Back in the Game

Man oh man, being back on the softball field again is the best! The thing is I didn't think I'd ever be able to play again. Sharp pain and subsequent right shoulder surgery pulled me off both the basketball court and softball diamond and landed me in the operating room in 2020. 

When friends ask me what caused the tears in my shoulder, I tell the the same thing: "Throwing too many guys out at first base over too many years."

I thought surgery would solve my physical issues and restore me to what I was. But even after the doctor repaired multiple tears in my labrum and months of rehab with two different physical therapists, the pain persisted. Painkiller shots didn't make a difference either. A full series of x-rays then revealed I had arthritis inside my right shoulder joint. There would be no more throwing over the top like I had since I started playing in the Wichita more than 40 years earlier. 

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I grew up watching my Dad play softball. And he could really, really play! Dad was a switch hitter. I remember one game when he jacked a home run batting right-handed. The next time up, he pivoted around to the other side of the plate to bat left-handed. (Actually, he did that quite often.) I heard somebody on the other team make some kind of cat call about it. Dad then hit a base-clearing bomb over the right fielder's head. Yeah, Dad was a heck of a player. And he was a pitcher. And not only a pitcher, but was a surprisingly good fielder. I only say that because of the glove he used - a four-fingered, pro design Spalding with a Jerry Lumpe (1956-1967 in the major leagues) signature in its palm (see photo below). To this day, it fits my hand as well as an oversized garden glove. It's just not very big. But dad knew how to use it. He would knock down line drives or hard ground balls and gun down runners at first base.  

I played a couple years of little league baseball when I was in third and fourth grade but started playing softball in the Wichita men's city league when I was 15. I was a little guy - maybe 5-feet 8-inches or so and probably not weighing more than 125 pounds. But I could slap the ball and run pretty fast. I saved up some money from my part-time job, went to the store and bought a glove of my own. It wasn't name brand or anything but it was a "Mark Holyoak Pro Player" model, thanks to our wood-burning set. It served me well for several decades before I passed it on to my son, Jace, who used it until it basically fell apart after a 40-year life. 

In 1981, I got a letter while attending Ricks College. My teenage buddies back home picked me as our softball coach. When I got home, I signed up our team to play in the same city league division that the men from our church had played in for years. I was our oldest player at the age of 18 and our youngest was 14. 

We got off to a 3-0 start on the season but when we played the men from our church, we seemed to be psyched out. Maybe it's because we had always been their backups. Then in church that Sunday, the father of one of the men's players was at the podium and said something like, "Well, I guess the seniors (top and bottom in photo below) showed the juniors how to play ball last night. 

When the rematch rolled around, it was our tenth game of the season. We were 4-5 overall but this was the big one. We were mad and wanted revenge. I was 0-for-4 at the plate but caught three line drives and threw out five others guys from third base. The juniors were clinging to a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs, they had runners at first and third and their power hitter at the plate. He hit a one-hop shot right at me. I shoveled it in and threw him out. We were jumping around and yelling while the seniors had their heads down. It was glorious! The next day, John Bazzelle happened to be speaking in church and told the congregation how the rematch went down. Ah yeah!

We went on to win three of our final five games including a victory over a team that was unbeaten at 11-0 and an 8-7 season-finale victory against a team with a cocky, loud-mouthed shortstop who was talking it up with us all game long. That win denied his team of advancing to the state tournament. 

That's our team in the middle photo. Top row - left to right: Dean Orr, John McCurdy, Larry Hooper, Matt Merrill, John Bazzelle and Jeff Voran. Bottom row kneeling - left to right: Doug Corbett, Scott Hooper, Vaughn Swink, me and Darren Swink. 

A final record of 8-6 for a bunch of teenagers playing in a men's league - not bad. Not bad at all.

I continued to play softball throughout my college years and, of course, each summer when I was back home in Kansas. That included a trip to the state tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas, which was pretty cool because they had scoreboards and a public address announcer that announced your name and position each time you went to the plate, as well as several church tournaments including one in Lincoln, Nebraska.

When I started my career in broadcast journalism, I played a few seasons here and there but it was difficult because I worked second shift and was often shooting games or stories in the evening. However, when I transitioned from television sports to television news and moved to Montana, I suddenly had a dependable dinner break. And that opened the door for a full-time return to the softball field. 

