Softball great Andrew Beloli has passed

Andrew Beloli

One of the great Ritch's Superior sponsors Andrew Beloli has passed at the age of 76.  Ritch's Superior was arguably the greatest softball team in the history of they game.  Andrew died at his home on Monday, January 5, 2015, surrounded by his family after a long illness.  Here is a link to his obituary. 

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My father started sponsoring softball teams in the late 70's early 80's. The teams at that time were mostly local league teams, as the years went on my father wanted to have his team play in a  more competive league. They formed a New England Softball League that would play on weekends. The teams in this league were pretty much the best the New England States had to offer. The league only lasted a few years because of there being more tournaments to win bid's to World Tournaments. The teams that were in the league were Taylor Bros. ( Bill Taylor) out of RI, Simsbury Raiders ( Frank Lateano ) out of Conn, County Sports from Long Island NY.  He had many State, Regional Championship teams. So in 1992 he decided to make the jump into Big Time Softball. The team that year traveled all over with Hall of Famer Clyde Guy as his main power hitter. That year was his first year ever having a team in the Smoky Mountain Classic and that tournament CHANGED every thing for him. They won there first 3 games and 2 of their opponents were ranked in the top 10 in Jerome Earnest Rankings. There next game was against the #1 ranked team Ritch's Superior ( Frank Lateano ). Before that game my father was approached by Rex Bradley and Hank Basset from Louisvelle Slugger TPS.  They asked if my father would be interested in sponsorship from TPS. They finished the year as Beloli TPS. The week after the USSSA MAJOR WORLD SERIES he got a call from Frank Lateano and wanted to meet in Connecticut. the following weekend. My Father, brother and myself went and met Frank Lateano and Dirk Androff and was asked to Co-Sponsor Ritchs Superior. It was a easy decsion and the rest is history. He won the Pif up in Canada numerous times, but his goal was always to win a WORLD SERIES. He reached his goal after many years of Sponsoring Teams. He had won rings in ASA, ISA, NSA, but the one he wanted the most was the USSSA WORLD SERIES. He reached his last goal in 1998 as a Sponsor of TEAM TPS. He always said that tournament was probably the best one because how they came out of the loser bracket to win the USSSA and was special as the late Dirk Androff had passed the year before. He has met a lot of great people because of SOFTBALL. His love for the game was 2nd to love of his family and I am glad he got to do IT, because there wasn't a better person then him !!  Dad was elected to the New England USSSA Hall of Fame in 1993

– Kirk Beloli