Special Events!
On the Special Events page you may discover special events to attend or, enjoy reading about in case you missed it!
Events are past, present, and future that are on or off the softball fields, in or out of the bubble... If you have an event you would like to share, please email me the details a month in advance to get the word out! Please, no politically based events!
A Surprise Birthday Celebration For The Oldest Guy In Rec D4!
Sure, this is a 55+ softball league... sure, some are quite a bit older than that however, there is one player that you would think is hmmm, maybe in his seventies! .... Nope, he just turned EIGHTY NINE!!
Rich Brend is an amazing player- even better than some of the "youth" in D4- yes, I said it:)
He is quick witted, hits the crap out of the ball, and behind the plate as catcher, calls out the plays to the infield spot on! After I met Rich at the vets tournament last year and saw him playing as if he was a younger guy I began following him in rec D4 learning he was in his late eighties.
I thought how cool to surprise him with a birthday celebration at the field however, I chose not to wait his 90th- none of us knows our expiration date. Jack Kleffman shared his birthday was coming up in March so I got to work... a mass amount of cupcakes, large helium ballons, and a photo journal of his playing was to be presented to him on a game day which, turned out to be his actual birthday!
The D4 family joined in the fun bringing more baked goodies and Buck Buchanan played Happy Birthday on his bag pipes. The week before the surprise I made cards of each team and had all the players sign their team birthday card to Rich. I gathered photos I had taken of Rich from the vets tournament, the current season and a few seasons back.... was he surprised? Indeed he was! As he said to someone; "it blew my mind what she did".... To top off the special event his son and daughter in law happened to drive up for his birthday so got to be part of the celebrating... Here's a few pics from the day- if you don't know Rich, you should! He is amazing!
I told him there is a saying; "you are what you eat"- so, Rich, what do you eat I asked?- everything he replied!
Cheers to you, Rich, we are looking forward to celebrating your 90th next year!
SAVE THE DATE!!
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Did you know about The Villages Annual Softball Tournament In October? Our own guys had a team, The Geezers!
Jim Cullhane, from D4, is seen above on third base. He got the only home run for the Geezers in the tournament of four games played.
Pictured below is D4's first base man Bob Newman who knows how to stretch when it counts! He knocked that sputnik outta there!
