By KARL E. PEARSON - kpearson@starbeacon.com
Staff Writer
—
One of the chief reasons the role of head coach or manager exists is to make sure he’s putting his players in the best possible position to be successful.
That being said, Charlie Cash came up money with the lineup changes he made for the CBC Legends team when it entered the playoffs of the Lake County Over-50 Softball League. It worked so well that the Legends, who finished second to Lake Truck during the regular season, blasted their way to the tournament title.
The key change in the lineup, in Cash’s estimate, was moving Loren Davis of Cleveland Heights, one of the two players each team in the league is permitted to have on its roster that is 48 years old, into the leadoff spot in the order for the Legends. Davis had functioned in that role early in the regular season, but was moved down to the sixth or seventh spot when he was going through some offensive struggles. Cash decided to move Davis back to the top of the order to shake things up just a little.
“Loren is a very good hitter and gets on base a lot,” Cash, the oldest member of the Legends squad at 66 years old, said. “He’s pretty quick, too.”
It proved to be a move of genius, as the Legends went on a tear during the tournament. It proved to be just the reverse of the 2009 season, when the Legends won the regular-season title and finished second in the tournament.
“We scored 81 runs in the three games in the tournament,” Cash said. “A couple people told us, ‘You guys sure caught fire at the right time.’
“I think we had a good hitting group this year, but we just couldn’t seem to string our hits together during the season. When we got into the tournament, our offense just seemed to take off. In those three games, we batted around in the first inning in all three of them.”
Actually, moving Davis up on the order did move some other people around in the lineup. Perry resident Bob Sheplavy remained in the No. 2 spot, but Mike Mauro, a Kingsville resident, dropped from the leadoff spot to bat third. Chris Toreki of Painesville remained in the cleanup spot.
Geneva’s Jose Marte was moved down from the third spot to hitting fifth. Cash, a Rome Township resident, kept his job as the No. 6 hitter. Willie Sturdivant, the team’s other 48-year-old, took the seventh spot when Davis exited that spot. Ashtabula’s Bubba Vencill, manager of CBC Construction-Mona Vie from the Ashtabula City Rec League, occupied the eighth spot. Geneva’s Chuck Goerndt remained in the nine hole.
Rounding out the roster were Billy Woods from Fairport, another new member of the team, Orwell’s Chris Hammon and Andy Holloman, Willoughby’s Ron St. Julian and Ashtabula resident Dashin’ Doug Hladek, the Jefferson Area Local Schools superintendent.
“Bob Sheplavy and Chris Toreki are our power hitters,” Cash said. “They both run pretty well, too. One of the reasons I moved Willie down to seventh was so we’d have someone that could start rallies from the bottom of the lineup, too.”
The only restrictions on the 48-year-old players is that they are limited to one home run per game.
“After that, you’re allowed as many home runs as you can get,” Cash said.
The Legends tend to play a respectable brand of defense, with 11 players allowed on the field at one time.
“It’s a senior defense,” Cash said. “We usually catch the ball. Sometimes, we don’t. Usually, we throw to the right bases, but sometimes we don’t.”
Cash seems to enjoy his status as the team’s elder statesman. The next-oldest member of the Legends squad is Marte at 63.
“I tried to show my speed, but I guess I’m not as fast as I think I am,” he said. “I can’t find anyone older than me that will play.
“I just completed my 15th year of playing senior softball. This year, I haven’t played travel ball because my pocketbook didn’t allow it, but I’m hoping it lets me next year.”
But Cash definitely plans on maintaining his allegiance to the Legends, as long as his health holds out. He believes most of his teammates from this year will be back, too.
“As far as I know, we’re going to keep things together as long as we can,” Cash said. “We’re basically an Ashtabula County team, but we have a few Lake County guys on the team. Some of the other teams from up that way are kind of mad because I have some of the players they’d normally have on their teams on our roster.”
Cash and the Legends have some goals in mind, and he already has some other new prospects in mind to help them get there.
“I’m already looking at a couple guys I want to bring in to play with us,” he said. “You can have as many guys on your roster as you want. I try to make sure we have at least 15 on our roster.
“This league has been going for six or seven years now, and nobody has ever won the regular-season championship and the tournament in the same year. I’d like to try and see us do that next year.”
If the Legends’ offense can perform like it did in this year’s tournament, the team might just be able to “Cash” in on that objective.
