Mock-Beroth Bombers Bring Home the Gold
Eighteen ballplayers 75 years of age and better traveled to Cleveland, OH the last week of July to take part in the National Senior Games. All but one of these players were part of the Mock-Beroth Bombers team that qualified locally at the 2012 Piedmont Plus Senior games which then qualified in Raleigh, NC for the State Senior Games in 2012.
Players, spouses and family loaded up on Tuesday, July 23 and made the 500 mile one-way trip in a parade of cars. Once in Cleveland the team had to split into two hotels. One of which had three other NC teams in it. Most of the guys knew one another and it turned into quite the reunion. Initially Glen Motsinger was not going to make the trip, but with the encouragement of his son-in-law he joined the team. Glen had a great tournament. The crowd erupted when Glen made a circus, running, juggling, trap-it-on-your-chest catch worthy of the plays of the day on SportsCenter. It turned out that his son-in-law became one of the loudest fans in the stands for the Bombers. When he wasn’t cheering the team on, he was taking pictures of the team in action.
Over three consecutive days, July 24 through 26, the Bombers were on the diamond for a total of six games. They faced teams from Tennessee, Iowa, Maryland, two teams from New Jersey and a team from Wilmington that they have battled in the NC tournaments for several years. It was actually a 19-14 victory against their arch nemesis from Wilmington that got the Bombers on track for the remainder of the tournament.
Team Manager Jim Russo stated that they “played some of their best defense of the season” while in Cleveland. One of their best defensive efforts was against the Maryland Baysox who beat them 8-2 early in pool play. After giving up 5 runs in the first the Bombers settled in and gave up only 3 runs the remaining six innings. If the bats had been a little warmer, they could have pulled out a victory against a very good Baysox team.
Interestingly enough Manager Jim Russo also qualified to play softball with a 70+ NC team in the National Tournament. On day one of the tournament his 70+ team played at the same complex. He played at 9am then changed jerseys to manage the 75+ team at 10:20am, then switched jerseys and played at Noon, then finished the day by switching jerseys at 1:30pm to manage the Bombers. Unfortunately the other two dates did not work out so well. He was committed to managing and remained true to the Bombers as opposed to playing.
One of the bigger hits of the tournament was delivered by Gene Nail in the Championship game won by the Bombers over the New Jersey Naturals 20-8. With the bases loaded Gene stepped to the plate and delivered a rocket that got by the outfield, resulting in a bases clearing triple to break the gold medal game open. Unfortunately the triple came with a price as Gene was put on Injured Reserve after the tournament. The triple took a toll on his knee which he had surgery to replace upon his return from Cleveland. He is now going through rehab and hoping to be ready for the NC Senior Games tournament in September of this year.
Other memorable plays included Mackie Cockerham’s “not to be denied” base running as the look of determination on his face encouraged his based coach to send him around third base to beat a close play at the plate. Bobby Key stepped in to pitch and held a high powered new Jersey team to only eight runs in the Championship game.
Thank you to the men and their families for representing the Piedmont community, the Piedmont Plus Senior Games and the State of NC in such a positive way. We are proud of you!
