Friday Results

Outstanding Defense Resulted in ultra low scores for a hot and muggy Friday Augst 3l.

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36 players fielded 3 teams today which had a very low total score of 24 runs for all three teams.

 

Team Thompson won the gold with only 12 runs, team Wells could only garner 8 and team Ayers had a low of 4.

 

The winning margin was a base clearing 3 run hit by Gene Baker in the fourth inning as well as a circus  catch by teammate Richard Marino in right field later that inning to  help limit team Ayers  to four runs.

 

Ed Sullivan hit .500 for the day & was only bested by teammates Mundy, Zelazny & Butler average wise. This helped secure the silver for team Wells 

 

Team Ayers collected 10 hits and two walks in scoring the low of four runs for the bronze. Hall of fame team member Joe Deforge is asking for your prayers as his wife is ill and Joe is hoping for a speedy recovery for his wife.

 

Also a reminder that it is the time of the year to go out and secure a sponsor for one of our teams.  The cost is only $250.00 and the sponsor message or logo goes on all shirts for an entire team.  Your individual annual fee is also waived if you secure  the sponsor.

 

Everyone have a safe and happy holiday.  See you next week.  RDT

Fresh Chrome

Freddy's busted bat and Gene's new chrome plated shoes

We had our doubts today after the rain from Isaac but the fields dried out and eventually 30 players showed up so we had enough to field three teams again. Thanks to Chuck Duff for umpiring the game.

It was cool and very breezy with the wind blowing out to left.  With that much wind you’d think someone would have parked one but the best hit was a line drive gapper to left center by Fred Dampier for an inside the park round tripper.

Ron Thompson’s team led off with a big zero in the first frame.  Then Larry Wells' team came out of the gate swinging and posted 5 runs without making an out.  Eddie Diaz’s sluggers scored a couple in the first but then went 0’Fer the next 4 frames.

Team Thompson (Hit) took over and never went scoreless again compiling 18 runs to record the win over silver medalist Team Wells(Sit) who scored 12 runs (5 in the last inning) to just  9 for Team Diaz (Field).  

The highlight reel includes a diving catch in the outfield by Frank Jacobs robbing Jose Rivera of a double and as usual several outstanding plays by Sammy Lopez.   Then there was the blinding speed of Gene Baker who actually ran for himself and literally blinded us with those new shoes.  I guess you could say he went for the gold chrome.

The leading hitters included Fred Dampier who went 4 for 4 and a homer, Chris Constantine also went 4 for 4, Freddy Gonzalez had a 4 for 5 day, Claire Auchey hit his usual 4 for 5 and Jimmy Lafoon hit his average 3 for 4.

Play Ball!

Don's on-site already and reports that the fields are in fine shape this morning.  Despite all the rain yesterday, there's no standing water on the fields we'll be using.

Game On! We will be playing. 

See you there.

Summer Bash Game

Share the Love Baby!

Today 34 players came prepared to do  battle for the right to get first in line for the sub sandwiches and drinks provided by the league. Today' game proved very interesting because the best team on paper struggled on both ends of play. The game started by Team Wells scoring five quick runs and scored every other inning to pull out the victory. They led wire to wire.Team Diaz got runners on base in the first three innings only to have their hopes dashed by inning ending double plays each time. The fourth inning saw them score five runs on  successive singles.Team Powell scored two runs in the first inning and then were virtually shut down by Team Diaz until the seventh. They only managed to score four runs on five total hits. The game ended on what can only be described as the catch of the day by Ron Butler. Jimmy Lafffoon hit a rocket with two outs and two runners on base. At the crack of the bat Ron broke to his right and while fully extended parallel to the ground, managed to hold on for the game ending catch and preserving the win for Team Wells.

Final Score  Team Wells 14    Team Diaz 9     Team Powell 4

Outstanding players

Kirk Coffman    3 for 4

Wayne Mundy    3 for 4

Ron Butler        4 for 4 with  the catch of the day

Nice & Breezy

Thirty five players took the field under cool skies and ocean breezes. Team Wells struck first by scoring three runs in the top of the first. They might have scored more as a soft grounder ended the inning with the bases loaded.  Team Diaz responded with four runs and Team Thompson failed to match the output after their rally was cut short by a great double play. The second inning had a total of eleven runs scored after the bottom of the line ups for Teams Wells and Thompson started big rallies. Freddie D took advantage of the base runners by hitting a Grand Slam. The third inning saw a reversal of fortunes as Team Diaz got back into the game by scoring 4 runs with Tommy Wise getting a round tripper. They continued their climb to the front by solid hitting in the fourth that gave them the lead they would not relinquish. Team Wells thought they were going to mount an attack after Freddie Gs homerun but their hopes were quickly dashed. Defense and pitching dominated the last couple inning while hitting dominated when team Wells was at the plate and continued to pad their lead. Final score was Team Diaz 19 and Teams Thompson and Wells managing 11 apiece. 

Game balls would have been handed to Donnie Witmer for outstanding defense at shortstop and Jeff Simon at First Base(that is if we gave them...but we don't). The big guns today were:

Team Wells

Jimmy Laffoon    3 for 3

Frank Jacobs       3 for 4

Russ King            3for 4

Josh Wells            3 for 4

Team Diaz 

  

Freddie Gonazales        home run

Jose Rivera                    5 for 5

Larry Grabb                    4 for 5

Team Thompson

Freddie Dampier           Grand Slam  home run

Ron Butler                     3 for 3

Bobby Hite                    3 for 3

Gene Baker                   3 for 3

Mr Softball -- Joltin' Joe DeForge

Please note that Friday will be Party Day!  Sandwiches and cool drinks after the game.

