LIHUE — Three years ago, a group of buddies from all around the state teamed up to compete at a worldwide competition. The element which brought them together — they are all at least 70 years old. “We played for
LIHUE — Three years ago, a group of buddies from all around the state teamed up to compete at a worldwide competition.
The element which brought them together — they are all at least 70 years old.
“We played for prior teams and all that. Most of the guys played in a 65 (age) bracket. What we did was when we turned 70 in 2013, we came together and said, ‘Let’s go in the 70 bracket,’” said coach Alejandro Lomosad, of Hanapepe, on Wednesday.
Ka Uila, a local senior softball team, is based here but some members are from Oahu and Maui.
“There’s a regular senior league,” he said. “Each island has teams that participate. We normally play each other. Then the state tournament, which all the teams converse, we go on (a different) island each year. … We played in the state bracket, and somehow we met each other and said, ‘Hey, you want to go?’ That’s how we met each other.”
Ka Uila played at the 2015 Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah, in October.
The games feature several sports. Hundreds of teams are divided by age groups and ability.
“Every year, the World Senior Games, there’s 300-plus teams. And then there’s all the age brackets and all that,” Lomosad said. “You have teams from all over — from Alaska, Canada and United States. They converge there.”
At these past games, Ka Uila defeated Okanagan McDonalds, a team from Canada, in the 70-plus B division to win a gold medal for a third-consecutive year.
Lomosad said the team won the final, 17-3, in five innings rather than the full seven because of a 10-run mercy rule.
Last year, Ka Uila beat Alberta 70’s, another team from Canada, to win gold in the same division and won gold in the 70-plus C division three years ago, beating Triple Play from Fresno, California.
“It’s something. We never expected that. I think we’re the first team from Hawaii to do it in that age bracket three years in a row,” Lomosad said. “For the guys, we never expected that. It’s awesome.
“We didn’t go up there with the idea that we’re going to win. We went up there just to go and have fun,” he added. “The guys really played hard.”
Lomosad hopes the team can return for the next World Senior Games, but that is to be determined. If they make the trip, the team will compete in the 70-plus A division.
“Hopefully, the guys stay healthy and we can go back. They want to play together again,” he said. “We normally wait until February to start putting the team together. But we get a lot of practice because the senior league on Kauai, there’s 12 teams, we play from February all the way to August — which is the state tournament. A lot of time to practice.”
