Whiz goes the ball. Swish goes the bat. Spring training has come to Bainbridge Island.

Physical therapist Stuart Mitchell will join our senior softball team again on April 11 to talk about common injuries to softball athletes and what to do to avoid getting hurt. There will be instruction on warm-up exercises and stretches to do before, during and after practices and games. Handouts and instructional materials will be provided.

These sessions should be helpful for both new team members and seasoned players. Instruction will start at the Commons at 9 a.m. and move to Rotary Field at 10 a.m., weather permitting.

Softball practice is already in progress for the team, just as it is for the major leaguers who work out in Arizona and Florida. The difference is that the Bainbridge team doesn’t seek the sun like those kids who play for the big bucks. Age has toughened our older athletes to the Northwest climate, and they’re happy to practice at home on Rotary Field.

In fact, they’re so tough they didn’t even have to go south for winter ball. Mauri Pelto, one of the coaches and an original member of the team, told me that some of the members defied the cold of winter to participate in infield practice on any day without rain.

“As many as eight or nine would brave the elements most days and a hard core of three or four was even more diligent,” Pelto said. “A session consisted of playing catch to warm up, then 20 minutes of fielding hot grounders as well as liners; then throwing to, and covering, the bases. We finished off with each player batting a bucket of balls. An hour of that, three days a week, was supposed to keep us in shape for spring training.”

I spoke with some of the other coaches as well. Roger Lauen said what he’d like to see in this column was something about the magic of the softball team.

“There is a camaraderie, something beyond social, which exists within and among team members,” he said. “It is the glue that keeps people coming back. Part of this is simply consideration for others.”

He gave me an example.

“A lady shows up last year who introduces herself by listing her drawbacks: she can’t run; she can’t catch; she can’t see the ball, hence she can’t bat, and so on. None of us accepted any of her excuses. We simply accepted her body ailments and told her she could do anything she put her mind to. Today she can bat, catch, run and no longer talks about what she can’t do. All she wants to know is when we’re scheduled to play Bremerton, and kick their butts.

“Team members have tolerance, acceptance and humor,” Lauen said, emphasizing the humor. “Remember, we have only one iron-clad rule: If you lose your sense of humor, you’re off the team. And we mean it.”

According to Coach Reid Hansen, the team’s original coach who helped in its creation, “The team should have about 30 players on its roster this season, and maybe a few more, which usually happens when word gets around and the sun shines. We seem to add a few each year. These include people who have just moved here as well as a few long-time residents who get up the courage and find their old gloves.”

I asked Hansen for this season’s schedule and learned regular practices will be on Mondays and Fridays from 9:30 to noon, “hopefully beginning in April as soon as the weather warms up and it stops raining.”

The team will work on fitness and all the basic skills needed for the game, followed by the coaches dividing the group into two teams to play against each other. In addition, there will be four games (two each) against the senior softball teams of Bremerton and Sequim. These will be played in May, June, July and August, and followed by team picnics where the players from both sides can socialize and get to know one another.

This season’s coaches are Roger Lauen, Tom Kilbane, Bob King, Mauri Pelto and Reid Hansen.

The team is co-ed, with eight women among the 30 members presently on the roster. Players of all ability levels are welcome, but they must be at least 50 years old.

Remember as a kid how good it felt when you were finally considered old enough to join in the big kids’ games?

If you’re 50 or over, it’s that time again. There is no upper age limit. Feeling fit at 100? Come on out to Rotary Field and show us your stuff.

Marcia Rudoff

writes the monthly

Senior Outlook for the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center.