Team Spotlight: Golden Girls

4TH ANNUAL MADISON HURDLE TOURNAMENT
T
he Cocoa Beach Sports Complex was the site of the 4th Annual Madison Hurdle
Coed Softball Tournament benefiting PWSA, USA. Madison Hurdle, daughter of
major league manager Clint Hurdle, Manager of the Colorado Rockies and his wife
Karla, suffers from this disease. Madison, along with her mom, dad and brother Christian,
were at the event to meet and greet all that attended and for the second year, Mayor Skip
Beeler attended as well.
Prader-Willi Syndrome is a genetic disorder of the 15th chromosome, which can affect the
physical, mental and emotional development of those children born with it and in Madison’s
case even seizures. Children who are born with this disease do not know what it feels like to
be full after eating and most often live a life of constant hunger. A lot of children have to have
their food intake monitored constantly to prevent obesity or even death.
Eight coed softball teams battled all day, leaving a championship game to play between
The Kings Duck Inn, which finished 3-0 in the A Division and The Dawg Pound, which finished 3-0 in the B Division. Although there were no losers in this tournament and everyone
and every team was considered a winner, the Kings Duck Inn of Merritt Island, Florida
coached by Irene Whitten came out on top and finished with a perfect 4-0 record, while the
Dawg Pound coached by Jim Daniel and Nancy Robinson finished at 3-1 but had an outstanding tournament of their own!
Keeping with the family affair atmosphere fifteen year old Jared Johns of the Duck Inn and
son of player/coach Irene Whitten played and had a “stand out” day! Other top performers for
the Duck Inn were Dave Whitten, Jason Hattrup, Kim Cox, Annie Finley and Sasha Buthker.
The Dawg Pound always loves to come out and support Prader-Willie Syndrome. This
year the Dawg Pound came out strong and went 3-0 in Division B, defeating Party Team 107, Team Destiny 15-5 and (the always difficult) Home Plate 11-9. Sid Teartt had three home
runs for the day, while Todd Dove and Julie Wagner turned numerous double plays to keep
the defense going and Charlie O’Conner held down the circle with several strikeouts. “I couldn’t have been more proud of these guys,” said Nancy Robinson, manager for the day. “We
came out and left everything on the field. We hit, we had good defense and most of all we
had fun. Thanks to Clint Hurdle for putting together the give-aways and being there to watch
us play. Clint is a class act and we love to play this tournament every year.”
The goal of this tournament was to raise awareness and funds for Prader-Willi Syndrome
and the goal was met with a total of over $10,000.00 raised. Fun was had by all at this tournament and we are hoping for bigger and better things for next year. A special thanks to
Major sponsors: BJ’s Wholesale, Culligan Water of Melbourne, Softball Magazine/Baseball
The Magazine, Top Prospects Baseball School, The Elk’s Lodge of Merritt Island, Sam’s
The Kings Duck Inn
The Dawg Pound
Club, Colorado Rockies Baseball
Organization, Radisson at the Port, The
Home Plate of Cape Canaveral, City of
Cocoa Beach and Mayor Skip Beeler,
Cocoa Beach Recreation Complex,
Mimi’s Cafe, Indian River Queen, Pro
baseball player agent John Esposito,
Marty & Gladys Gillete, Jim Burney of
AVC Inc., WIXC 1060am with the Friday
Night Locker Room, Lite Rock 99.3fm,
Florida Today, Florida Today Press
Tribune and Tangles Hair Studio of
Rockledge. For more information visit
their website at www.pwsausa.org.
TEAM SPOTLIGHT - GOLDEN GALS 1
Submitted By Judy Lee Schreiber - SPA
National Women's Director
T
he Golden Gals 1, a
women’s 70+ softball team
from The Villages and surrounding communities in Central
Florida, was originally formed by
Coach Midge Ferraro and player
Irish McCarthy. At that time they
were a 65+ team. Their first tournament experience as a team was in
the 2006 Florida Senior Games taking Silver, losing to the Freedom
Spirit of Florida 2-1 in the final.
Eight of the players on the roster, at
that time, were 70+. This tournament was a turning point for the
Golden Gals as they realized they
could compete on a National level.
Their next tournament was The
National Senior Games in June
2007 at Louisville, KY. In that tournament, The Golden Gals took first
in the Silver Division defeating The
Illinois Classic competing in the 65+
division.
In 2007 it was decided to “age up”
those eligible on the original Golden
Gals to a 70+ team and form a 65+
team. Thus, began The Golden Gals 1
(70+) and Golden Gals 2 (65+). At that
time Karen Learn, Kathy Tittle, Guy
Tundis, Ginny Pontius, and Joann
Waterfield were added to the coaching
staff of both teams.
In 2008, The Golden Gals 1 competed in The Pelican Classic winning
Silver, The Spring Nationals winning
Silver and The Goodlife Games in
Florida winning Gold.
Coming into Judy Lee’s SPA Worth
Women’s National Championship in
Gallatin Tennessee, the Golden Gals 1
oldest player was Alice Terrill at 77.
She completed two double plays and
batted for a 0.500 average. She was
named to the All-American Team along
with her daughter Lynne who plays for
the 55+ Villages team. Nine of the players on the thirteen person roster were
members of the original Golden Gals.
The Golden Gals 1 captured the
Bronze in the Gold Division at Gallatin.
Page 46 • www.softballmag.com•www.batwars.com
The Golden Gals 1 participated in The Florida State
Senior Games in December in Cape Coral, Florida. In
preparation for The National Senior Games in
Sunnyvale, California they are also planning on playing
in several Florida Spring tournaments. They will be playing at the SPA Worth Spring Women’s National to be
held April 23rd through 26th in Pensacola, Florida as
well as next Spring’s Triple Creek Classic held on May
29th through 31st 2009 in Gallatin, Tennessee.
Team members are Alice Terrill, Liz McElhinney,
Snooke Bianco, Donna Clark, Rosemary Austin, Irish
McCarthy, Dawn Cherry, Donna Kovach, Marcia
Halvorson, and Louise Anke. Additional members of the
team are Nancy Boyer, Cookie Cook, Laine Kelly, Patty
Hurd and Rudie Paul.