'Kids and Kubs': St. Pete's 75-and-older softball league nears 100 years on the diamond

Meet the 'Kids and Kubs' Softball Club

The "Kids and Kubs" softball club is nearing the century mark itself, as ballplayers who are at least 75 years old take the field at St. Pete's North Shore Park three days a week. FOX 13's Evan Axelbank reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - They're almost all the way around the bases — not just in softball, but in life.

The backstory:

The "Kids and Kubs" softball club is nearing the century mark itself, as ballplayers who are at least 75 years old take the field at St. Pete's North Shore Park three days a week.

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"I thank the man upstairs every day," Barb Ewald, who is 81, said. "Because I've gone through my share."

The club's teams gather several times a week to make their "Field of Dreams" come to life.

"Mostly when you're our age, half of us are dead anyway," Club President Joe Hannah said.

Seventy-five ballplayers who are at least 75 years old gather three times per week for their own senior circuit.

What they're saying:

At 96, Ethel Lehmann is the only player who is as old as the league.

"Right now, I'm not getting that many hits," Lehmann said.

But as a member of the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame since 2008, she knows how to do her job on the field.

"I love the game of softball," Lehmann said. "If there's only one out and there's someone on third, I'll get an RBI."

In fact, they all know what they're supposed to do, even if their bodies don't always cooperate.

"We can't bend over," Cubbie Kutchinski said. "When you hit a certain age, you just have trouble bending over."

The games are heavy on the offense, with sides changing after five runs.

They take a few precautions, and there's a mat in the batter's box to improve footing. Some are allowed to run to a first base that is closer.

And runners score on a home plate that is nowhere near the plate the pitchers throw to, in order to avoid collisions.

"In the second game [of the season], 17 called in with injuries, out of 48 players," Kutchinski said. "So, they have to realize stretch a little bit."

There is one big thing that these players have learned after at least 75 years of living and playing softball.

Sports become a sign, not of youth or even of health, but of living a full life.

"It just keeps you going," Ewald said. "It makes you want to get up in the daytime. It relieves any kind of stupid pressures you put on yourself, and you just enjoy it."

It's all the more fun because there is a scorekeeper who keeps batting averages, uniforms with last names and big-league chatter.

On this field, players who grew up watching Willie Mays are playing center field, and indeed, giving the game a ride.

"We're old people," Hannah said. "We're not young kids, but you feel like you're a young kid because you're out here playing. I never feel like I'm 78-years-old when I'm playing. I feel like a young kid."

What you can do:

For more information on the Kids and Kubs softball club, visit their website here.