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OKI Sweeps Best 3 0f 5 in the Major plus Category at the SPA Nationals in Dalton, GA 

   In a best 3 of 5 series OKI which is a monogram for the states Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana out slugged their opponent Hollis of Florida to win the SPA 50 major plus National Championship during the 3rd weekend in July at Dalton, Georgia's Heritage Park.

   Coach Norm Stafford, the 'Czar' as he likes to call himself, new sponsor/player JimmyYoung, and veteran senior all-star John 'Big ARM' Kotzelnick assembled themselves quite a senior monster in OKI over the winter and in 2 weekends the OKI conglomerate has taken home the majority of the winning hardware in it's 2 senior events.

   OKI's 1st look at it's 50 and over lineup came in Indianapolis, at the Brickyard Invitational where the 'old guys' from OKI of the past couple of sesaons got to meet some of the new guys for 2011 and the combo looked great--at least when it counted the most in Championship Play. 

   At first, in their getting- to -know- each -other preliminaries it was evident that OKI was the team to beat but they had to learn to keep the ball in the park and adjust to such a power laden team. The rules in the SSUSA at Indy gave each team 10 home runs per game with outs following. Each team could score only 5 runs an inning til the open inning came where each could score all they could muster. One other stipulation -an equalizier rule went into effect when 50 plus teams had to play against 55 and over clubs which states that the 55 team adds on 5 runs per game spread out over innings 2 thru 6. Those 5 added runs per game and a few untimely home runs combined with inopportune open inning production left OKI in 3 one run losses and a 5th seed going into Sunday's bracket play.

   However , Sunday the day after the Kentucky Derby crowned it's top horse in Louisville, KY another race town Indy crowned their winner of the highest class in Senior Softball, OKI in the 50 and over Major Plus class. OKI started by defeating the KC Barons of Kansas City 23-15, then run-ruled Roberts/Pope of Michigan 40 to 28, and finally edged past a stubborn Line Drive group from Michigan in the 30-27 finals.

   All together there were 32 Senior teams in Indy with 5 champions in their respective age division. The OH Silverados took the 60/65/70 gold division nudging the Chicago Seniors. Doc Martens of Michigan ambled past Dayton Legends in the 55/60 age group . Chicago Prime(50) defeated Chicago Prime(55) in the 50/55. And the 50 major's was won by Doug and Don's Auto Care who defeated in state rival Prime Time both from the Wolverine State. 

 2 Month Layoff Serves OKI Well In Dalton GA

   From Derby weekend which is always the 1st Saturday in May to mid July the OKI Players were chomping at the bit, so to speak . With renewed confidence and an offense that would scare most young teams, OKI began their assault over the all star Hollis team from Florida.

   At the SPA Nationals (Senior Players Association) in Dalton, GA the upper level is much like the highest level of the young mans game with few teams at the top and many bottom feeders. The 50 and over major plus is the highest class of any senior ball and because of the loaded ex-super and major players of the past on these rosters few want to have to play them every weekend as was the case in Dalton.

   Thus, in a best 3 of 5 series the best of the best met on the East fields at Heritage park ---OKI vs. Hollis of Florida. The rules of the SPA were somewhat different than the SSUSA from Indy in that each team was allowed 9 runs per inning and then a final open inning . Also the HR rule was 7 and 1-up but any subsequent homers were just counted as walks and not outs as they were in early May at the SSUSA.

   OKI began the best of 5 series around 2:30 on Friday July 15th by only scoring 3 runs in the 1st inning but that became the exception rather than the rule for the rest of the opener and the other games. Over the next 3 innings OKI plated 25 unanswered runs to take a commanding lead going into the open inning. The open inning saw OKI put up their only donut of the weekend and with a 9 run lead going into the bottom of the 7th they held on for a 41-36 1st rounder.

   In their 2nd of an afternoon double header in the Georgia heat both teams were a little sluggish but again the offense of OKI was too much for Hollis to overcome with OKI pounding out a 32-28 victory.

   A nice steak dinner that Friday night at the nearby Outback Steakhouse for most of the OKI players followed by a good night's sleep for the weary seniors who had been on the field for over 5 straight hours, gave them the nutrients and rest needed for their saturday battles.

   It turned out that saturday's 10:30 am tilt was all that was needed as OKI run ruled Hollis 38-22 in the 3rd and decisive game.

   To go hit by hit it would take another complete website to finish this article but in a nutshell the offense all weekend went something like this--- left fielder Cush would lead off with an extra base hit and either Vern Hensley, Dale Mayo, or Steve Roeder  all ex New Construction stars would launch one in the trees for a few RBI's to get the game started. Next Carl Underwood would smash a line drive missile into the outfield and Cecil Whithead of Valdosta would rip one down the left field line, giving big Arm John the green light for a bomb to left or a patented line drive in the gap. Then came the guys who kept it in the park for the most part. Shortstop Raymond Moscoe hit it between the fielders and down the LF line, followed by speedy CF Sully who made 2 outs on his way to all american status. The chiseled "rookie" 3rd baseman Doug Barth  made only one out and eventual MVP  'RJ' Randy Johnson pitched and hit like an MVP . The final two in the line-up were  RF all American Bobby Coles who did not let any balls past him and kept hitters off of 2nd and middle infielder "Stick" whose name speaks for itself--he made only 2 outs in his 3 games.

   Batting 13 guys seems nuts but when the bottom 6 combine for an .800 plus average and 5 of them are named to the all american team I guess ole' Norm knew what  he was doing. Another couple of stats worth mentioning were that OKI had 15 guys gets hits the final game a feat I am not sure I have heard. The two pinch hitters Lee and Jimmy were both 1-1. Also, In the finals of Indy OKI was 31-37 for the game not using all of their outs in a couple of innings because of the allotment of only 5 runs per inning.