City meets demand for kickball
Published 5:45 pm Saturday, July 6, 2013
The Shake-N-Bake kickball team celebrates after recently defeating Older Budweiser 2-1 in 11 innings to win the spring 2013 championship of the Suffolk Parks and Recreation Co-Ed Adult Kickball League at Peanut Park. Pictured are front row, from left: Aaron Stacy and Buddy Wirt; middle row, from left: Colt Eason, Kortni Stickels-Wirt, Jeremy Branch, Melissa Dunn and Brittany Rogers; back row, from left: John James, Jason Bailey and Tabb Griffey.
The Suffolk Parks and Recreation Co-Ed Adult Kickball League currently has sign-ups available for its fall kickball season.
Roberto Ramos of Suffolk Parks and Recreation gave the short explanation of how a group of Suffolk citizens made the league a reality five years ago.
Four pre-existing kickball teams had been playing in different leagues, normally on the Peninsula, and the local players decided that they wanted a local option.
They said, “Can we start our own league?”
That league recently wrapped up its fifth season, enjoying one of its highest levels of participation ever, with about 105 players spread over seven teams.
“This is probably the most teams we’ve gotten,” Ramos said.
He explained that normally the league tops out at five or six squads. This year, one team came from Portsmouth while another one, with the name Shake-N-Bake, featured a mixture of players from Isle of Wight and Suffolk.
Shake-N-Bake went on to win the recent season-ending double-elimination tournament, claiming the spring 2013 championship with a 2-1 victory over Older Budweiser in 11 innings at Peanut Park.
Sign-ups began July 1 for those interested in playing in the fall kickball season, which begins on Sept. 11.
Participants must be 18 and up, and each team must have at least two women.
Games will be played each Wednesday for eight weeks at Peanut Park.
