{"id":96282,"date":"2024-05-09T14:04:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T14:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=96282"},"modified":"2024-05-09T14:04:52","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T14:04:52","slug":"sterling-softball-field-named-for-cummings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/05\/09\/sterling-softball-field-named-for-cummings\/","title":{"rendered":"Sterling softball field named for Cummings"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Danielle Ray<\/em>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

STERLING \u2014 The smile on Jo-Ann Cummings\u2019 face at the softball field dedication ceremony in her honor said it all.<\/p>\n

The celebration took place April 27 at the fields on Griffin Road, which also marked the beginning of the 50th season of the Sterling Girls Softball Association (SGSA). Cummings was joined by family and friends, SGSA and Sterling Recreation Department staff, and many community members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not expect all these people,\u201d said Cummings, who was visibly moved as she sat in a chair taking it all in.<\/p>\n

\"\"
STERLING – Jo-Ann Cummings, seated, was the guest of honor at the naming of Jo-Ann Cummings Field. Here she is surrounded by family members, many of whom flew in from out of state to be there for the special occasion. Photo Credit: Danielle Ray<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sterling Recreation Committee Chair Heidi Grady spoke about the longtime town resident who served 35 years on the recreation committee and her dedication to SGSA and activities in town, as a coach and umpire for softball and basketball coach among other things.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot thank her enough for her dedication to the players,\u201d Grady said.<\/p>\n

Grady mentioned that before a recreation director was hired, Cummings \u201cvolunteered countless hours\u201d at Sholan Park and the town beach, and helped to launch many recreation programs, including the popular lake summer camp, band concerts, and holiday celebrations, \u201calways with a smile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Sterling Recreation Department Director Kristen Dietel talked about Cummings dressing up as an elf to help Santa at the annual tree lighting, and called her \u201ca cornerstone of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou put your heart into every countless hour you volunteered,\u201d Dietel said. \u201cIt did not go unnoticed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cummings\u2019 three daughters \u2014 Amanda, Melissa, and Samantha \u2014 and their families flew in for the occasion from Colorado, North Carolina and New York, and Cummings\u2019 sister flew in from Florida.<\/p>\n

Amanda, the youngest daughter, joked that she is \u201cthe most athletic\u201d out of the three siblings, and praised her mother for \u201cdecades of coaching and umpiring in a male-dominated field\u201d and helping to \u201cexpand tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHer home away from home, maybe her favorite home,\u201d Amanda quipped about the softball field now named after her mother. \u201cLet\u2019s carry on what Jo Jo has started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cummings\u2019 younger brother Ron noted that in high school, his sister was \u201cthe best in basketball, field hockey, and softball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe always had a quiet confidence about her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He teased that you could hear her making umpire calls \u201cfrom a million miles away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching Jo-Ann in action was watching something special,\u201d Ron said. \u201cI am so proud of our family’s living legend. Way to go, big sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former recreation department committee member Andy Parker teased Cummings about \u201cmore or less forcing me to join the rec department\u201d and said that when he was involved with SGSA as a coach when his daughter played, \u201cYou had no bones about barking at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour influence helped me grow as a person,\u201d Parker said to her.<\/p>\n

Cummings was presented with gifts, a bouquet of flowers and a plaque with a picture and name of her field that read \u201cleader, volunteer, mentor.\u201d Then her family unveiled two signs attached to the fence around Jo-Ann Cummings Field, one with the name of the field and another that denoted the reason why it was named after her.<\/p>\n

Following a sparkling cider toast that many current girls softball players also enjoyed, Cummings, who has lived in town for 48 years, called the day \u201camazing\u201d and \u201chumbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this community, and I love girls’ softball and all sports,\u201d she said. \u201cAnything that I can do with to help the community and help the girls, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know I had quite a fan base,\u201d she said with a smile.<\/p>\n

She recalled that when she first got involved with recreation in town there were only three programs \u2013 and how former Sterling Recreation Department Director Judy Janda \u201cramped it up to 40 programs.\u201d Cummings, who was the recreation committee chair for 10 years, humbly didn\u2019t mention that she played a huge part in making all of those programs a reality.<\/p>\n

She was invited down to the field named after her to throw out the first pitch, and posed for a picture with the two girls’ softball teams playing on the field afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour dedication \u2026 is immeasurable,\u201d said current Sterling Recreation Department Director Shari Gonsorcik. \u201cWe will forever be grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Danielle Ray Landmark Correspondent STERLING \u2014 The smile on Jo-Ann Cummings\u2019 face at the softball field dedication ceremony in her honor said it all. The celebration took place April 27 at the fields on Griffin Road, which also marked the beginning of the 50th season of the Sterling Girls Softball Association (SGSA). Cummings was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-sports"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}