Women's Slo-Pitch Softball Wraps Up 14th Season

The Newtown Women's Slo-Pitch Softball League closed the book on its 14th season Friday night as players gathered under the lights at Treadwell Park for a rematch of last year's championship game.

"This is the crescendo of the season," said Jackie Kulikowski, who serves as one of the league's three board members.

The league featured six teams — all sponsored by local businesses — and a total of 100 players competed this year. Many were in attendance Friday as Fireside Inn defeated My Place 10-3 to win the league crown.

Afterward the league held an all-star game, or as many players prefer to call it, the "fun game," which was created two years ago as a way to generate more interest in the league.

"Every team voted their own players in and it can be based on the most improved, best player, however they want to do it," Kulikowski said. "We found that people even get more excited about the all-star game."

It was also a night of relaxation for everyone involved.

"It's nice to get the whole league together as one, instead of just competing all season long," said Laurie Comerford, a board member for the past five years. "This is time for us to sit back, relax and talk.

The league, which runs from the middle of June through the second weekend of August, features women who are 20- to 74-years-old, all with varying athletic backgrounds.

"We've got girls who played professional women's football, All-American softball players, we've got college kids," said Sue Ormsvee, a former member of directors.

Jeanne Carney, one of the players on Salon Michele, who has college-age children, said she played softball in high school and college but hadn't thought she would return to the game.

"I didn't think I would play past 25 (years-old)," she said. "There's a lot of people who are older. That's surprising to me because I would have thought there would be more younger players."

After years of taking her children to lacrosse, soccer, basketball, wrestling and track and field matches, they now come to watch her play.

"The husbands, the kids, you get a lot of fans, a lot of people stop by," Carney said. "It's fun for them to come see me play."

The league offers a combination of competition and fun for the players.

"It's good camaraderie," said Ormsvee. "We're like family in the summer."

At the same time, organizing the league requires extensive work. One of the complications involves money. There's a $250 sponsorship fee for each team, but after each season the league normally has only about $1,000, which is generally used toward buying new equipment and paying various fees, said Kulikowski.

There's also significant work put towards organizing the league scheduling and the standings.

"I take care of the league standings, so every night I get a phone call looking for the spread of what the game was and update everybody in the league as to who's in first, second, third," said Comerford. "Towards the end of the season it gets a lot more complicated because everybody wants to know exactly where we are (in the standings) every night."

Patch editor Hoa Nguyen contributed to this report.