Watching, playing sports brings families together
By KIM MOERSCHBACHER - kim@lockhaven.comI grew up as a sports nut.
Ever since I was little, my dad started my sister and I out on watching all the big league sports.
I learned at a young age what it meant to win and how bad it felt to lose.
When I became a reporter here at The Express, my passion trickled down to the high school level.
But more importantly than what my family and I were watching on television was the time we were spending together.
I saw that very same thing Thursday at Bowman Field in Williamsport as Dan Lazorka proudly watched his daughters, Amber and Kirsten, and his son, Jeremy, take part in an exhibition game against the U.S. Olympic Softball team.
Sports brought them together as a family.
And I’m willing to bet that the sport of softball has taught them more than just the fundamentals of the game.
“I love it,” said Kirsten, a College Misericordia graduate along with her older sister, Amber. “I wish we could do it again tomorrow. We have all enjoyed it so much.”
As I sat on the bench along the first-base line and watched Jeremy coach from third and Dan stand at first, I could just sense the family pride that was pouring throughout Bowman Field.
Pam Lazorka, Dan’s wife, stood near me and kept the stats, and a few feet away from her were family members who made it to see the game.
All the while, the smiles really never left their faces.
And it could have been because the best softball team in the nation, sporting red, white and blue, was just feet away. I’m willing to bet, however, that it was because the other team, decked out in blue uniforms, contained several of their family members who they obviously deeply care for.
That’s just the way the Lazorka family is.
Not only are they bonded because they are family, but they all share that deep passion for the sport of softball.
“I’m a baseball player in a softball world,” said Jeremy, who currently helps manage the University of Arizona softball team. “My dad developed a passion for it and my mom has had it since she was a little girl. I was here always supporting my sisters. It’s tough. Sometimes I wish I would have pushed myself more in baseball. I’m not regretting anything, though, because I’m out in Arizona now doing something that they had always forced me to do when I was younger but love doing now.
“It’s always been like a dream come true to watch and help with the Olympic team. Back when I was younger, I wasn’t too excited going to all those softball tournaments, but I guess it all paid off. My sisters, my parents and grandparents have been such a big influence on my life. We have such a close family. We’ve all been there for each other all the time. To be able to come back here and coach my sisters against this team and against my coach that I work for out there is just the biggest thrill.”
It’s a strong knot that ties the Lazorka family together.
One look at Dan Lazorka as he watched his daughters out on the field, and you might forget for just a second that he was serving as an assistant manager for the Longstreth Regional all-star team.
Instead, he looked more like a proud father seeing his girls do what they love to do.
“You’re always proud of your kids,” said Dan, who currently will lead the Jersey Shore Lady Bulldogs into postseason play. “The one thing I always thought about coaching was that when I stepped on the field, I was a coach first and then I was a father. But, speaking as a father now, I’m just bubbling inside that my kids got to go out there and play against them. Hopefully, they can take this with them and realize that we got this big team to visit little Williamsport, Pennsylvania. I had the chance to just walk around and look at everything, and there was tons of smiles in the crowd. It seemed like they were just in awe of everything.”
It certainly seemed that was the case as players like Jennie Finch, Andrea Duran and Crystl Bustos showed their stuff.
But when Amber Lazorka caught a line drive in the fourth inning on a rip by Duran and quickly threw the ball to first base to get out Kelly Kretschman for a double play, the amount of runs and hits by the Olympic team didn’t matter.
The Lazorka family will remember that play, and also remember when Kirsten got a hit off Finch, one of only two that the all-star team was able to get in the game.
Yes, the family pride was spilling over then.
A little of that happened to come over my way, and I was immediately taken back to my childhood and how I thought my dad knew everything there was to know about the sports world.
To this day when we watch a baseball or a college football game, I still ask him questions.
And every time, he gives me a more than fulfilling response.
I am willing to bet that Dan Lazorka does the same for his kids.
If you ask any of his children, they have nothing but positive and praising things to say about him and Pam, who serves as a mother figure to the Jersey Shore softball team.
Danielle Lazorka, who is playing at Bloomsburg University and will take on the Lock Haven Lady Eagles today at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament in Kutztown, heeded her parents’ advice and is already starting to make a name for herself in just her first year as a Lady Huskie.
Softball brought the Lazorka family together Thursday.
Today, it will probably bring them together again in Kutztown.
In a world full of uncertain and negative things, I only hope that more families can be bonded the way the Lazorka family has been because of sports, just like mine has.
Kim Moerschbacher is a Sports Writer at The Express. She can be reached by phone at 748-6791, ext. 138 or by e-mail at kim@lockhaven.com.