SUMMER PARTY

The Winter Haven Senior Softball summer party will be held on Friday, August 24th after the games are over. The menu will be sandwiches and drinks.

34 @ 90+ Degrees

Thirty four players braved the high temperatures today and so we ended up with a very exciting and close three team game. After the first inning Teams Thompson, Wells, and Diaz each themselves scratching their collective heads as neither team scored with only one runner reaching base. 

The second inning saw Team Thompson getting a two runs off  a couple hits and ill timed error. Team Diaz answered with the help of a couple walks. Team Wells then put up a big number as a result of clutch hitting and a four bag error to end the inning. 

Teams Thompson and Diaz managed to trade runs for the next couple innings with Team Wells  putting up solid numbers almost every inning. 

The sixth inning saw the bats from Team Diaz start to get hot. The bottom of the line up started a rally where ten batters came to the plate and were able to jump past Team Thompson and get within three runs of Team Wells. 

The last inning ended suddenly with Team Thompson hitting into a double play and then great defense by Team Thompson to shut Eddies team down. As a result, Team Wells did not have to bat in the last inning while enjoying a sweet victory. 

Final score was Team Wells 14, Team Diaz 12, and Team Thompson 9.

Leading Hitters

Wayne Munday     3 for 3 with a fielders choice

Sam Lopez            3 for 4

Bob Hite                3 for 4

Fred Dampier         3 for 4

Frank Jacobs         3 for 3

Josh Wells            3 for 3

Ron Butler             3 for 3

Bob Downs            3 for 3       

Four Teams Today!

With enough players for two games, Team Powell and Team Diaz faced off on Field B. Team Powell got off to an early lead assisted by double digit walks (I think the stats show more walks than hits for the game). Team Powell managed two five run innings but were unable to distance themselves from Team Diaz as Jimmy Laffoon and Bob Zelazny's bats kept them close throughout. Team Powell shut the door on their opponents with a very quick one two three in the last inning. Final score being 14-12. The ultimate winner of the game was the weather. We lost Lee Baker to the heat in the fifth inning and after canvassing the teams we had four additional players that were experiencing faintness and fatigue. The mangers met and decided to play only seven innings to prevent any other injuries. Players that still wanted to play were encouraged to go over and join the teams playing on Field C.

Leading Hitters:

Team Powell

    Raul Torrez    3 for 4  plus a walk

    Frank Jacobs 4 for 4

    Frankie  Acevedo 4 for 4 plus a walk

    

Team Diaz

    Freddie Dampier    4 for 5

    Jimmy Laffoon    4 for 4 with two triples

    Bob Zelazny        4 for 4 with two triples and a double

Larry Wells takes a cut

Field C – Good Game

Gonzalez vs King        9 innings of hot

Final Score 16 Gonzalez (Losing Pitcher – Larry Wells)

                 18 King  (Winning Pitcher – Ron Thompson)

King team highlights

Bill Miller – outstanding defense at second base

Rich Marino – four hits

Ron Thompson – three hits plus sacrifice

Gonzalez team highlights

Wayne Munday – great defensive plays

Fred Gonzalez – five for six

Larry Grabb – solo homerun

Bill Bowley – three for five

Friday

We had a great turnout today with 37 players showing up ready to play. The game started out looking like Team Wells and Team Thompson were going to put up some huge numbers. Fortunately for Team Matta the other teams bats cooled and Team Matta scratched and clawed back to tie for the lead going into the last inning. There were more zeros on the score sheets than in the federal deficit.. a total of seven. As an impartial reporter I can say the defense played well and snuffed out most of the rallies as we raced into the seventh inning. Good defense tops good offense.The score going into the last inning was 11-11-10. The last inning started with everyone still with a chance to claim victory. Unfortunately for Teams Matta and Thompson after Team Wells finally got tired of running around the bases the score was 23-11-10. Eighteen batters came to the plate and as a result of some questionable fielding managed to distance themselves from the other teams. Team Matta failed to mount a charge after a change in pitchers (Sessnick for Thompson) and contributed to the number of zeros on the scoreboard. Team Thompson however came to win and managed seven runs highlighted by a fence jarring drive by Juan Toro. Clearly the power hit of the day. The end result was Team Wells 23, Team Matta 11, and Team Thompson 17.

The boyz enjoy a little pine time

Leading hitters:

Team Thompson

    Juan Toro                3 for 4

    Dean Schapler         3 for 4

    Donnie Witmer         3 for 4

Team Wells

    Freddie Gonzalez   3 for 4

    Wayne Mundy        4 for 4 in addition to reaching on a  fielders choice and an error

    Brent Alumbaugh    4 for 4 in addition to reaching on a fielders choice and an error

 Team Matta

    Steve Hill                 3 for 3

    Bob Zelazny             2 for 2 in addition to reaching on an error

           

    

Dick Mahon's Son

Sadly, we've just received word that our long time Winter Haven and Lakeland Senior Softball teammate, Dick Mahon has lost his son. Dick Mahon Jr died earlier today.  Please keep Dick and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Rain Out Today

Sorry Guys, no softball for us today.  After last night's rain the fields are just too wet to play.  You win some, you lose some, some get rained out ...

See you Friday morning (if it doesn't rain again)

It was another scorcher out there today with close to zero breeze.  Someone said that it was 90 when we started and 92 by the time the first batter came up.  We had barely enough to field three teams 29 players showed up so we had two tens and a nine, fielding 11 players with some random fill-ins from the sitting team.

Hit     Larry Wells       12
Sit      Larry Powell     16
Field  Claire Auchey   12 

The only clean Home Run went to Larry Powell with a smash down the left field line.  Nice hit Larry! Several other round trippers and triples were recorded as extra base errors.

Game over Steve & Vassurl relax
CB#: 863-307-5569