When Jack Zimmerman from Sarasota discovers a gold mine, he is busy digging.

In terms of senior softball talent available, Lakewood Ranch is a gold mine. So Zimmerman, the president of the Sarasota Senior Softball Association, was busy thinking about marketing strategies to attract more Lakewood Ranch residents.

These efforts probably wouldn’t be successful if the residents of Lakewood Ranch had softball fields and leagues available, but they don’t. So the ranchers are ready to drive to parks in Sarasota for 30 minutes or more. The current summer league has 150 players spread across three leagues.

Thirty minutes doesn’t seem like much unless you’re around 70 and your idea of ​​a road trip is to drive a mile to the grocery store. If you were wondering why all these malls spread east along State Road 64 … there you have it.

For prospective senior softball players, playing in a league is out of sight, out of mind. Since Zimmerman’s fields are not being driven past by the residents of Lakewood Ranch, he hopes to bring them news about the league.

“A lot of these guys haven’t swung a club in 40 years,” said Zimmerman. “But we have batting practice for them. When we see them, we also rank our players from 1 to 12, with 1 being the best (for placement in the league). We try to create parity.”

East County’s Jack Owens plays in the Sarasota Senior Softball Association because he said it would be shorter for him than trying to drive to Manatee County’s program at GT Bray on the west side of Bradenton. Zimmerman knows this is a common thought, so the Lakewood Ranch is ripe for the harvest.

Zimmerman was asked if he anticipates losing players once Premier builds the proposed baseball / softball complex at Premier Park, or whatever it will be called later (I would refer to Charlie Hunsicker Park for Hunsicker’s commitment to Manatee County recommend the construction of parks and the preservation of land). Zimmerman’s answer was “Huh? Premier?”

Those in the area who know nothing about building softball fields at Premier are forgiven. In December 2017, Manatee County purchased the 127-acre Premier Sports Campus from the Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and another 36 acres north of the football complex. In September 2018, the county then bought another 75 acres from SMR that was adjacent to Premier.

But after county officials spoke about the land’s potential for parking, the brakes were hit harder than a 16-wheeler descending a 10% incline.

Planning dragged on and construction costs skyrocketed.

On June 9, the county unveiled its proposed 2022 budget, which included funds for an on-site water sports complex, as well as a racket sports complex and library. The already mentioned baseball / softball complex was not mentioned, nor was the BMX track, the skate park, the volleyball courts, the gym, the playgrounds, the dog park or the event lawn (bandshell?).

For many of us senior softball players, we might as well sign up for Zimmerman’s Sarasota League because the chances of being alive once the Lakewood Ranch softball complex is completed will diminish.

For the softball, BMX, or volleyball enthusiast, pass your anger over all these delays on to your commissioners. The water sports complex that Hunsicker, director of parks and natural resources for the county, originally predicted would be the last to be built, and the club complex was the result of the squeaky wheel.

If you don’t want to complain, you can contact Zimmerman at www.SarasotaSeniorSoftball.org and register for the summer league, which runs until mid-September (no play in August). The fall league starts on November 1st and runs until the following March. The autumn league consists of 30 to 36 teams.

Then give up your car.