THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509060153
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
WHAT DO YOU GET when you take 17 old guys, put them in uniforms, drive them to Maryland and enter them in a big national championship softball tournament?
Lots of sore muscles, aching backs, banged-up knees, an empty bottle of pain killers and a little dizziness from breathing too many Ben Gay fumes.
But, if everything goes right, and nobody gets hurt too early, and the joints don't stiffen too soon, you might just earn the right to be called the National Masters softball champions.
Especially when the roster includes some of the best to ever play the game.
Such was the case with a local team assembled by Portsmouth lawyer Warren Kozak.
Yep, that's exactly what a group of over-the-hillers from South Hampton Roads did when they joined forces with a couple of players from a few other cities to take on 66 of the country's best in the Amateur Softball Association's Over-40 World Series.
But the team known as Harrison's Moving didn't make it easy on themselves. No, it was just the opposite, in fact - taking the roughest, longest, hardest route possible.
After winning its first game Saturday morning in Kettering, Md., Harrison's lost its second, 16-14, to drop into the losers bracket of the double-elimination event. For those not familiar with softball tournament formats, that means more games to get to the championship - with many of them played back-to-back. Something not to the liking of most players - especially the older guys.
But Harrison's turned out to be a special team, according to many of the players.
``We just got better and better and better with every game,'' said pitcher Jay Smith, a resident of Chesapeake who heads up the Virginia Beach Department of Parks and Recreation athletic unit and is widely known as one of the country's all-time best softball players.
With every game a win-or-go-home situation, Harrison's won its first game in the losers bracket, 13-9. Until the championship, that was as close as anybody got to the local crew, as Harrison's won its next eight games by the 12-run rule.
Harrison's finished its last Saturday game at 1:30 Sunday morning and had to be back on the field at 8 the same morning.
That's rough, really rough. But not as rough as it got Sunday.
That's when Harrison's - tired, sore and wondering just what in the heck they were doing - had to play seven games in a row to get to the championship. That's back-to-back, never leaving the field, with all of about 15 minutes worth of break in between games.
Harrison's responded by beating the first five teams on the 12-run rule.
``We had them scratching their heads,'' Kozak said. ``Every game, we had somebody cramp up on us. Kenny Reynolds, of Chesapeake, got hurt in the third game. It's good we took 17 guys with us.''
When Harrison's finally reached the championship game, the squad had played six games.
Commonwealth Financial of Melbourne, Fla., on the other hand had been waiting several hours in the wings after having won the winners bracket.
Harrison's would have to beat them twice to take home the gold.
The first game was close, with Harrison's winning, 18-11, to force a second.
Commonwealth must have been crushed or demoralized or something. And if they weren't, they were after the first inning of the final game.
That's when Harrison's came out and scored 23 runs in the top of the first inning - 21 with two outs - to all but end the game.
After five innings, the contest was called on the 12-run rule, as Harrison's had built a 37-10 advantage.
The spark in that game, as he had been most of the weekend, was Monte Tucker of Fincastle, Va. In Harrison's 23-run onslaught, Tucker hit three home runs - the per-game, per-team limit in the tournament.
Tucker was eventually named the tournament MVP, having hit 17 home runs and 54 RBIs. The tournament home run champion also was named to the Masters All-American team with a team-leading .778 batting average.
Also named All-Americans in the tournament were Dewey Fussell of Portsmouth and Don Clatterbough of Mechanicsville. Smith earned second-team status.
``He got robbed on that one,'' Kozak said of Smith. ``He caught everything hit up the middle. I mean, he was amazing.
``We should have had six guys hit over .700. Our outfield was fast and the defense caught everything. We probably should have had the entire team on the All-American list at one level or another.
``We were clearly the best team out there, and it showed by our scores.''
Playing on the team from Chesapeake was Smith, Glenn Loehr, Towney Townsend, Kenny Reynolds and Jimmy Liley. Assistant coach Joe Crum also is from Chesapeake. From Portsmouth were Fussell and Steve Carpenter. Gary Ellison from Virginia Beach also played.
Non-South Hampton Roads residents on the roster were Tucker, Clatterbough, Wayne Latham, Mike Lydon, Uggie Heppart, Ralph Godwin, Jerry Connors, Clarence Roane and Mike Pendergraph. Assistant coach Joe Albert of Power Flight Bats is from Maryland.
Of the 17 players, eight had been on national championship teams at one level or another. For Tucker, it was his 14th title team. Ellison has been on four national firefighters championship teams. Smith has been on three national championship teams at the men's majors level.
``That was part of it for us,'' Kozak said. ``We had a wealth of experience on this team. Everybody knew each other from tournaments, but this was the first time the entire team had been together on one team. They all really got into it.
``Like I said, everything just clicked with this bunch.''
Kozak said the team has plans to defend its title next year. ILLUSTRATION: OVER-40 SOFTBALL CHAMPION
Staff photos by L. TODD SPENCER
The old guys on the Harrison's Moving team include: Dewey Fussell,
front, left, Steve Carpenter, organizer Warren Kozak, Glenn Loehr
and Kenny Reynolds; back row, Joe Crum, left, Jay Smith, Gary
Ellison and Jimmy Lilley. The young guy in front is batboy Van
Ellison.
Towney Townsend, of Chesapeake, was a player on the winning team.
by CNB