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Dami, 84, still playing in, running softball league

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Eleanor Bailey/Almanac

Albert Dami tosses a pitch to the plate during action against SNPJ in the Washington County Senior Softball League.

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Eleanor Bailey/Almanac

Jim Dami of the Pioneers makes a diving catch in left field Thursday during first-inning action against SNPJ in the Washington County Senior Softball League.

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Albert Dami takes a break in the action.

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Albert Dami (left) chats with his teammates on the Pioneers, a team in the Washington County Senior Softball League.

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By Eleanor Bailey/Almanac Sports Editor/ebailey@thealmanac.net

Albert Dami

Like most players in the Washington County Senior Softball League, Albert Dami doesn’t hit the ball as far as he used to. He also doesn’t get around the base paths as swiftly as he once did. And the accuracy of his pitches isn’t what it was during his prime.

Dami, however, can still get base hits, can still be a productive player for his team and he can run a highly competitive and enjoyable six-team league. Those are things most people half Dami’s age would have trouble doing.

Much of what you need to know about the 84-year-old Dami is he’s still playing softball twice a week, for a team called the Pioneers. And he’s president of the Washington Senior Softball League.

“I love playing softball,” Dami said. “It keeps me active. I’d rather play softball than sit around.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dami had little time for sitting in his Canonsburg home. He was too busy staying in shape so that he could play softball and compete in the Senior Olympics. He was a regular participant in the latter until this summer, when the competition was canceled because of the pandemic. In a normal year, Dami would compete in eight to 10 events in the Pennsylvania Senior Olympics. His specialty was the stationary bike, an event in which the rider peddles as fast as he can for three minutes and the distance that is covered in that time period determines the winner.

“I won gold in that event for seven or eight years,” Dami says proudly.

But softball is what Dami loves, even if he’s a golden oldie in the sport.

Dami started playing baseball as a youth and continued at Canonsburg High School, where he graduated in 1953. Following a stint in the army and a tour of Korea, Dami was back on the diamonds but the shift eventually was made to softball.

“Baseball is a slower game than softball but it’s a tougher game,” Dami explained.

Slowpitch softball, with its bigger ball, shorter basepaths and faster pace, was something Dami liked and he’s been playing the sport for about 40 years. He’s been playing long enough to remember when southwestern Pennsylvania was a softball-crazed area. There were more than 100 teams in Washington and Greene counties about 30 years ago.

“It’s hard to explain what has happened to softball in this area,” Dami said. “There used to be several really competitive leagues. The Ten Mile Valley League had 30 or 40 teams, the Canonsburg-Houston Church League had 10 or 12 teams.”

These days, softball leagues are few and far between, but Dami does his best to keep the Washington Senior Softball League going. The league, which is for players 50 years and older, started with four teams and has grown to six. Many games are played at North Strabane Township Park.

“It’s a good, competitive league,” says 57-year-old Jim Dami, one of Albert’s four sons and a Pioneers teammate. “There are a lot of players in this league who played minor-league baseball or college baseball. But if it wasn’t for my dad, the league would have folded. He kept it going. Softball is his life.”

Albert Dami played second base and some first base in his younger days. These days, he’s a pitcher.

“There was a time when if I walked a batter it was really something unusual,” Albert Dami said. “I can tell I’m starting to lose some of my control. There are times when I can’t find the plate.”

His father’s ability to throw strikes is not what concerns Jim Dami. It’s those line drives back up the middle.

“As a pitcher, you’re pretty close to the batter, so you’re concerned about those shots back at him,” Jim Dami said. “But my dad still has quick reactions. It’s amazing.”

Even the youngest softball pitchers, Albert Dami says, can sometimes have trouble getting out of the way of a ball hit back at him.

“I’ve had a broken nose, marks on my thighs,” he said. “Hey, you’re only 50 feet away.”

Albert Dami can still swing the bat, too. In a game this season against SNPJ, the defending league champion, he had three hits in the Pioneers’ 19-16, 11-inning win.

If there is one goal left for Albert Dami, it’s to win the senior league’s championship.

“I’ve never played on a championship team in this league,” he said. “I did play for one team, St. Genevieve in the Canonsburg-Houston Church League, that won the championship a couple years in a row and went 36-0 in one year. That would be one of the highlights for me.”

So how long does Dami plan to continue playing?

“I plan to keep playing as long as I can walk onto the field,” Dami said. “Softball keeps me young.”

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