Second-generation softball a big part of Talkeetna community

TALKEETNA -- For many years, a popular event during the Talkeetna Moose Dropping Festival has been the annual one-pitch softball tournament, played on the little community field right in the middle of town, where local teams practice and sometimes play during the summer. Teams like the Mandingos, who are a hugely popular part of this softball-loving town.

This is how the one-pitch tournament works: Batters get one chance at the ball. They either get a hit or they are called out if it's a strike, or they get a walk if it's a ball. The strike zone is a little larger and usually batters get a decent pitch to hit.

The games go quicker than regular softball games, taking only about 40 minutes, which allows the dozen teams to play on one field and still complete the double-elimination tournament over the course of a weekend. Because of the small field size and time restrictions, there are a few other adaptations to the standard tournament rules. For example, only one home run can count per inning per team, and co-ed teams are spotted a few runs for good measure.

Steve Durr was one of the founding members of the Mandingos, who've been playing ball in Talkeetna since 1977. Durr and Walter Kaso are the two original team members who still play today.

"Our origins are from the mid-'70s," Durr said, "when a bunch of hippies moved into town. We just played ball amongst ourselves, and we were really bad. We would travel all the way to Kenai to lose," he laughed. The saying used to be 'lose two and barbecue.'"

"We had a great run in the late '80s," Durr said, "and through the '90s even." Durr remembers winning the state championship in Valdez in 1993 as one of the highlights of the team's many seasons together.

"We won the first three games by one run. It was really exciting," he said. "We didn't have any subs, so if anyone got hurt, it would have been a real problem. We got to the championship game, and Andy [Williams] hit a grand slam. It was great. That's when I knew we had it won. The team we crushed had only lost one game all year."

Williams joined the group about fifteen years ago, and quickly became a key member of the team. When Williams' son was a newborn, Durr said he came down to the field.

"He spent one of the first days of his life at the ball field. We made him a little Mandingos shirt," Durr said. "It was great."

While the Mandingos have long been a part of the community, the respect and admiration they enjoy today was not always there. In the '70s, when "hippies" first came to town, they weren't always made to feel welcome. In fact, Talkeetna struggled with many of the same issues that the country was facing at the time. It was hard to find common ground among the old Talkeetna residents and this new generation. The Mandingos and their softball somehow helped to bridge the gap that existed between the more conservative townspeople and the newcomers.

"That's all ancient history," Durr said. "And we are considered the old timers now."

As the children of the Mandingos have grown up and started their own teams, like the Geeting Aviation-sponsored Fly Boys, they are beginning to dominate the local tournaments. "It's nice to watch all these boys," Durr said, "they are such great athletes. But it's a little hard to swallow now that they are kicking our [tails.]"

Durr, a local musician, wrote a song about the Mandingos. Like the team members, it has evolved over the years. Durr penned the latest verse as the group began aging together. It goes something like this:

"Seasons of plenty, seasons of some, mortality raised the stakes,

Into this golden field we've come, as one by one we break,

And we'll all live together, a bunch of toothless old guys, a red hat on every gray head,

Though I can't hear a word you are saying, I still know what you said."

The song goes on to the chorus, which has been heard spilling out of the Fairview on game nights for many years. "I'm proud to be a Mandingo, though some people, they can't understand, I'm proud to be a Mandingo, living in Mandingo-land."

Vince Pokryfki of Wasilla has been playing on the Prudhoe Bay Fireman's team at the tournament for about 20 summers. He and his family used to live in Talkeetna where Pokryfki played with the Dust Devils, a local Tee Pee-sponsored team.

"One year for Moose Dropping," Pokryfki said, "they were short a team. I put together a team of guys I worked with. I originally brought up the ARCO Prudhoe Bay Fire Department ," he added. "It was just guys who worked together on the slope, and got together in Talkeetna to play ball a couple times a year."

Pokryfki, along with Gordy Moench of Anchorage and Dale Bode of Peters Creek are three of the original players still on the team today.

"I haven't lived in Talkeetna for about 14 years," said Pokryfki, "but we still have friends there, and this allows us to continue those friendships," he said. "Now our son Nathan is playing on the team, and my wife and daughter keep score. It's a family affair."

The firemen's team have won a few of the Talkeetna tournaments and been runners up a few times, too. "We really never have been a full-fledged team, other than for this tournament. And we are playing against teams who have been playing ball all season," said Pokryfki.

Pokryfki considers the Mandingos the arch rivals of the Firemen on the Talkeetna field. But when the Mandingos play in the Mat-Su Softball Association league down in Wasilla, Pokryfki and his son Nate play with them.

"We are Mandingos in our blood," he said.

"What makes this tournament unique," said Pokryfki, "is the history of the teams. Some of the guys from the Mandingos are retired and they come back to play in the Talkeetna tournaments. When the group was small, we got together the local kids and started them playing. It took a while, but they got good at it," he said. "Now they have no mercy on us, but it's all in fun."

For the past nine years, the Moose Drooping tournament has been called the Glen Koch Memorial One-Pitch Softball Tournament. Koch was an umpire that used to work the tournament. "He passed on," said Pokryfki, "but his son, Rick Koch is also an umpire and still comes up. The umps have fun too -- they get to know everybody. It's like old home week."

For the Firemen's team, Pokryfki said It's a way for the co-workers and friends to get together and have some family fun. "Mainly It's a camping trip," he said, "everyone camps at the Talkeetna boat launch. On Friday, we fish up and have a big picnic, and then come back and practice for the tournament. Then on Saturday and Sunday we play ball."

Pam Rannals managed the Fairview Inn during the 1980s. The Fairview sponsored the Mandingos. "Win or lose," she said, "but especially when they won, the team headed down for a pitcher of beer after the game. There would be dancing and beer, and then beer would get spilled, and that would start what was called 'slider school,'" Rannals said. "They would start at the front door and end at the back door," she laughed, "sliding across the floor."

"Now we are all old," Rannals said, "and it's a whole new generation." Rannals son, Travis, is a member of the Fly Boys, an offshoot of the Mandingos, who took second place in the tournament this year. He is also on the Upper Susitna Softball Association board of directors. An even younger local team, called the Cronies, is also on the rise.

"Travis, and Matt and Kelsey Kaso, and all the kids got started playing on Saturday mornings when they were six or seven years old, playing on the Talkeetna Spurs, Rannals said. "And the kids still play here on Saturday mornings. Softball is a family thing in Talkeetna," she said.