After the Brevard Banditz, a Unified team from Florida, took their second straight gold medal in softball at the Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle, Bob Rall and Tonya Snodgrass took off their shoes and laid them on home plate.
“We had set it up that if we were selected to go back, we would leave our cleats to symbolize our retirement, Tonya from coaching and I from being a partner,” Rall said. “We not only went back, we won for the second time.”
The team represented Florida in softball at the games. “We went through pool play and then we beat Indiana 14-9 to put us in the gold medal game,” said Rall, who also is president of Space Coast Runners and whose family also volunteers for the team. “We beat Washington 14-5 to win the gold medal again, which we did the last time in New Jersey in 2014."
After she left her footwear at the stadium, Snodgrass left a parting message, "It's been a pleasure coaching this team for the last nine years! I've never coached a team with so much love!"