Over a seventeen year career with such teams as Dill Brothers, Pit Stop, Bank of Westmont, Mid America Concrete, Belcher's, the Kings and Tron Piping, infielder Steve Mai has combined a .640 lifetime average with tenacious defense won team four golden Gloves, eight state championships, and two Men's Major Masters World titles.  He also won numerous titles and awards in the ASA and NSA, including National Class B titles in 1993 and 1994.

"The Hall of Fame is a well deserved honor," says Mai's old teammate Jim Cushing. 

He was a hard nosed player who took as much pride on the defensive side of the field as he did on the offensive end.  A lot of times if he wasn't leading his team on the offensive team, you could see him leading his team at shortstop, making diving catches, turning double plays and taking teams right out of innings.

That hard nosed, dive-into-it attitude likely comes from Mai's background as a baseball shortstop, football player and wrestler.  In college, Mai played free safety and returned punts and kickoffs.  Following college, Mai played three years of semi-pro baseball, hoping to catch on for a shot at the majors.  He avoided softball, he says, so as not to ruin his baseball swing.  In 1983, while out waxing his car, he got a call to play at a tournament at Hooker Lake Inn in Wisconsin.  It was love at first hit, and Mai soon gave up his baseball dreams.

In 1986, Mai started getting known when the Dill Brothers won the USSSA Class B state title, and Mai a Golden Glove.  In 1989, Mai met Cushing, who brought him over to the Bank of Westmont, where Mai began playing against the top teams in Illinois and the Midwest.  He quickly proved himself up to the task.

"If I ever had to go to battle, Steve would be the first guy I would want in corner," Cushing states flatly.

Mai experienced his greatest thrill in softball in 1996, when Tron Piping came back to win four in a row at the Major Masters World.  In the decisive second game, Mai started the double play against powerhouse Mountain Top that gave Tron the victory and the championship.

Like most softball players, Mai has told a few white lies to his wife.  "I told me wife, if I ever won a national title, I'd quit," he admits. "That title came in 1993," and he's still competing.

Mai has since changed his tune a bit on retiring, saying simply, "when I am unable to play at the level I expect myself to play at, I'll have no regrets about being finished."