Summer softball squad keeps on swinging at Community Field

LAKEVILLE — On summer Sunday mornings, around 10 a.m., a group of softball players gathers at Community Field in Lakeville for a game.

The players are a mixed bag in terms of age and physical condition.

What they all have in common is the desire to get out, play ball and have fun.

And to wrap it up before the transfer station closes at 1 p.m., according to Dr. Andrew Schwartz, aka “Doc” and “The Commissioner.”

“It’s good to have someone in charge,” mused Bill Riiska of Lakeville.

On Sunday, Aug. 3 at about 9:30 a.m. Jeff Bauman of Salisbury was attending to the groundskeeping at home plate. He referred to the ongoing game as being part of the Everybody Get Together League.

“We’ve got doctors, lawyers, kids. We’ve got all the decades covered. One guy is 80.”

Jim Saunders of Sharon was around at the beginning in 1983.

He said there were a lot of New York people with second homes in the area involved, including media types such as Tom Brokaw of NBC News.

Other names that came up in conversations with players were CNN’s Jeff Greenfield, author Jim Bouton and one of the Baldwin group of actors and brothers.They weren’t sure which one it was.

Saunders said back in the Gotham-centric days, the group was able to play a charity game at Yankee Stadium.

Over the decades the game became more of a local affair, and prior to the Covid-19 pandemic attendance started to drop.

But the game continued even during the pandemic, albeit with as few as six players.

Saunders credited The Commissioner, Schwartz, with keeping the game going.

Now the game attracts 18-24 people on average, plus spectators and dogs.

A newcomer came to the plate, a young woman in bare feet, batting right-handed.

Someone said she had never played before, and it showed during her first couple of swings.

Then she pulled a solid line drive into left field and wound up on third, having driven in two runs.

Nobody found this unusual. Instead they said things like “nice hit” to the young woman and focused on the next batter.

Deron Bayer of Lakeville was in right field. He divulged his fielding secret.

“I wear my cap backwards to keep the sun off my neck. When I wear it backwards, it repels the ball.”