TOTS to shutdown for 2 weeks

 Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Hats off to the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers (TOTS).

The amateur baseball club, in the midst of its 53rd season, has played on through the hot summer, not to mention battling the affects of the coronavirus, which has caused havoc with the organization's regular schedule the past seven months.

The TOTS have remained steady, but will take a well-deserved break the rest of October as 13 members of the club will travel to Phoenix the next two weeks to participate in the 33rd Men's Senior Baseball League World Series.

Today at Udall, the TOTS played their final game of the month as Team White's Reed Palmer pitched a complete game to lead his team to a 11-4 win over Team Blue. Palmer received a lot of help from his teammates -- especially his four infielders: third-sacker Joe Opocensky, shortstop Mike Dawson, second baseman Pigpen Price and first baseman Bill Mishler. Palmer coaxed the Team Blue batters into hitting ground balls through out the game -- especially to Dawson, at short, who recorded eight assists to go along with three putouts.

Team White's four infielders will be heading for the MSBL World Series, along with Mike Steele, who caught Palmer for seven innings today. The first six batters in Team Blue's lineup -- Ken Nebesny, Pete Peters, Doc Thompson, Tim Tolson, John Mathews and Bob Daliege -- combined for six hits today and drove in three of their team's four runs.

Thompson, who played left field today, gets the pitching nod for the Tucson Toros on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Tempe Diablo's annex field #6 in the first round-robin game in the 70-and-over Central Division.   The hard-throwing right-hander will go up against the San Antonio Texans, which just happens to have four TOTS' players on their roster -- Mishler, Peters, Steele and Daliege.

The Toros are made up mostly of players from the 60-and-over Old Pueblo Club, which plays at Tucson Santa Rita Park year around. Along with the five players, a sixth player, Ernesto Escala, who also plays regularly for the TOTS, is on the Tucson Toros roster.

Good luck to all!

Note: In Week 2 of the MSBL World Series, the rest of the TOTS' regulars will see action with Dawson, Mathews, Opocensky, Tim Tolson and Ken Nebesny joining the 65-and-over Tucson Toros, while Pigpen Price will play in the 73-and-over division with the Arizona Scorpions.

All the TOTS will be back at Udall Park on Monday -- November 2 -- as the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers return to action and do what they do best: Play Ball!