In 2003, our newly-hired weather guy, Russ Thomas, wanted to put a softball team together so several of us started recruiting friends and friends of friends. He landed an annual sponsorship from Taco Johns and we began a successful run over the next 15 years of highly competitive and even dominating  softball including several trips to the state tournament. I have man fond memories of these teams. Among them, I got to play a couple of seasons with Jace - one before his mission to Australia and one when he returned home. But most of all, there's nothing like playing with good teammates who are good guys and good players.

Russ Thomas - teammates in 2003 and still teammates in 2022

Taco Johns founders: Travis Munden, Me, Russ & Jay Allen

That one time I tried to stretch a single into a double but got gunned down at second

Father-son teammates

With my buddy Devin Huntley

Over our last three seasons, we finished with an overall record of 40-4 including three first-place finishes. 

Back to 2022. Since my long-time team, Taco Johns, disbanded before COVID-19 shut down the 2020 season and shortened the 2021 season, I didn't have a team to play for anyway. However, I received an invitation to play but I couldn't throw the ball with any kind of force and without a jolt of pain so I declined to play in '21. A longtime teammate and former co-worker, Russ Thomas, reached out before the 2022 season and asked me to give it a go. 

"Sure, I'll show up to a practice," I promised Russ. "We'll see if I can still swing the bat and go from there."

Well, I never made it to a practice due to crummy weather and conflicting schedules. And I knew my shoulder wouldn't let me play in the outfield or make any long throws across the infield. So, I showed up for the first game of the season with no real expectations. Our manager, Matt, put me in at catcher. It felt so, so good to jog back onto the field with teammates.

I also pitched a few innings and played a couple more at first base. I didn't have to make any overhand throws. And at the plate? Matt put me at the bottom of the order, which is exactly where I'd put an old guy who hadn't played a game in three years. How did it go? Just a bit of a surprise - good, solid swings, hard ground balls and line drives in the gaps. It was a 4-for-4 night in a season-opening victory.  

My first at-bat in three years

As I drove home, I was just tickled. I thought, "Mark, you can still do this. You can be productive. You can still swing the bat. You can play where your shoulder allows you to play. And, most importantly, you can contribute and help your team win!"

I didn't know most of the guys on the team but the others, I certainly did. They were the leftovers of the old Taco Johns team - Russ, Mitch, fast Russ, Jay, Scott and me. All great guys. All older guys (not as old as me, except for Jay) but all good guys and good players who know how to win.  

As the season got going, I continued to be a bit surprised. I consistently kept hitting for a high average like I hadn't in years. No deep drives to the fence or anything like that but looping line drives, seeing-eye ground ball singles to all fields and occasional extra-base hits. 

I guess Matt liked what he saw because three games in, he had me batting second in the lineup where I stayed the rest of the year. Our leadoff guy was speedy. He'd get on base. Then I'd follow with base hit and we'd both come in to score as we hit the meat of the lineup. I ended up batting about .700 on the season.

Here comes the pitch...(with my granddaughter Lexi cheering me on)

...there it goes...

...base hit into center field

On the field, Matt asked me to start the third game or so on the mound and kept me there as pitcher for much of the rest of the season. I really never pitched until about five years ago. Maybe it's just an "old man" kind of expectation, I really don't know. But I like it! It's fun having the ball in your hand on every play when on defense. We had one game about a third of the way through the season where the other team must have hit the ball at me like 12-15 times in one game. It was crazy! Ground balls, line drives, pop ups, dribblers, you name it. We even turned a double play. 

Back on the mound for a beautiful Montana summer evening of softball

Now, throwing the ball to first base was anything but graceful. I was sort of slinging it sidearm or underhanded - just however I could get it over there as quick as I could to get the runner out without causing too much shoulder pain.

I don't know where we finished in the standings - probably third or fourth or so but my understanding was it was a good improvement over the year before. It was such a great, great time!

So what's next? After all, I turn 60 years of age this offseason. Mic drop and walk away? Heck no! This old guy is playing basketball in the winter months and lifting weights (where my shoulder allows) to gear up for next season. After all, we've got more games to play and more games to win! 

Taking off the cleats for the final time in 2022. Bring on 2023!