Senior 70's Wildcats

 I came to Woodbridge in July 2016. My wife Fran and I had been looking for a place out here for a few years so we could move from Philadelphia to be closer to our children who live in the Bay Area. The Bay Area was way out of our reach financially, so when we saw an advertisement for Woodbridge, we drove out to see what it had to offer. 

We turned on to Daisywood Drive, drove down the road and ran right into Del Webb Field. I told by wife,

 “This looks like a place for us.”   We found the house we liked at a price we could afford and about a year and half later, we moved in. 

I have always been an active person and very sports oriented. I was a physical education teacher by profession and taught in Philadelphia for 36 years. My softball and baseball experience was limited to some high school ball and, after graduating from college, playing some ball with a few community teams. I also did some softball coaching at the junior high school level. My love for the game never waned, and I played whenever I could. 

We moved into our house on July 14 and shortly thereafter, I saw on the calendar that the senior softball team was having batting practice on Thursday at Del Webb Field. Not two weeks after we moved in, I went out to the field to see what this was all about. It was there that I met the coach, Rudy Salvador, along with several of the other players and they invited me on the field. I was able to borrow a bat and a glove, went out in the field, and, of course, I was terrible. After all, I hadn’t played in 25 years. In any case, I was able to work my way up to a pretty good 

level of play and I was accepted on the team. 

The Wildcats were a relatively new team at the time and had not played in any tournaments as yet, but we practiced, honed our skills and got ready for the next season. I was enjoying the whole experience. The following year the Wildcats did play in a few tournaments, but Rudy, due to health reasons, had to leave his coaching position. A few of the players took over the coaching duties, and we did well in the tournaments, even winning one, but these players soon found that the coaching wasn’t for them. No one wanted to take on the coaching duties and it looked as if the team would be dissolved. I did not want this great experience to end, and I did have some coaching and organizing experience, so I took on the coaching role. Nelson Conner volunteered to be my assistant and we began putting things together. 

Nelson and I have put together a great team of players, and more importantly, of wonderful people. 

We practice hard, working on our fielding skills, hitting skills and teamwork. We have played in quite a few tournaments, and even though we are a relatively new team, we have won three tournaments and have been competitive against many different levels of competition. We were looking forward to playing in five tournaments last year, but because of COVID-19 we could only play in one. We did win our bracket in that tournament. Of course, we are looking forward to playing this year and we will resume practices as soon as we are able. 

I can only say that this has been a great experience for me, not only because of the exercise and competition, but because of the wonderful teammates that I have been around and the friends I have made. I am looking forward to a great future for the Wildcats. 

The Wildcats team: Sam Barney, Ken Beaty* Nelson Conner (Assistant coach) Jack Dauler, Horace DiMaggio, Roger Gibson, Wayne Gordon*, Phil Haubert, Tom Heath, David Hedrick. Art Hogan, Glen Jenkins *, Ron Long, Albert Low, Bill Norcup*, Jim Peter, and Dan Southwick. 

 * Indicates player are also members of the Wolverines. 

Charlie Pace moved to St. George, Utah, (home of the Huntsman Games) after playing several seasons as a Wolverines and Wildcats, where we are sure our paths will cross again on the softball field. 

The Wildcats, Woodbridge’s 70’s 1st. place finish in their first tournament on March 5-6, 2019, at Manteca's Big League Dreams