The annual trip to Senior Men’s Baseball World Series in Arizona for Creeker Gary Pennington was another good one recently.
Although his 70-plus San Diego Padres went into the semifinal as the number one seed, undefeated in six games, the Padres dropped a 7-5 decision to the number six seeded team from New England.
“The game ended with a triple play by New England in the last inning,” recalled Pennington. “I think our defeat underlines the adage that it is better to go into a game as the underdog rather than the favourite.
“I personally had a good week, getting three hits in one game and driving in what would have been the winning run in another game, only to see the runner ahead of me be called out for not touching third base. I also hit a long double and was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple, with a consequent, painful, huge strawberry on my side because of sliding on the very hard ground.”
But a major highlight for Pennington was seeing former CFL, NFL, NCAA quarterback Doug Flutie play for the Boston Wolfpack team in the 50-plus division.
“Flutie played second base for the Boston team, likely composed of some of his old Boston College teammates,” Pennington said. “I was struck by the delicious irony of an elite athlete who had made millions of dollars in his career returning to play as an amateur with his old buddies. Talk about ‘for love of the game.’ I think it is a page in the world of sport that more professional athletes should turn to. In all it was another good week with old teammates, good baseball and super opportunity to play in big league parks.”
