Recalling the Medina Womens Softball League’s early champions and rivals

Contriibuted Photos – The 1980 Bailey’s Drillettes Medina Women’s Softball League playoff championship team included, in front,  Cheryl Nudd, Tinker Eddy, Ann Geiger, Donna Myhill and Mary Guzik. In back are Yvonne Zambito, Lou Ann Watkins, Pat Mitchell, Marian Gerhardy, Ann Hyndman, Carol Corser and player-coach Annette Finch.

Over the past five years Bane’s Machine Shop/Banes Plumbing has had a strong run in the ‘A’ Division of the Medina Women’s Softball League winning four regular season and three playoff championships.

Interestingly when the league began play in 1968 the first dominate team was the Abex squad which captured the first three championships in 1968, 69 and 70. Abex in fact posted a 16-2 record during the 1970 season. Those were all regular season titles as the league did not begin playoff competition until 1971.

Not long after Abex, the Bailey’s Drillettes team from Albion put together the league’s first decade long run of success as from 1976 to 1986 the team claimed no less than six playoff and four regular season titles.

During the early part of that run Bailey’s top rival for the title was Apple Depot.

The two teams shared the regular season title in 1976 but Bailey’s prevailed in the playoffs and went on to repeat in 1977.

Apple Depot then bested Baileys for regular season and playoff honors in both 1978 and 1979.

Bailey’s got the playoff crown back in 1980 and then captured both the regular season and playoff championships in 1981, 1983 and 1986.

The only team to best Bailey’s during that stretch from 1981 to 1985 was Village Sports which claimed both the regular season and playoff titles in 1982, 1984 and 1985.

More recently the most dominating team in league history was Hammertime which captured regular season and or playoff titles for eight years in a row from 1995 to 2002.

The 1979 Apple Depot regular season and playoff championship team included, in the back row Debi Stornelli, Diane Willis, Mari Ehrenreich, Gus Fox, Cheryl Schnackel, Barb Draper, Cathy McCormick and Coach Louie Forman. In front are Cheryl Wertman, scorekeeper Skip Draper, Linda Sansone, Kathy Meyers, Cheryl Fuller and Teri Lavery,

The 1970 champion Abex team, which claimed the league’s first three titles, included, in front Louretta Sheelar, Barbara Dennis and Kathy Pawlaczyk. In the middle row are Betty Hassall, Dorothy Fuller, Mary Stillinger, Jenny Preston and Diane Brigham. In back are Carol Schening and Shirley Ridenour who was the league’s organizer and its first president.