Landsharks, fresh off another championship, do something special in the off-season
OCEAN CITY – Members of an Ocean City church softball team like serving time in prison. They’re not there out of punishment, but to serve those who are doing time.
That team, the Landmark Church Landsharks, just finished an unbeaten season with a 20-0 record. There are a number of interesting facts about the team. Members range in age from 18 to nearly 65. The team posted its 10th championship in the southern division of their 20-team church league in the past 13 years. The team has a four-year record of 80-2.
All of that is impressive, but the most interesting fact may be that members spend some of their vacation time in the offseason in another softball league, one that sends them to prisons in the South.
John Shirk, known as “OMS” (Old Man Shirk) because he is the old man on the team pushing 65 years old, pitches for the Landsharks. He talked about the team and how the members go beyond their athletic pursuits on the diamond around South Jersey.
“It’s a good group of guys and gals. We’ve got men and women on the team, surprisingly. And the age gap is pretty wide. The youngest guy is 18 years old and, you know, I’m closing in on 65,” Shirk said.
“My softball glove is older than most of the guys on the team so it’s fun. But a lot of us have been playing together for many years.”
The players were part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) team when they competed in the former Ocean City men’s softball league, where they also won championships.
“And then a lot of the guys, myself included, we go to prisons in the winter down south in Florida and South Carolina, Louisiana, and we play softball in prisons against the inmates,” Shirk said. “There’s a lot of crossover between three different teams.” That team is known as the Saints.
He noted when he first entered the church softball league, there were 30 teams and three divisions, but the COVID-19 pandemic knocked out 10 teams. Now there are 20 teams in two divisions that mostly play in Cape May and Atlantic counties.
The Landsharks are a bit unusual given the age rage. Most of its players are in their teens, twenties and thirties – “you need these young guys to carry the old guys” – and then there is Shirk and the next youngest guy, Eric Hitchner, at 55, who also coaches.
Shirk was a longtime outfielder but since “there are younger guys with better legs and better eyesight,” he switched to pitching.
The team members don’t limit their time together to being on the field. They get together off the field and in the off-season.
Shirk said they enjoy the camaraderie between the younger and old players. “They call me OMS or Old Man Shirk. OMS is on the back of my jersey,” he said, laughing. His wife, Susan, a former college Division I softball player who also played for Ocean City High School, fills in when needed. She’s OLS – Old Lady Shirk.
“She played for the University of Pennsylvania, was captain of their team,” Shirk said. “So even at her age, when we need her to hold down first base, she can hold down first base and she can still hit the ball.”
The team also happens to be family-centric, with three Phillips brothers and five Hitchner family members. Eric Hitchner, he noted, is one of the strongest hitters in the league, which plays from May through August.
The team chemistry, the championships and unbeaten season are cool, but getting back to that prison thing ….
“It’s a team of characters, but it’s fun and one of the things that guys really enjoy is in the winter going down and playing softball in the prisons,” Shirk said, for what’s called the Saints Prison Ministry.
They usually play in February in prisons in southern states.
“The inmates typically are very thankful and they understand you’re giving up a week of your vacation time to go and spend time in a prison,” he said. They go through security, these “clean-cut guys in uniform” and go marching into the prison yard, where inmates aren’t used to seeing visitors. “It’s like the circus has come to town,” he said.
They’ll play a game against an inmate team and afterwards have the inmates gather round.
“We set up speakers, we share the gospel with them, and then we play another game, and then we move on to another prison, and we do the same thing,” Shirk explained. “You end up playing a dozen games in maybe five days so you’re pretty sore afterward, but you get this great experience and you play and you share and you play and you share.
“These guys are really thankful. They’ll come up in tears, some of the inmates, and tell you how much they appreciate it,” he said. “Some of the guys will give you a hug because they’ll tell you, ‘Nobody cares about us. Our family and our friends have abandoned us and you guys come here and you care about us and spend time with us.’ They’re so thankful so it’s really a pretty neat experience.”
“You feel like you’ve done something positive in somebody’s life. You’ve given somebody a little bit of hope,” Shirk said.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
At the top, members of the Landmark Church Landsharks, which just completed a 20-0 season with a championship in the church softball league, include, from left, in back, Luke Phillips, Seth Phillips, Jeff Sennett, Carl Phillips, Ben Chapman, Kyle Murphy (holding son Bryce Murphy), coach Eric Hitchner and John Shirk; and, in front, Brendan Keller, Silas Nixon, Jack and Luke Murphy (Kyle’s sons), Sawyer Hopwood (Nick Hopwood’s son), Nick Hopwood (holding son Knox), and Harper Hopwood, Nick’s daughter. The team also includes Shirk’s wife, Susan, a former Division 1 college softball player. Some of these players are also on the roster of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) team and the Saints, a team that visits prison to play games with inmates and proselytize. (Photo by Tracey May Robinson)
