getting 7 strikeouts for the day. The SB Rattlers’ discipline at the plate netted 13 walks against 4 strikeouts for the day.
The SB Rattlers started off fast against the No. 7 seed Cowboys with an 18-5 victory. The SB Rattlers’ next game was a rematch against the No. 6 seed Global Attack (who pulled off an upset victory over the No. 5 seed). The SB Rattlers continued their hot hitting and defeated Global Attack 23-11 to get to the Championship game against the No. 1 seed One Time (also a rematch from day 1). After five innings the game was still up grabs, 13-9 in favor of the SB Rattlers. In the end the SB Rattlers’ pitching and defense held One Time to just 1 run in the 6th and 7th inning, leading them to a Championship and 18-10 win over One Time.
Batting over .700 in a tournament is very good, the SB Rattlers had nine players accomplish this feat. Rick Bounarigo led the team batting .941 (16 for 17). The SB Rattlers had four players with an OPS (On-Base % plus Slugging) above 2.0 for this tournament.
The SSSA offers several levels of softball games throughout the week ranging from recreational to competitive. Play is open to both men and women. If you are interested in finding out more about SaddleBrooke Senior Softball, visit saddlebrookesoftball.com or just come on down to the SaddleBrooke Softball field/facility and watch some games.