Will Habing
Congratulations go out to four members of our Robson Ranch Softball Community who were a part of the Road Warriors championship team at the recent (Jan. 24-26, 2025) Senior Softball-USA (SSUSA) Tournament of Champions (TOC) in Winter Haven, Fla. Patrick Kohls, Jim Innocenti, Fred Goossens, and Will Habing were members of the Road Warriors team that went 6-0 in the tournament capturing the top spot.
Along with the four Robson Ranch players there were players from other Casa Grande parks including Tim Rud (Mission Royale, Team CEO), Ray Lee (Palm Creek), and Maurice Parobec (Palm Creek). Tom Carl, also from Palm Creek, assisted as a base coach for the Road Warriors. In addition, the team included players from the Mesa area (Jerry Lowe, Paul Parsons, Gary Guenzel, Brian Lohman), as well as Ken Carr from Minnesota. Special mention goes out to Steve Baker (Chandler) who managed the on-field operations of the team and did a fantastic job in doing so.
In game one, the Road Warriors started a little slow but still managed to pull out a 12-8 victory over the Kansas City Stampede. Game 2 of the seeding games was a little more convincing for the Road Warriors as they defeated a team from Gaithersburg, Md., 20-11 to complete a 2-0 seeding round which put them as the number 1 seed for Saturday play.
Day 2 of the tournament found the No. 1 seed Road Warriors (RWs) winning two more games; once against the Gaithersburg, Md., team, this time defeating them in a much closer match 10-6; and next against the Paape Legends from Rochester, Minn., by a score of 27-15. The Road Warriors were now into the A-Side final where a victory would ensure the RWs a spot in the Championship Final.
Sunday’s A-side final pitted the Road Warriors against a very strong team out of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., called the Hudson Valley Cyclones. Outstanding defense and some red-hot bats by the Road Warriors proved too much for the Cyclones as the RWs soundly defeated the Cyclones 20-8. The RWs would now need to be defeated twice for them to have the championship taken away.
However, the Cyclones managed to battle their way back to the A vs B Championship Game. A single victory would give the Road Warriors the title. They played the Cyclones very tough defensively holding them to only 12 runs through 6 ½ innings. The home team Road Warriors, also with 12 runs, scored one run in the bottom half of the 7th and final inning to win it all.
The Road Warriors family would like to thank all the fans who came out and supported them over the past season, particularly Tammy Guenzel and Gina Tomlinson for their scorekeeping services. Your support is appreciated more than you know. Congratulations to all members of the Road Warriors family who were a part of both getting to and winning the 2025 TOC 60+ AAA Division. Well done!