Photos by Kim North During pre-game festivities Thursday afternoon at Jets Field in Morristown, Union Local dedicated its softball season to the late George Kaldor, father of Jets head coach Melissa Lahna.

MORRISTOWN — Melissa (Kaldor) Lahna has been playing softball ever since she was old enough to walk. Her love of the game came from her late father, George Kaldor, who died in January at age 81.

Associated with softball at various age levels and a variety of positions for most of her father’s life, Lahna, the current Union Local head coach and former Bellaire head coach held a pre-game ceremony Thursday to dedicate the Jets 2025 season to her father.

“Some would call him a legend,” Lahna said of her father. “He did a lot of things for the sport of softball. A lot of people knew him, and a lot of people respected him. He made me fall in love with this game, so to honor him today was the right thing to do.

“(Assistant coach) Jerry Miller was a big proponent of getting this thing started,” Lahna added. “He wanted to do something to honor my dad. They got really close here the last two years.”

Lahna said she was humbled by the outpouring of responses she has received from all kinds of people.

“He was a good dude, but I know that because he was my dad,” she said with a chuckle. “All of the text messages and phone calls, even after he passed. It was touching.”

Despite Union Local’s late-game rally coming up a run short in an 8-7 loss to visiting Monroe Central, Lahna said George would have been proud of the way the game was played.

“He’s smiling down on all of us,” she added. “He would’ve been proud of how we battled back and competed. We didn’t play bad (soft) ball. He used to tell me ‘softball is a game of inches.’ We’d lose a game and I’d be mad, and he would always say, ‘It’s a game of inches. One inch this way or an inch that way and it’s a different game.'”

At the conclusion of the brief pre-game ceremony, the Union Local team, coaching staff and family members of George gathered around the middle of the diamond with a sign that featured his famous saying: “I gar-on-tee we will win the day.” Some even donned his favorite number 21 on red T-shirts.

HITTING SHOES ON

The Seminoles (1-1) had their hitting shoes laced up tight as they collected 15 safeties, including seven doubles. Maclarin Craft led the barrage with three doubles and an RBI. Allie McFrederick drove in two runs with a single and double, while Kenadie Loch singled, doubled and knocked in one. Jauna McElroy also singled and doubled. Jadyn Miller doubled in a run.

DEFENSIVE GEMS

Union Local centerfielder Eden McGary threw out a Seminole runner at the plate for the second out in the fifth to prevent a run from scoring.

Jets’ left fielder Lil Blakely circled under a deep fly near the fence to end the fifth.

LATE SCORING

Deadlocked at 5 entering the seventh inning, Monroe Central plated three runs in the top of the inning before watching Union Local score twice and leave the tying run on second.