Some old friends schedule dinners.<\/p>\n
Larry Leonard, Terry Sexton and Doug Smith draw a court in the sand, grab a bat and spend a July weekend playing a game they\u2019ve loved since they were teenagers.<\/p>\n
They have staged this reunion every summer since Gerald Ford was president.<\/p>\n
Now in their 70s, they return to Fiesta Island this weekend for their 50th year together in one of San Diego\u2019s signature summer rituals.<\/p>\n
The OMBAC World Championship Over-the-Line Tournament begins its second weekend Saturday, when the opening round\u2019s beach party energy gives way to sharper competition.<\/p>\n
The costumes, double-entendre team names and packed beach tents remain, but the games begin to carry more weight.<\/p>\n
For DB Sports Lounge, they always have.<\/p>\n
Leonard and Sexton are 75. Smith is the youngster at 73. Their partnership has outlasted marriages, jobs, moves, injuries, family obligations and five decades of wear.<\/p>\n
It has never broken apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost teams in Over-the-Line switch all the time,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cThey\u2019re always trying to find the new guy. We were never about winning the whole thing. For us, it\u2019s three good buddies playing a sport we grew up with in San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tournament is celebrating its 73rd year, and few teams are better connected to its history.<\/p>\n
Over-the-Line was born on San Diego beaches in the 1950s, a stripped-down bat-and-ball game with three players per side, no bases and no running. A teammate delivers the pitch. The batter tries to drive the orange softball beyond a line 55 feet away and between the ropes before one of three defenders can catch it.<\/p>\n
Three consecutive hits produce a run. Every hit after that adds another. A ball struck beyond the deepest fielder can become a home run.<\/p>\n
The rules are simple,\u00a0but the\u00a0strategy isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Smith still speaks about the game like a chess player studying angles.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just go up, hit a fly ball and hope he doesn\u2019t catch it,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThese guys are pretty good. So you have to hit it where they\u2019re not, right? And you get to see, you know, after an inning or two, you see where these guys move.\u201d<\/p>\n
DB Sports Lounge has aged through every division OMBAC created for generations that refused to stop playing, from Open to Century, Canardley and Cadaver.<\/p>\n
Their current opponents are 70 or older, but there are few easy outs.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody can still hit,\u201d Sexton said. \u201cThey don\u2019t move as much, but it\u2019s not an easy division. Everybody has played a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonard first played OTL in 1968, filling in for his brother\u2019s team at South Mission Beach. Sexton and Smith played pickup games there and at Mariners Point. The three also shared the field in city league softball.<\/p>\n
Leonard and Sexton met at age 13 and attended University High School, now Cathedral Catholic. Smith graduated from Kearny High School. All three later attended San Diego State.<\/p>\n
When Leonard\u2019s teammates moved away and Sexton and Smith needed a third, the solution was obvious.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were already friends,\u201d Sexton said. \u201cIt worked out well.\u201d<\/p>\n
They paid the entry fee in 1976 and never stopped.<\/p>\n
In the early years, the three practiced two or three times a week. They would meet near Leonard\u2019s home in La Mesa, draw courts at a nearby high school and hit hundreds of balls until the tournament arrived.<\/p>\n
They played warmup events throughout the summer and once finished 13th in the Open division, still their best showing.<\/p>\n
They were never among the tournament\u2019s elite teams,\u00a0but they were close enough to take it seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to be pretty good,\u201d Sexton said. \u201cWe were always competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
They remain competitive, even if the preparation has changed.<\/p>\n
This year, they planned only a few practices. Leonard describes their defensive range with the \u201c3-by-3-by-3-by-3 rule\u201d \u2014 3 feet left, 3 feet right, 3 feet forward and 3 feet back.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther than that, it\u2019s a hit,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cWe\u2019re 75. If you\u2019ve ever watched someone over 70 play, it\u2019s a little like slow motion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their wives offer a simple request each year: Please don\u2019t dive.<\/p>\n
The tournament has changed as well. OMBAC eventually allowed gloves for players over 60, a concession Leonard appreciates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about being out there and playing over 70,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cWin, lose or draw, we all laugh. We try to catch the ball, but the wives tell us, \u2018We don\u2019t want you hurt.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
The early editions were smaller, looser and considerably more unruly. DB Sports Lounge began as a tent for friends, wives and girlfriends seeking some protection from the chaos.<\/p>\n
Leonard remembers one year when a gentleman\u2019s club\u2019s tent appeared directly next to theirs.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust what we needed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s name honors Dave Boynton, a friend and fellow player who was killed in a plane crash. The tent became known for its Saturday buffet and, Leonard recalled, won repeated awards after organizers were granted first access to the food.<\/p>\n
The modern event is more organized, with sponsors, charities, extensive operations and OMBAC\u2019s famous \u201cNo B\u2019s\u201d rule: no bottles, bicycles, bowzers (pets), babies, boas, bad attitudes or battles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lot more bawdy back then,\u201d Sexton said. \u201cThey had to tame it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
The friendship stretches far beyond the sand.<\/p>\n
Leonard built a restaurant career that took him to Maui for 15 years, yet he often returned for the tournament. He now lives in Murrieta.<\/p>\n
Smith spent four decades in retail, rising through management and recruiting before retiring to Mexico.<\/p>\n
Sexton, a retired graphic designer, lives in San Carlos and has remained connected to the group through golf and other local athletic circles.<\/p>\n
Leonard and Sexton estimate they have played roughly 1,000 rounds together. Smith makes the trip from Rosarito a few times a month to join them at Mission Trails Golf Course.<\/p>\n
Last week, all three played golf. This week, they make their return to the beach.<\/p>\n
Substitutes were rare over the years.<\/p>\n
A trip to Europe, an anniversary or a funeral occasionally pulled one of them away, but Leonard estimates the original trio has played together 85% to 90% of the time.<\/p>\n
Sexton said the roster has always carried the same three names.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when we had substitutes, it was us three,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Their goal was to reach 50 years together.\u00a0They have.<\/p>\n
What happens after Saturday is less certain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take it one year at a time,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what next year brings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith is more direct.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to play until we can\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For now, they can still swing and they can still move through the sand.<\/p>\n
More importantly, they can still meet again next July.<\/p>\n
Same beach. Same team. Same three friends.<\/p>\n
73rd annual OMBAC Over-the-Line World Championship<\/p>\n
When: Saturday and Sunday, all day<\/p>\n
Where:\u00a0Fiesta Island Park, 1590 East Mission Bay Dr.<\/p>\n
Admission:\u00a0Free<\/p>\n
How it\u2019s played:\u00a0Born on Mission Beach in the 1950s, Over-the-Line is a 3-on-3, team-pitch bat-and-ball game similar to softball \u2014 only with no baserunning. Hits are any ball that lands in fair territory without being caught. Three hits in an inning count for one run. Each additional hit in the same inning scores one more run. Home runs, defined as any ball hit over the last defender in fair territory, clear the bases. Batted balls that are caught in the air are outs; strikeouts occur when a batter swings through one pitch or fouls off two of them.<\/p>\n
Note: No glass, kegs or Styrofoam coolers allowed. No drones. No public nudity. Because of crowds, noise and salty language, tournament organizers recommend against bringing children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some old friends schedule dinners. Larry Leonard, Terry Sexton and Doug Smith draw a court in the sand,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[51613,161905,161904,159010,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-403606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-fiesta-island","tag-ombac","tag-ombac-world-championship-over-the-line-tournament","tag-over-the-line","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}