The winners of the 2024 Massachusetts Senior Games men’s softball tournament.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
SPRINGFIELD — Over 200 softball-playing men — ranging in age from 60 years old to 75-plus — are slated to take the field in Springfield’s Blunt Park Aug. 8-10, as the Massachusetts Senior Games brings the state tournament home to the city where the games began.
The state’s Senior Games — athletic competitions for men and women 60 years of age and older — were initially hosted by Springfield College in 1991.
The track and field competitions have remained at the college for the past 30 years, and some other sports contests have remained in Western Mass., but many of the competitions have moved east as the popularity of the games has grown. Steve Lepow, a member of the Western Mass. Relics softball team and a coordinator for the tournament, said Mayor Domenic Sarno was supportive of bringing the men’s softball tournament to the city and Blunt Park. The mayor, Lepow said, felt the event was an opportunity to highlight what Springfield has to offer to people from across the state.
All three days of the men’s softball tournament will be free and open to the public. Sixteen teams from the four major senior men’s softball leagues from across the state — four in each of the age groups 60, 65, 70 and 75 — will compete on Friday and Saturday to play in the championship games on Sunday, Aug. 10. The teams hail from eastern Mass, Cape Cod, the Merrimack Valley and Western Mass., represented by the Ludlow-based Western Mass. Relics.
“Some of these guys are very impressive in their abilities, even those in the 75-plus bracket,” said Thomas Dunn, event coordinator for the 2025 tournament and a member of the Western Mass. Relics.
Spectators are encouraged to bring their own chairs and pop-ups to the tourney, and food trucks will be available on site. Lepow shared that in addition to the softball, activities to help keep the kids busy, including cornhole, croquet and disc golf, will be available on the baseball field across from Blunt Park’s three softball fields. The park also has a spray park.
“If the moms want, they can bring the kids to the activities while the dads watch softball,” Dunn suggested.
Sarno is slated to throw out the first pitch at the 1:30 p.m. game on Friday, Aug. 8, and again at the opening of the elimination tourney play on Sunday, Aug. 10 at 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday’s games will determine position for the tourney, with the 70-and 75-year-old teams taking the field starting at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Teams from all age brackets will play on Saturday, with games beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing until approximately 6 p.m. The tournament is rain or shine.
“I am looking forward to joining and welcoming all of the athletes as they take the field to compete,” Sarno told Reminder Publishing of his participation in this inaugural tournament in the city. “As a former catcher who once wore ‘the tools of ignorance,’ I am also looking forward to throwing out the ceremonial first pitch too!”
Lepow said men’s softball returned to the Massachusetts Senior Games as a competitive sport two years ago with a small competition in eastern Mass. The tournament had grown in popularity by last year, with a tournament split between the two Massachusetts towns of Medfield and Whalen to accommodate the number of teams. However, as neither town had sufficient softball fields to keep the teams together, Lepow said the event didn’t foster the camaraderie between players coordinators had hoped, and the group was looking to bring all the teams together for 2025.
Lepow said he approached Sarno at a St. Patrick’s event at the Springfield Elks Club in March of 2024, before last year’s eastern Mass. event, with the idea of bringing a senior men’s softball tournament to Springfield in the future. Sarno, he said, was enthusiastic, asking Lepow to email him with the idea, and later putting him in touch with Deputy Superintendent of Recreation Randy Piteo to work on the details. This year, the Senior Games softball coordinators and Piteo made it happen.
“He was very cooperative because he wanted this to happen,” Lepow said, adding that Piteo helped secure not only the space at Blunt Park for this year’s tournament, but also gave the Senior Games coordinating team contact information for umpires for the games. He said the tourney coordinating committee also worked with Alicia Szenda, vice president of sales for the Greater Springfield Visitors and Convention Bureau, to plan events and highlight local activities for the visiting players and their families.
“Explore Western Mass is thrilled to welcome the Massachusetts Senior Games Men’s Softball Tournament to Springfield,” said Alicia Szenda, vice president of sales for Explore Western Mass. “Hosting this tournament no only brings vibrant energy and visitors to our community, but also honors the spirit of competition that defines our city’s rich sports legacy.”
As of July 24, Lepow said 61 of the 100-room block he’d secured at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Springfield had been rented for the tournament weekend.
The plan is to keep the players and their families here for the weekend — “not go home and come back” each day.
“We’re really trying to bring an economic impact to Springfield and make this an annual event,” Lepow said. Dunn added that if the “teams see the event is well-run and they have a good time, they will want to come back.”
