Addicted to the diamond: Softball can be a hobby — and then some

BY EILEEN BRADY
THE DAILY NEWS OF JACKSONVILLE, N.C.

Bert Bath and his family pack lunch (and dinner), load of their station wagon, then drive two hours to the middle of nowhere.
It’s early Saturday morning when they leave their home in Hubert to reach Peters Creek, which is outside Fayetteville.
Make that way outside Fayetteville.
Rows of cars, also loaded with weekend supplies, pour into the sandy parking lot shaded by pines.
Out of the trunks trickle lawn chairs, coolers, blankets, sunscreen. but there’s no beach in sight. Sometimes, after a hard rain, the drainage ditch becomes a mini-river, to the delight of the kids. But there’s no ocean.
Their parents come to play in the sand, but only because it carpets the eight softball fields at the park.
Peters Creek becomes a popular destination

from March through November because almost every weekend there’s a softball tournament there. And softball tournaments attract teams from across the region, says J.J. White, national umpire in chief for the Southern Softball Association of America. The SSAA will host more than 100 tournaments this year, not to mention tournaments sponsored by other softball associations.

It’s a softball tournament that has drawn Bath and his family to Peters Creek. His team, the Camp Lejeune Royals, played in 24 tournaments last year. And even though it’s still officially winter, softball season has begun in North Carolina. 
Bath is ready to play at the March 8 tournament, despite a broken nose, a result of pitching to the women’s team he coaches.
“He was out practicing the next day,” says Bath’s wife, Lanor. 
He just wants to play softball.
“I’m fine,” he insists.
By the end of the tournament, two of Bert Bath’s teammates will have their faces hit by line drives. One will need reconstructive surgery. Neither will return to play that day. But the blood and crushed cartilage won’t dissuade the others from the infield. And his team will end up winning its division.
“It has become an addictive sport,” says Adrian Cooper of Fayetteville, area director for the SSAA.
Addictive — it’s an adjective used frequently by softball players. They play in city leagues, in military intramural leagues, and on weekends. Every weekend. All weekend. Sometimes from morning to midnight, with a second go-around on Sundays. In rain. In bitter cold. In sweltering heat and humidity.
“I’m either coaching or playing every day of the week,” says Mike Mitchell, who has been playing for almost 30 years and now pitches for the Lejeune Royals. “I love it. I love the game.”
Softball players come in all shapes and sizes, from across North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Maryland. Team members dress in varying degrees of sponsorship. Some teams have uniforms: matching shirts, pants, belts, hats. Others — the sponsorless —attempt to create a team uniform by wearing varying shades of the same color.
Even after placing first or second 12 times at tournaments last year, John Peterson had trouble finding sponsors for his Camp Lejeune Royals. He sends letters, he makes personal appeals. But he often ends up paying the entry fees — at $150 a pop — out of his own pocket.
“It’s my only vice, to be honest,” Peterson says. “I don’t drink or smoke anymore.”
Whether they have to pay to play or have generous sponsors, softball players are loyal weekend warriors. But it’s their devotion to the sport that sometimes causes family friction.
Teams may have several unmarried members who want to party after the games, which doesn’t sit well with the families. Staff Sgt. Tom Carlo of New River Air Station says he’s addicted to the competition, but doesn’t want to spend so much time away from his family. He found the perfect solution when he started playing for Chase Mortgage, owned by Chuck Caviness.
Caviness completely sponsors his team, from shoes and bats to traveling expenses. And he welcomes family attendance, Carlo says.
“He flew us to Florida and paid for the hotel,” says Carlo, whose wife, two children and dog accompany him to most tournaments. “That’s what’s good about him — he wants families to come, too.”
Lanor Bath says she tries to attend as many tournaments as she can, but usually limits it to just Saturdays. She packs lunches and dinners and toys for their 3-year-old daughter, Mariah, who looks forward to her trips to the ball park. Mariah likes to play with the other kids, dig in the dirt and run around. 
“I expect her to be filthy,” Lanor Bath says, looking at her daughter, who has lived up to her mother’s expectations. Lanor also says she hopes she is creating family memories for Mariah.
One of the reasons for softball’s growing popularity, Cooper says, is because families can attend the games. Softball parks are a healthy environment for them, he says.
“It can be a real family outing as well as a sport,” he says. “There’s a camaraderie. After the competition is over, everyone goes out to a restaurant for a meal.”
At Peters Creek, downtime is passed at the horseshoe pits. There is room for children to play. They play with sand, pine straw, mud and rocks. As is the case at most softball tournaments, there’s an impromptu game of kid-version softball. A crumpled Coca-Cola cup is hit with an open-palm bat. The bases are figments of their imaginations — somewhere in the general vicinity.
It’s all part of the community of softball. Especially out in the middle of nowhere, where the concession stand has a constant line of customers. The picnic tables are packed with members of competing teams, enjoying burgers slathered with chili and slaw. Fast food is a 20-mile drive to Fayetteville.
Peters Creek isn’t quite in the middle of a cornfield, but like the Field of Dreams, it attracts teams from across the region. Its largest tournament last year drew 72 teams, and the smallest fielded 28 teams, White says. It started in 1984 on one field; now there are eight.
“It’s a country ball park,” White says. “It’s not high-tech with lots of cement. It’s a family atmosphere.”
But after 24 tournaments, even the most comfortable atmosphere starts to grow old.
“Toward the end of the season, they were playing all the time,” Lanor Bath remembers. “I used to pray for rain. Bert even said that was too much. That was amazing for him to admit.”


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SIDEBAR:
For those on the road, there’s no place like home
By Eileen Brady


Area softball leagues are brimming with players, but there are few tournaments held in Onslow County. Teams must travel at least an hour each way for weekend tournaments, said John Peterson, who coaches the Camp Lejeune Royals.
“It’s disappointing that you can’t do anything on base,” said Peterson, whose team regularly travels to Fayetteville, Havelock, New Bern, Wilson, Kinston and Raleigh in search of tournaments.
In its spring league, Onslow County Parks and Recreation oversees 43 men’s teams, 10 women’s teams and one seniors team. On Camp Lejeune, Morale, Welfare and Recreation’s division of sports activities manages 38 men’s teams, six dependents’ teams and one active-duty women’s team.
Northeast Creek Park in Jacksonville is the site of a few privately sponsored tournaments each year. And Camp Lejeune plays host to an all-camp tournament and the East Coast regional tournament. But neither compares to the every-weekend schedule of parks near Fort Bragg and Cherry Point.
At Cherry Point, softball associations can request permission from the commanding general to use the base’s facilities, said Gunnery Sgt. Chris Whiting of the public affairs office. If the base isn’t hosting a tournament, MWR can rent the facilities to not-for-profit organizations. 
Many of the Marines who have to travel out of town to play on the weekends say they don’t understand why Camp Lejeune, with its plentiful softball fields, doesn’t host regular tournaments. Some players expressed their interest in tournaments at a March 26 meeting at Camp Lejeune, said Sid Meyerson, deputy director of MWR sports activities.
“We discussed that we probably would have some tournaments, but we couldn’t pinpoint when, specifically,” Meyerson said.