No rain could stop YES the Arc from emerging clean Friday, July 10, from eight games against five local churches in their summer league, presented by the Cottonwood Parks and Recreation department.
Despite multiple Friday night rainouts which limited half of the league’s six teams to six games or less, Verde Baptist Church and a second team from Verde Valley Christian Church also emerged from the Riverfront Park softball fields with successful records in the first local church league since 2012.
“It’s really more of a community integration activity for our members,” said Mark Soto, head coach of YES the Arc and the human resources and program coordinator for the local center for adults with developmental disabilities. “I talk to the head coach before the game and say, ‘Have you played us before?’
“Usually, he’ll say, ‘Yeah, just go out there and have fun.’”
Soto credits Jack Teel, recreation coordinator for sports and special events for the Cottonwood Recreation Center, for taking “the bull by the horns, went out and put positive stuff out there to get the churches to come together” for the Friday night church league after a two-year absence.
“A lot of our members go to these churches and the league helps us come out and interact with them on a different level,” Soto said. “We’ve always been that team.”
In fact, even in the two years before the league’s resurrection, YES the Arc would regularly find seven other teams in the community to play games of nine-on-nine with at Riverfront Park, Soto said.
For the full story and final league standings, please see the Wednesday, July 15, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
