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Hernando Today

It's All in the Family

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By MARTY MILLER

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: July 10, 2008

For a lot of retirees in Florida, living in the state means getting away from the job you had, leaving the kids behind, except for vacations, and taking it easy for the first time in your life.

But for Jerry and Rita Sorrentino, being retired in Florida means doing a lot of the same things they did when they lived up north.

To them, it means spending the summer following their son Al's Dixie League AAA Minors (ages 9-10) baseball team as they play in the state tournament.

The ball club is playing in East Lakeland this week in the state tournament where their son Al is the skipper and their grandsons Thomas and Zach are players on the club.

While many people who retire to Florida may think that spending lots of time traveling around the Southeast isn't a great way to spend their time, it's obvious that they haven't talked to Jerry and Rita.

"We've always done this," said Jerry, who is retired from the distribution company Royal Doulton in Canada. "When we lived up in Canada, we followed my son where ever he went to play baseball."

Along with his wife of 41 years Rita, who works for Pasco-Hernando Hospice, just being at the games helps.

"We get to about every one of the games our kids play," she remarked. "And it's important because we love them. We love to see their accomplishments."

The couple originally lived in Detroit and moved to Toronto 40 years ago. They moved to Spring Hill 19 years ago.

Like father, like son

Jerry also coached youth baseball and his son Al remembers him when he was his coach.

"We were in the state finals and he was my coach. They've always done that," he said about his parents traveling to all the games. "They go all over and watched people in the family play and will keep doing it."

The couple also thinks that people should act better when they attend their kids or grand children's game.

"Sometimes you get people who say or yell things, but I've always believed if you ignore them, they'll quiet down," Jerry said.

But his son has a different take.

"Sometimes my dad gets a little boisterous, but generally the two of them just cheer a lot," remarked Al.

"It's good to have children in sports," Rita said before Sunday night's game in East Lakeland. "It's good that they are getting family support because the kid's need to know we're behind them."

The couple says that if Spring Hill American wins the Florida State Tournament, at least one of them will be going to the Dixie League World Series in LaGrange, Ga.

"I know he'll be going, but I don't know if I can get the time off to go along," said his wife.

Because his son is a baseball coach for the Dixie League team, besides being a coach at River Ridge High School in Pasco County, Jerry says he knows better than to question his son a lot about the game.

"He probably knows more about baseball than anyone around here," Jerry pointed out. "After the game, I'll ask him why he did something, but it's just to see what he was thinking when he did it."

When asked why her and her husband would spend all the time and money it takes to follow their son and grandchildren playing baseball, Rita Sorrentino had a simple answer.

"It's the smile on their faces when they see that we're here," she said.

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