The Post-Journal

Adamczak Hard Man With A Softball

Jim Adamczak, a big, affable guy with a slow, easy smile is a hard man with a softball. He’s just about one of the best pitchers in the Jamestown area. “If he isn’t, he’ll do until someone better comes along,” an opposing player said when questioned about the underhand throwing proficiency of the bespectacled gent.

Jim goes to the hill tonight on the Softball for Polio program at Municipal Stadium. He’ll be against some of the best pitching it is possible to procure within a reasonable distance from Jamestown. It doesn’t bother him a bit. He’s been opposing the best for years.

Injured in Baseball

Adamczak, 24, started playing softball in 1953 after twisting a knee while batting for Sugar Grove in the Chautauqua County Baseball Ass’n. Jim pitched in baseball too, but he found coming down overhand off the mound kept the injured knee inflamed, so he turned to softball.

Become a star and you are in the sports whirl. Jim pitches five nights per week and once he was in three games in one day. That was during the Meadville Invitational Tournament, a session that started at 10:30 a.m. and finished at midnight.

Many Clubs

Jim has played for and still pitches for some of the following: Nu-Way Restaurant, Skippy’s Grill, Blue Bird Bus of Olean, Warren Vets, in the Penn-Ohio League, National Worsted and IAM 1791 of the Industrial League here.

The fast pitch Penn-Ohio is composed of Warren, Meadville, two Erie clubs and Niles Ohio. Adamczak, 6-2, 210 pounds, master of a riser and drop and working now to develop a knuckler, will be on the hill for Strom’s Grill in the state tournament at Utica this weekend. Ask him his greatest thrill and he tells you about a game he lost.

47 Strikeouts in Two Days

“It was in the Great Lakes Tournament when I was pitching for Olean. We drew an Erie club and I walked 12 men in the first six innings but got out without being scored on.” Jim was just a youngster then and was against fast competition for the first time. “When I was taken out in the seventh, they gave me a standing ovation.”

Of course, those strikeout feats this season - 47 men in two games on successive nights, should make a man tingle a little. Jim admits they are among his top feats. He fanned 25 Chautauqua Hardware stickers and the next night sat down 23 Green Brothers swingers. “I fanned 17 of 20 I faced in relief during a tournament at St. Mary’s once.” He added then laughed quickly: “But we lost the game.”

Pushing For Area League

Jim married Marcia Pachol daughter of Dorothy and Eddie Pachol, the bowling enthusiasts. They have a boy, 3 ½. Marcia likes softball but sometimes thinks Jim travels too much. “The answer to that would be an all-Jamestown team, in a good fast area league,” Jim explains. He thinks a team that would hold its own with any in the area could easily be put together here and has been pushing for the move to be made. But right now his chief aim is getting the side out tonight.


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