What do Sundays mean for Catholic young adults as spring arrives in the South Bay? If you said morning Mass, with a focus on Lent, repentance and preparation for the joyous Easter rite, you wouldn't be wrong. But there's another rite of spring that continues to renew and unite Catholic young adults each Sunday: softball.

This spring marks the 20th anniversary of the South Bay Catholic Young Adult Softball League. These "boys and girls of spring/summer" believe their participation in softball is more than just exercise or a game; it's an opportunity for spirituality and fellowship.

"Not only do we play softball together," comments Cindy Resong, a veteran player who helps manage the league, "but we share in each others' lives through barbecues, weddings, births, baptisms, first Communions, vacations, holidays and funerals."

Many of these young adults who were in their 20s during the 1980s, are now in their late 30s and 40s. But they are still playing softball and enjoying the fellowship, while raising families and holding down responsible jobs.

Resong, as an example, is "Dr. Burkhardt" in her professional life, a successful doctor of chiropractic medicine. On Sundays starting in early March, she's either pitching or playing in the outfield for the St. James team in Redondo Beach.

Tom Hanniff has played on a St. James team for 17 years. For the first year or two, he played on Resong's team along with "her two sisters, my two sisters and a brother-in-law. Since then we've included other siblings. I have three brothers and two sisters and we've all played on St. James' teams. I've made a lot of new friends through the softball league. I've had a lot of fun."

Resong met her husband, Joe, on the St. James team in 1986. Another couple, Ron and Catherine Leeder from St. Joseph Church in Hawthorne, also met because of the softball league. They've now been married 11 years.

Bringing young adults together in fellowship has always been the central focus of this special sports ministry.

The league was established in March 1985. Its founder, Fred Lawler, is partly St. Peter and partly Bud Selig (baseball commissioner). A chatty engineer who moved to California from Virginia in 1982 to begin a job with TRW, Lawler was like many East Coast transplants: trying to establish a new home, find a new parish and make a few friends. He participated in occasional social and spiritual activities with young adults at St. Catherine Laboure Church in Torrance and St. John Fisher Church in Rancho Palos Verdes, but something was still missing.

He heard about other parishes, such as American Martyrs in Manhattan Beach and St. Lawrence Martyr in Redondo Beach, hosting young adult activities. He wondered if there was a way to link a number of these parishes.

Then Lawler heard a clear voice from above: softball could be the spiritual link. Suddenly filled with zeal, like St. Paul on a mission, Lawler used his engineer logic and enthusiasm to convince seven parishes to form coed softball teams. He also had to find ball fields, establish league rules, and figure out finances (to rent city fields, and cover liability insurance for potential player injuries).

Lawler insisted on a group prayer before each game and other rules to prevent injuries and maintain the right spirit of the game. Despite some contentious early rulemaking meetings resembling the Council of Trent, the league was launched on the first weekend of March 1985.

Since then, there have been exciting playoff and championship games, fun mid-season picnics, and such special events as when the late San Pedro Region Auxilary Bishop Carl Fisher appeared at the 1989 All-Star Game/barbecue. One year, just before the annual Young Adult Conference, a number of players made nametags stating, "Just ask me about softball!"

"I've benefited so much from the league being a part of my life and I've seen long-term friendships develop from it," Lawler emphasizes. "Not unlike the road of life we Catholics travel, the league walks a fine line between being a fun, social outlet, and being a competitive challenge to do better."

The competition has involved many parishes. In addition to those previously mentioned, they include Our Lady of Guadalupe in Hermosa Beach, St. Margaret Mary in Lomita, Mary Star of the Sea in San Pedro, and Our Lady of Refuge and St. Bartholomew's in Long Beach. For a few years, a team formed after young adults met on a CHOICE retreat weekend. St. James expanded from one to three teams a number of years ago, and American Martyrs typically fields both a younger and an older team.

One year, Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance fielded a team. St. Augustine's in Culver City and St. Monica's in Santa Monica have been represented. The games are played after Mass on Sunday afternoons in Torrance and Long Beach.

Many players don't just play, but pray together. They participate in small group Bible studies, and perform as eucharistic ministers or in other ministries together.

Paul Clarke, brother of Father Jim Clarke, has played in the church league as well as city leagues. "The church league is different," he says. "People are here to have fun and meet other church members and friends from other teams. It's refreshing."

For the author, himself a player and/or coach since the league began, the softball league has been "a great passion in my life because it combines so many things I value: faith, friends, family and athletics."

For additional information about the softball league, e-mail Fred Lawler at fredlawler@hotmail.com.