Many of the players from Ventura’s Carstar Collision paused for an even longer time to share a moment — even an embrace — with Brian Crawford, the pitcher of record for the Lakeside Club in its 10-2 victory.

In fastpitch softball, pitching is everything.

And on Monday night, Crawford gutted his way to victory as Lakeside Club won the league championship series 2-0 over Ventura’s.

At 49 years old, Crawford is the elder statesman on the field for Lakeside Club and the team’s unquestioned emotional leader.

Members of the Lakeside Club celebrate after winning the Dunkirk Fastpitch League title Monday at Promenschenkel Stadium. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

But Crawford is one of a dying breed — fastpitch softball pitchers — and leagues like the one in Dunkirk are going away because of it.

“I started pitching out of necessity. It was the tail end of the recreation generation and the league was going down from two divisions to one because we were losing pitchers who were getting older and older,” Crawford said Friday night. “A bunch of us had to adapt to keep the league alive by learning how to throw.”

Just ask Ventura’s manager Tom Nicometo about leagues downsizing and folding. His team has driven more than 40 miles weekly just to play in the four-team Dunkirk league because of a lack of interest in Buffalo — a city more than 20 times the size of Dunkirk.

“We have our core group of guys, but family obligations get in the way sometimes,” Nicometo said Friday evening. “The older you are, the more you make it to the games. The younger you are, there isn’t as much interest. … They haven’t seen it in their prime.”

Years ago, fastpitch softball was king among men in their 30s and older. There were leagues in Erie, Pennsylvania; Olean; Jamestown; and Lackawanna — just locally. But in the digital age — especially after COVID-19 wiped out the spring and summer of competition in 2020 — many of those leagues have been lost.

Pitcher Brian Crawford watches as the final out is made in left field. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“COVID obviously played a huge part in it, but it’s also harder to find more and more of these kids wanting to go do something,” Crawford said. “Coming out of high school, this generation doesn’t really want to be as active as 30 years ago.”

In Lackawanna alone, the fastpitch league used to consist of as many as 58 teams across three divisions, but now Nicometo struggles to get as many as 10 or 11 men to make the trip to Dunkirk for weekly doubleheaders Monday nights.

“We used to play in Ohio; Olean; Cheektowaga; Niagara Falls, Canada, but when you run out of pitching, you can’t go anymore,” Nicometo said. “There’s a 50-and-over league that I play in with four teams; other than that there is no fastpitch at all.”

ııı

The Lakeside Club is one of the fortunate teams that has drawn interest from younger players to supplement Crawford’s right arm.

On Monday night, many of the players who did damage in Lakeside Club’s lineup were younger than 30 years old.

Phil Messina and Mike Norton, who each hit home runs in the game, are 2021 graduates of Dunkirk High School. Devaun DeJesus — who had four hits, including a double — is a 2018 graduate of Dunkirk and Scott Korzenski, who had three hits, including a triple, is a 2022 graduate.

“I’m fortunate enough to still play. My body has held up to a point. I still get energized stepping between the lines,” Crawford said. “Tyler Karin was our third baseman this year. When I first started, his dad was our third baseman. You see the generations if you stick around long enough.”

Javy DeJesus, Crawford’s shortstop, is another 2021 graduate of DHS.

“I love that they have a young team,” Nicometo said of Lakeside Club. “They have a good, young nucleus of ball players,”

The league allows players who are at least 16 years of age and Alex Biscaro, who doubled in the game, doesn’t even graduate until next spring.

“The kids on our team were very refreshing; it reminded me of when we first started in 1994 through 2004 or 2005,” Crawford said. “It was very familiar with the energy, the camaraderie and the ball busting.”

But Lakeside Club is the exception to the rule. Most teams have trouble attracting younger talent and, thus, struggle to stay afloat year after year.

“We are definitely not young,” Nicometo said. “We’ve had (young guys) come out for some games, they love it, but we call them back and they have stuff going on.”

Ventura’s youngest player this summer was a man in his 30s while everybody else was at least in their 40s. Ventura’s pitcher is 40-year-old Jason Surdyke and the team’s oldest player is 62 years old.

“You just have to take some of these young guys, see the competition, and move on from there,” Nicometo added. “We had three younger guys two years ago. One had a baby and when he stopped coming, two other guys stopped as well. It’s tough finding young guys who want to play.”

ııı

Both Nicometo and the Lakeside Club’s coaches — Darrell Bankoski and Matt Weaver — are confident the league will survive at least another summer with its four current teams, but are hopeful to expand.

To do that, the league, run by the Dunkirk Youth & Recreation Department, is hopeful to offer pitching lessons over the winter to those interested.

“People get discouraged when it doesn’t work out right away, but if you don’t have pitching, you can’t play fastpitch softball,” Nicometo said. “It’s the name of the game. If you can’t pitch, you can’t win.”

Dates and times for the lessons are to be determined, but likely to be Sunday mornings.

“I have grown up at the field with my dad and uncles all playing when there were three divisions of fastpitch,” said Alexis Tofil, Dunkirk Youth & Recreation coordinator. “I would love to see a revival of the sport.”

For the past couple of years, there have been between 60 and 75 players playing in the Dunkirk league. The league fee next year will be $200 per team, plus umpire fees and balls. Tofil is the contact person at atofil@cityofdunkirk.com or 716-366-9877.

“The league is definitely looking for young players who truly want to learn how to play, and are willing to take the time to learn,” Tofil said. “The transition from baseball to fastpitch takes a little while but we have so many athletes around here who could be great players.”

Crawford, for one, is all for finding new pitchers and hopefully more teams.

“This league has been going on since the 1940s,” he said. “It’d be tough to know that I threw the last pitch ever and it’s been going on for 80 years. I truly hope it continues.”