Florida Amish Softball Games Are… A Big Hit :)

Sorry, I’m a bit under the weather…and that’s the best I could do for a post title 😀

But on to the story: The Amish in Pinecraft, Florida – a unique, fluctuating Amish community – have a growing tradition of playing softball against non-Amish teams.

This was the seventh year of the Amish playing against non-Amish locals. It garnered coverage from both a local news station and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

The event has grown in popularity to the degree that there are now three Amish teams taking on three non-Amish teams. And it sounds like it’s gotten pretty competitive – but all for a good cause 🙂

The Amish have a team each from Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. As you can see in this photo, Amish spectators fill the stands (Pinecraft, in the colder months, is full of part-time Amish visitors from the more traditional Amish states).

The Herald-Tribune article gives us the backdrop:

The seventh-annual Softball Showdown between the Sarasota Seniors and the Amish All Stars saw three such games take place between the local league and teams from Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Proceeds from the event benefitted the Gator Wilderness Camp School, an educational program for adolescent boys in Southwest Florida.

What began as a casual game between the Seniors and visiting Amish and Mennonite players has since ballooned into an anticipated event with more than 600 attendees. And as of this year, the festivities are official: A Sarasota County proclamation presented during the showdown’s opening festivities cemented the last Wednesday in February as Amish-Sarasota Senior Games Day.

We first looked at this event several years ago. Here’s a favorite photo from that year’s games – you might recognize this fellow from the photo above, looks like he’s a regular 🙂

YouTuber Candace McGovern captured the PA Amish team in action, and provides this recap of the game:

More on the fundraising aspect:

The Gator Camp boys sang the national anthem during the opening ceremonies and handed out raffle tickets for Pinecraft Ice Cream Shoppe gift certificates, free e-bike rentals and other prizes awarded throughout the day.

Tyler Yoder, the school’s barbecue fundraising coordinator, said community response to the Gator Camp has been overwhelming. Yoder’s time to chat was sparse, fleeting moments between fixing plates for a line of customers, but he said he’s encouraged by the showdown’s support for the organization.

“It’s good to see a lot of familiar faces, new faces getting to know us,” Yoder said. “For us as a nonprofit, to be able to benefit from this is awesome.”

One of the Amish teams gathered.

And it sounds like some made the trip especially for these games:

The Amish All Stars traveled from their home states of to compete, lodging with friends and family in Sarasota’s own Amish community to stick around for the games. They don’t have uniforms in the literal sense, but the suspenders, button-up shirts, trousers and distinguished beards are distinctive enough.

Between the journey south and the ensuing games, the Amish teams didn’t have much time to practice — once or twice as a unit at most. But any rust or unfamiliarity was in the rearview by the first pitch, with the teams in top competitive form for the festivities.

For Paul Miller, the Ohio team’s catcher and the hitter responsible for its first homer, softball is an ingrained skill. He and others in the Amish community started playing softball in elementary school and never stopped, polishing it off officially for these games.

Though his team didn’t secure back-to-back wins, Miller said the 17-hour drive from Mount Hope, Ohio, was worth it.

“You don’t always have the ‘W,’ the win, to have fun,” Miller said. “It’s just all-around wonderful.”

Sounds like a lot of fun. Here’s one more still shot, from Candace McGovern’s video of the Pennsylvania squad. An Amish player about to make contact:

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