‘A field they can call their own’

GREENWOOD LAKE — The Town of Warwick will host a ceremony at Greenwood Lake Park (near CVS) to dedicate the new softball field in the memory of Brian Bennett this Saturday, Aug. 24, at 1 p.m.

Bennett, a longtime Greenwood Lake resident,had been a boys Little League coach, but since his daughters Brianne, Megan and Aileen had no league in which they could play, he implemented the girl’s softball league in the spring of 1988.

That year, with sponsorship from the Town of Warwick and the Village of Greenwood Lake Youth Commission, the Greenwood Lake Girls Softball League was established.

From three teams in its first year, the league would expand to six teams in the 10 years that Bennett ran the league.

“He acted as coach in the early years but would settle into the position of league umpire, selflessly spending two to three nights a week calling every game the girls would play,” Warwick Town Supervisor Michael Sweeton said in his press release announcing the dedication.

The league expanded even further in 1994 when the first All-Star game was played against West Milford, N.J.

Bennett died in Oct. 2011 at the age of 63.

Today, there are seven girls teams in the league sponsored by various stores, restaurants and organizations in Greenwood Lake.

After the dedication ceremony, a softball game will be played at the field with alumni from the girls teams.

“Now the girls will have a field they can call their own,” Sweeton wrote. “Brian would be proud.”