Fortunate fellas
Michigan players happy to be alive, in Mankato

By Shane Frederick

Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO ‹ It's easy for many members of the 120 fastpitch teams playing here
this weekend to say they're happy to be here.
Berkenpas Construction pitcher Bill Streelman (center) cheers team on during
Saturday\'s game.

Pat Christman

Berkenpas Construction pitcher Bill Streelman (center) cheers team on during
Saturday's game.

But for two longtime players from the Berkenpas Construction team of Grand
Rapids, Mich., that statement means a little bit more.

"We're happy to be alive and to be playing," pitcher Bill Streelman said.
"When we're playing, it's like, hey, it's a neat thing because we're still
around."

Following last year's North American Fastpitch Association World Series in
Hutchinson, Kan., Streelman, Jim Tuimstra and Darrin VanderArk were involved
in a car accident on their way home to Michigan.

After Berkenpas lost both games of Class A-Major finals, the trio took off
for Michigan, leaving at about 11 p.m. to start a 900-mile drive.

"We were stupid to go," Tuimstra said. "There was no reason. But we were
hard-headed and wanted to get back."

Around 5 a.m., about an hour west of St. Louis, all three players, including
Tuimstra, who as at the wheel of Streelman's Plymouth Voyager, had fallen
asleep.

The van veered off of I-70 and into the median. Had it not been for a cable
fence strung between wooden posts in the middle of the median, the vehicle
likely would have merged into oncoming traffic.

"We didn't do our job," Streelman said. "We didn't stay awak for Tumi."

No one was injured in the accident, but the van, which smashed into the
posts and tangled with the cable before the occupants awoke, was totalled.

"We're very fortunate to be alive," Streelman said.

The three ended up cramming themselves, their luggage and their softball
equipment into a taxi and got to the St. Louis airport. From there, they
rented a car for the rest of the trip home.

But the incident didn't deter them from going back to the NAFA World Series.
Although VanderArk couldn't make it to Mankato, Tuimstra and Streelman said
they wouldn't miss it.

Tuimstra, 56, who could double as a department-store Santa Claus in the
offseason, said he's been playing fastpitch for 40 years and has been to as
many as 10 national tournaments, winning the American Softball Association
Class B national title in 1997 and 1998.

Streelman, 54, a lean, lanky pitcher with shaded glasses, said he's been
playing softball for more than 30 years.

"We love ball," Tuimstra said. "We all play ball, and we'll continue to play
as long as we're capable."

On Saturday at the Jaycee Park softball fields, Tuimstra, Streelman and the
rest of the Berkenpas team were trying to keep playing for one more day.

After opening the tournament with a win, they fell to the loser's bracket
Friday and were trying to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament.
They won their first game of the day 3-0 before falling 5-3 Saturday
evening.

But the team wasn't planning any middle-of-the-night departures again this
year.

"The biggest thing it taught us is: Don't take a risk if you don't have to,"
Tuimstra said.

Used with the permission from The Free Press, Mankato, Minnesota
(August 21, 2005).