Five name and sponsorship changes over the last dozen years haven’t kept Tremblay Financial Services from reaching the top of Santa Barbara’s senior men’s slo-pitch softball circuit.
The Tremblay team defended its Elings Park 50-and-over championship by defeating Rude Crew 16-15 in the fall season’s championship game at Elings’ Castagnola Softball Complex.
“We started 15 years ago as the Bishop Diego Alumni, winning the league several times,” said Tremblay player Pete Georgi. “We moved on with Dudek Company sponsoring the team for several seasons followed by Santa Barbara Insurance Agency and Cornerstone Capital.
“Tremblay Financial Services has sponsored the team the past year with back-to-back championships.”
Rude Crew, a team of mostly Lompoc-area players, had entered the league final with a 7-0 record.
Tremblay jumped out to a 9-0 lead after two innings. Rude Crew rallied to tie the score at 9-all.
Tremblay nudged back ahead, 10-9, in the fifth inning, and extended its margin to 15-9 in the sixth before Rude Crew staged another comeback to knot the score again at 15-15 in the top of the seventh.
“In the bottom of the seventh, Jim Peterson led off with a rope to right and slid into second ahead of the tag,” Georgi said. “Jim Slaught came up to bat and hit a strong line drive into the right center gap for a clean double scoring Jim Peterson for the game-winning run.
“Jim had a cigar after the game.”
He added that, “Mike Monroe made some spectacular catches in left field and went 4-for-4 at bat for player of the game.”
The Elings Park Adult Softball League, headed by Clyde Bennett, sponsors three seasons throughout the year — spring, summer and fall — with divisions for various levels of men’s, women’s, coed and seniors (50-and-over). Seventeen leagues were conducted during the fall season.
Monday night’s senior division was comprised of five teams this fall, which also included Holehouse Construction, Old and Slow, and the Carpinteria-based Waterboys.
The league is looking for new players for the spring season (registration is available at elingspark.org/sports-recreation/adult-softball/).