No marathon for Junkies and Jim Paul, just efficient win
Photo: Jim Paul celebrating his 76th birthday on Lago Maggiore in northern Italy.
By Bill Tarrant
Jim Paul, a former marathon racer, these days takes a pinch runner when he’s on base. Which the 77-year-old has done with admirable reliability from the 8th position in Junkies’ lineup this season. And with two more hits to right in the Junkies’ 9-3 takedown of the Grays, the 6-rated player boosted his season average to an impressive .632.
Jim said he revamped his setup and swing working with practice game umpire Jason Bielma. “He had me dropping my back shoulder and going to right. The best players in this league are on the left side.”
Jim also recorded one of the only outfield outs of the game for the Junkies, a smash to deep right by the Grays Don Matthew. The Junkies infield accounted for at least 16 outs, led by Raul Aguilar who turned two double plays from the keystone position. On offense, the Junkies made the best out of a season-low 16 hits.
The game took just over an hour to complete in contrast to more marathon contests that have characterized the LA senior softball league this fall-winter season with playoffs beginning next week.
The 2ndseeded Junkies get a rematch with the 15th seeded Grays in the first round.
BARBERSHOP RECRUIT
Jim started playing senior softball in 2005, as his marathon running career was drawing to a close with hip and knee replacements in his future if he continued pounding the roads.
“I was getting a haircut at Gary Karlich’s barbershop one day and he probably had 50 trophies on the wall – and a sign about registering for the league,” Jim said. Karlich is a founding member of the Archies, which this season was undefeated and holds the first seed in the playoffs.
Before that he trained six months each year for the LA Marathon with the famous LA Road Runners. “I’ve got a lot of completion medals,” Jim said. “You’re going up against professionals in the LA Marathon.”
Jim was born in Tennessee, which accounts for that drawl of his, and lived all over the southland growing up, as his father rose up the ranks of his company in the new post-war age of mobility. He was working in finance selling mortgage-backed securities back in the '80s when that was a respectable business (unlike the toxic brand of subprime loans that caused the 2008 global financial crisis).
That’s when he met his wife on a blind date in Houston. Love at first sight, he said. She was a fashion designer, which led the two of them to LA. They were together 30 years before she succumbed to cancer on the anniversary of that blind date six years ago. “It was the most powerful moment of my life, lying in bed with her as she lay dying,” Jim said.
Jim’s eyesight under the lights isn’t great and his range has slowed. “I’ve discovered the skill set can be a sudden decline, and not the gentle slope I was expecting," he said. "But I’m still getting by in softball with my good looks and a friendly attitude.”
Slow Horses 18 Red Sox 3
Ben Franco started the scoring by hitting a 2-run homer in the top of the first inning giving the Red Sox an early lead. Unfortunately, that was the end of the highlights for the Red Sox as the Horses rode off into the sunset singing "Happy Trails". The Horses showed no mercy (literally) winning 18-3. In a statistical oddity, the Red Sox never recorded a 3rd out in any inning. The game was stopped during the bottom of the 5th inning under the mercy rules. Gus Bautista made many great defensive plays at shortstop and also hit a home run for the Horses. Edgar Velasquez made a great catch in left center field and Bill Barnard had to stretch several times into awkward positions to catch throws at first base.
Archies 19, Killabrews 19
The Archies were down eight runs in the early going to the sub-filled Killabrews, hoping to keep their undefeated season alive.
They caught up to cut the lead to 9 to 8, but the ‘Brews pushed the lead to 13 to 9 late in the game.
In their final at-bat for the Archie’s trailing 19 to 11, undefeated season on the line….the Archies batted the entire lineup to score eight runs and pull off the tie game.
“In my mind, I didn’t think that we could win this game. I really didn’t. But my team thought differently and never gave up. I couldn’t be prouder of them. This entire season they always remained positive in and out of the dugout.”
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