The Castle Bats, 's first ever senior tennis team, won the Northern California Sectional Championship on May 20 at Stanford University in Palo Alto.
The rookie team of seniors (ages 50 through 61) had earlier won the District Championship on May 6 in Sacramento, making them the eligible to compete at Stanford. Over 8,000 USTA (United States Tennis Association) players competed during the season and the competition was narrowed down first at district level and finally sectional level.
The Castle Bats are a senior women's 3.0 doubles team. Due to winning the Norcal sectional championship, they will represent Northern California at the USTA Nationals in Indian Wells in October.
Captain of the "Bats," Arlie Alford, said: "This is a really big deal. Tennis players dreams bout going to the National. Castlewood has never had a team go before. It's a rare occasion for any team to go. We practiced hard and we a very cohesive group. We support and help each other. When one member of the team has a problem with say, serving (everyone can go off their game), then the others jump in and practice with her until the problem's solved. We are fortunate to have two fantastic coaches who go out of their way for us."
The Castle Bat players who competed at both district and sectional levels are Arlie Alford, Captain, Robin Bunton, Co-Captain, Anna Barletta, Debra Hunt, Lori Johnson, Cheryl Moeller, Myra Rayfield, Sandra Stites and Sudsy Torbeck. The teams coaches are Jim Swansigner and Adri Ciarnuto and the tennis office manager is Lisa Bargeman. The team's motto is "BATTITUDE!"
