- April 19, 2024
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John Fatelo makes contact. Photo by Brent Woronoff
John Fatelo waits for the pitch. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jim Contreda takes a practice swing. Photo by Brent Woronoff
John Bagg is the commissioner of the Wadworth Senior Softball 69+ league. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Beth and Charlie Corello. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Bill Coonfield throws the ball home. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Pitcher Larry Jeziorski pitches. Pitchers throw from behind a protective screen. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Bob Seelig and John Morreale were honored this year with memorial plaques added to the softball pavilion at Wadsworth Park. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Tom McNamara and Pete Kuchinsky were honored this year with memorial plaques added to the softball pavilion at Wadsworth Park. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Vito Castignoli pitches. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Wadsworth Senior Softball 69+ player Jim Zgorelski. Photo by Brent Woronoff
The grass was green and the weather was perfect for the Wadsworth Park Senior Softball 69+ annual family picnic on March 17.
The green grass was appropriate for St. Patrick's Day, and was thanks to the hard work of Christian Ginter of the Flagler County Parks and Recreation Department, who maintains the field.
“I'm glad the grass is green and we're not looking up at the roots,” joked Jim Contreda, 72, who was watching the first of three softball games played before the picnic lunch was served.
After lunch, the group held a memorial for their fellow senior softball members who died in the past year.
Contreda is a player/manager in the Flagler Senior Softball 65+ league and also plays in the Wadsworth Park league.
“I've been playing in the senior leagues for 13 years,” Contreda said. “Of course, you wear out your parts,” he said, showing his scar from knee replacement surgery.
Charlie Corello, 81, is a founding member of the league. It started with eight to 10 players in 1995, he said.
“We didn't have teams at that time,” he said. “In 1996 we finally had two teams.”
The league got so popular, a few years later it split off into the Flagler Senior Softball 65+ and 50+ leagues at the Flagler County Fairgrounds. The Wadsworth Park 69+ league has grown to six teams with over 70 players.
Gary Hall, a league coordinator for Flagler Senior Softball, said the 65+ league has 10 teams, and the 50+ league has four teams.
“People don't retire as young as they used to,” he said.
While a couple of women play in the Wadsworth Park 69+ league, others are behind the scenes, Beth Corello, Charlie's wife of 61 years, ran the picnic. Cheryl Collura is the league's assistant secretary and assistant treasurer. Her husband, John Collura, is the league secretary. Al Duddleston is the treasurer.
John Bagg, the league's commissioner, has played at Wadsworth for seven years. Before that, he played senior softball in St. Petersburg, home of the original senior softball league, Kids and Kubs, also known as the Three-Quarter Century Softball Club (age 75 and older), which started in 1930.
The oldest active player in the Wadsworth Park league is Frank Ussia, who will be 89 in September.
After lunch, the group held a memorial for their fellow senior softball members who died in the past year. They included Bob Seelig, who was one of the league's founding members; John Morreale; Tom McNamara; and Pete Kuchinsky. Each had an engraved wooden plaque added to the other plaques honoring players who have passed over the years. They are attached to roof beams lining the softball field's picnic pavilion.
The league runs from mid-January to June 3, Bagg said. Summer is too hot to play, they say, so they are no longer “Boys of Summer,” but their passion for the game is as strong as ever.
