In the recently completed 91直播 Kupuna Softball State Tournament held on Kauai, the Big Island was well represented.
Two teams won their divisions 鈥� the Honomu Rockets in the D-division title and Kua鈥檃ina took the F-division championship. Coming in second place in their divisions were the Waiakea Seniors in H, Health Care Scrubs in E, Ku鈥檌kahi in C, S&B 808 in B and the Kona Legends in A.
The Kona Legends have been in the 91直播 Kupuna Softball League for the last 12 seasons, and have qualified to play in the State Tournament each season in no lower than the C division. Their success in the last five years has been a constant at the state tournament. The Legends have tied for third in the A division, won the A division, won the B division, came in second in the B division and second in the A division. The success has come at a price, according to head coach Stan Grahovac.
鈥淓very year our goal has been to get into the A division,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he stress that comes along with battling to remain in the top-four teams in the league sometimes made the game unenjoyable for me as a coach. In order to stay up there, we have had to keep bringing younger players onto our roster to keep our team near the top of the standings.
鈥淭he problem with bringing on the younger guys is that our older players lose playing time. There are eight of us who have been on the Legends from day one. In our championship game on Kauai, I looked into our dugout and saw two players that have been with us from the start sitting on the bench. It just didn鈥檛 seem right to me. We were trying to win a championship, and they understood that. But being a Legend for 12 years should count for something. That鈥檚 when I decided I had to do something different.鈥�
By doing something different, Grahovac wanted to change the way the Legends competed in the league next season. Instead of hitting a limited number of batters, his idea was to insert everybody that showed up to the game into the lineup. If 10 players show up, he would hit 10. If 15 show up, all 15 would hit.
The idea was to suit up, show up, play hard and let whatever happens happen. The eight original Legends are all over 70, and his idea was to get all of them back on the field again. Grahovac knew that some of the younger players would probably move on to other teams because they still wanted to play competitive ball and be in the upper divisions of the league. By contrast, the Legends would play their best with their revamped lineup and be satisfied, win or lose.
The Legends board of directors (four of the originals) unanimously agreed with Grahovac, and the decision was final.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to lose three-to-five players, all starters, but our time at the top has been a great run, now it鈥檚 time to relax and have fun,鈥� Grahovac said. 鈥淢ake no mistake, we won鈥檛 be a bad team 鈥� we will be a pretty good team that鈥檚 got a lot of older players on it. Our goal is to keep and play our original players for as long as we can. We鈥檙e hoping to make it to our 80鈥檚, if at all possible. We want to play and grow old together; that would be Legendary.鈥