Softball team wins at Senior Olympics

The Freedom Spirit slow-pitch women's softball team, based in Clearwater, got the gold at this year's competition in Louisiana.

By JULIANNE WU

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 18, 2001

CLEARWATER -- They went for the gold, and they got it.

The Freedom Spirit slow-pitch women's softball team left its competition in the dust at the national Senior Games, also known as the Senior Olympics, held July 23-25 in Baton Rouge, La. The team also played an exhibition team and won that game, too.

"Oh, man, we were crying, we were so happy," said co-founder Shirley Smith, 66, of St. Petersburg, who plays center field. "The fact we pulled together so incredibly as a team. . . . It was beautiful.

"And Ethel (Ethel Lehmann, the team's co-founder) was absolutely outstanding," said Smith. "She batted 14-for-17 throughout the five games. Ethel hit two triples, five doubles and seven singles."

Lehmann, 71, of Largo, also won four gold medals and a silver medal in the individual sports she entered: gold in the 100, 200 and 400 meters and long jump and a silver in the javelin.

"I think I'm finally coming down off my high from the Games," said Lehmann, reached in New York this week. "Out of all the gold medals, the one that meant the most to me was the women's softball team. It's been a busy summer for all of us."

Smith and Lehmann launched Freedom Spirit for women 65 or older in 1999. The club is a spinoff of Florida Spirit, a team for women 55 or older that they founded in 1994.

Freedom Spirit's members, 65 to 75 years old, come from St. Petersburg, Largo, Clearwater, Oldsmar, Inverness and New Port Richey. There are even a few snowbirds, and one member, pitcher Ruth Fellmeth, 66, lives in New York year-round but comes for the Senior Olympics and other big events.

The women already are preparing for another event, playing the Gulfport Boomerangs, a men's team, twice monthly and practicing every Tuesday morning at the Ed C. Moore complex in Clearwater.

Freedom Spirit will participate in the U.S. Sports Specialties Association (USSSA) competition on Sept. 13-16 in Gallatin, Tenn.

Said Smith: "After that, we may take a few weeks off, but not for long."

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