Saturday, May 15, was a beautiful spring day with a light breeze and lots of sunshine; perfect for softball! The Wellspring softball team, recently reactivated thanks to our own Gary Germaine, took the field at Rec Park in Southington, to represent our congregation in a one-day benefit tournament supporting Teen Challenge of CT.

Team Wellspring was made up of many familiar faces from our usual Sunday mornings, including Judith Appah, John & Nani Rosario, Jay St. Jean and daughter Hannah, Jonathan Tirado, and yours truly. Gary Germaine played multiple roles as team-leader/organizer, fundraiser, captain, and pitcher. Wellspring’s Dan Rouleau served as umpire.

By all accounts we had a wonderful day of fun, exercise, competition, and teamwork, while consuming a fair number of hot dogs which were sold to raise money for Teen Challenge! We won our first game, 7-4, against a team made up of players from Teen Challenge, Victory Church, and Thrive Church. With a victory under our belts, and many tight muscles starting to loosen, we were assured of playing at least two more games, given the double elimination format.

Our day culminated in a thoroughly exciting game against the Pathfinders team from Manchester, with both teams scoring runs late in the innings to force the game to one extra inning. Although we lost 4-3, and were then eliminated from the tournament, we had a great day nonetheless.

No, I haven’t forgotten game #2, I’m simply trying to avoid re-living the trauma! The Vipers were the best team assembled that day. They beat everybody by double digits, including Team Wellspring. The bad news is that we lost. The good news is that there’s always next year!

The tournament was a fundraiser, with each team charged with donating at least $150 to Teen Challenge, which offers Christ centered addiction recovery programs for teens and young adults. For more information about Teen Challenge CT, please visit: https://tcconnecticut.org/#landing.  Teen Challenge representatives were especially grateful for the financial support, because last year’s big fundraiser was cancelled altogether, due to Covid restrictions.

Reported by Peter Burk, Wellspring’s Facilities Assistant