Winning feeling
BUTLER TWP — When you have to leave your team in the middle of a state championship tournament for the birth of your grandchild, you've been playing softball for a while.
Scott Marzka, 50, of Butler, qualifies in that regard.
Marzka's 45-over Belmont II team was competing in the Pennsylvania ASA Slowpitch State Tournament recently. He left after the first game of the tourney's final day.
“I got a text message during our first game that day,” Marzka recalled. “We were playing in State College that morning and the baby was born in Dunkirk, N.Y.
“I left and got up there by 12:30 p.m. or so. The other guys on the team understood perfectly. They congratulated me. Some of those guys have been through that situation themselves.”
Belmont II wound up winning the 45-over state championship. Marzka is one of seven Butler area players on the team and plays second or third base.
The others are pitcher-right fielder Dave Krason, second baseman Mark Borrelli, first baseman Dave Miller, right fielder Scott Bopp, catcher-first baseman Trent Moore, and right-center fielder Jim Rice.
“We've all been playing for a lot of years together,” Marzka said.
The team's six other players are from Pittsburgh, Greenville, Milton and Clearfield.
Belmont II won its softball league title this summer, playing its games at Father Marinaro Park. The team went 14-0 during the regular season and won all four of its games in the league's double-elimination postseason tourney.
“I played high school ball with a couple of these guys,” Marzka said. “We played in three big tournaments this year: 40-over states, 45-over states and 40-over nationals.”
The team placed fifth in 40-over nationals in New Jersey. They were going to play in the 45-over nationals, but that event was canceled.
“We stood a good chance of winning that one,” Moore, 49, said of the 45-over. “We were disappointed they didn't have it.”
Moore is a 1989 Butler graduate. He works on the railroad and plays softball for multiple teams during the summer.
“I probably play three or four nights a week,” he said. “If you ask my wife, it's 10 nights a week.
“There are random tournaments all over the place. I probably played for six different teams this year.”
Borrelli, 57, lives in Valencia and is the oldest player on the team. He said he plays five or six games a week from mid-May through September. He's been playing baseball since age 22.
“I play for a team in New Castle, one in Beaver County, for a 50-over team in North Park and a 55-over travel team known as the Steel City A's,” Borrelli said. “That team won the national championship in January in Florida.
“Teams are always looking for players to fill in here and there. I get phone calls all the time. I love the game. If I'm available, I'll go.”
Marzka said the Belmont II tournament team fills out its travel roster with top players from teams it faces in league play or other tournaments.
“You get to know guys on other teams, they get to know you ... Tournament players tend to find each other,” he said.
Belmont II hit .540 as a team during the state tournament, scoring 18 to 20 runs per game. The squad turned at least two double plays in every game.
“I've been playing ball with some of these guys for 15 years. It's a great group of guys. We have fun together,” Borrelli said.
ASA tournamernt rules prohibit a team from hitting more than four home runs in a game. Belmont II reached that total only once at the state tourney.
“We turned four double plays in the championship game,” Moore said. “Double plays are hard to turn in slow-pitch softball and we turned a bunch of them.
“That shows we've been at this game for a while.”
