Teams from around the area came to Stebbins field to compete in the Special Olympics Softball Spectacular.
Photos by Drew Terhall | The Daily Advocate
The athletes got to spend the day making plays out on the field and competing against other teams.
By Drew Terhall
Dailyadvocate.com
GREENVILLE — It was a beautiful day for some softball at Stebbins Field on July 27. The Darke County Special Olympics hosted their Softball Spectacular with the event taking up five fields.
Darke County Special Olympics Director Cindy Rose said this is the second time they have done this event at Stebbins Field. They have their own field behind the Darke County Board of Developmental Disabilities facilities.
The Special Olympics have been doing softball for 29 years. Rose came up with the idea of including the Greenville Girls Softball Association once she joined the GGSA board.
“I’ve been involved with GGSA for a couple of years, I’ve been on the board for a couple of years. I thought, ‘You know what, let’s pair the two together and do a Special Olympics event.’ This year we have 10 teams from eight counties,” Rose said.
Teams from Fayette County, Madison County, Hilliard, Logan County, Shelby County, Montgomery County and Darke County competed in the event.
Rose said it’s great to put on an event where teams can get together and play at least two games during the day. These kind of events only happen at higher level tournaments.
“Having a tournament like this, this kind of stuff doesn’t happen at Special Olympics until you go to the regional event and the state event,” Rose said.
It was a fun day for all athletes and volunteers. The athletes got to spend the day playing the sport they love while the volunteers got to watch and help out.
Rose said they are thankful for all of the umpires, the coaches and the volunteers that worked at the concessions stand. She also said they had an umpire working his first Special Olympics event while also having a board member jump in to officiate a game when they were down an umpire.
It was a chance for some of the Special Olympic volunteers who aren’t associated with GGSA to get exposure to this event.
“If you never been to a Special Olympics event, sometimes you don’t know what to expect. The volunteers that come out, as people say, they get as much as they give. They’re getting back also as much as the athletes are,” Rose said.
Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]
