Epilogue to the Season

Despite all our resistance, foot stomping and praying for an Indian Summer, we must face facts and give into the inevitable.

Mother Nature has put us all on notice. "Everybody out of the pool – your season is over."

It is hard to believe that seven months ago, 35 or so members of the now Spiaggia travel and the Mirage Saturday softball program stepped on our field at Lower Shore Road for what proved to be the start of the most successful season in our history, a season that took us through an incredible 90 games.

Each one of our ballplayers knows that he is just a link in a chain that makes the whole wheel go round, and so too are the players in the communities we face.

We are just part of a long tradition that is Mirage Softball and the game is owed our respect and gratitude.

Time and space in the world of baseball are never permanently owned by anyone.

She asks...Knowing the risks, why do you play?

At this age we are all well aware of the risks, but for some unexplained reason the game still gives to us all. Despite the risks we all borrow from it, exploit it, cling to and need it.

Whether we think we owe, take or borrow, the boys know that at our ages, softball is a machine that requires each one of us to sacrifice and polish our skills all year long.

Like all families we've had our disagreements this year, and like most family squabbles they are resolved, but one thing is sure: We all need to remember that even if the wheel that is the Mirage seems to wobble at times, it still rolls on with or without us.

We owe it to Skip and to the future players that come to our community to keep it rolling. We are just caretakers for a short time.

In our minds we are always chasing rainbows. Saturday softball is a world where you can catch them.

Talk to your neighbors and they will tell you that you are among the lucky few. You are the 1 percent of our residents that are still able to lace up your spikes each week. Never take that for granted. 

On Saturday morning, they all want to be you.

To you, walking on the field and feeling your spikes in the grass means you are home.

Maybe the reason you love baseball so much is that the object of the game correlates with something you strive to do each day, "make it home," You Come Home.

Mirage softball is designed to break your heart.

We begin softball in the spring when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling our mornings and afternoons, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.

Skip:

Skip Vaccarello now completes his 13th season as head of Mirage Softball, Coaches John Arena, Joe Germano and team Captain Pat Pipi round out his organization, they would like to thank each ballplayer and all of our Groupies for making this our best year ever.

Each year all the other senior communities reflect on their ages, then look around and wonder, will we have a season next year? 

We here at the Mirage never wonder, we know that each season will be BIGGER and BETTER than the last.

What sets us apart? The answer to that remains a mystery, maybe there is something in the Mirage water supply.

If you ask any of our ballplayers what they do all winter the answer will always be the same, " I mostly stare out the window and dream about our first spring practice. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid."

Excellence is difficult to achieve without passion.

May the sun never set on Mirage softball.