Last Dance in January

We've come a little more than 1/3 of the way through the winter 2013 season and the weather has been very Florida like.  Let's hope it stays that way through March at least.

Field E

Field E was the site of a hotly contested game between the Nick Matta led Rangers and the Red Sox skippered by Jeff Simon. The Rangers got it started early when Kurt Coffman lead off the game with a single followed by a HR from John Goodhue.  The Sox stormed back in the bottom of the 1st with singles from Steve Hill and Al Andrews, doubles by Tom Hamilton and the red hot Denny Shaffer, George Radlien topped off the scoring with a sac fly. After shutting down the Rangers in the second, the Sox got 4 more with a 3 run HR from Steve Hill followed by a solo HR by Tom Hamilton. 

Joe Scores

The Rangers got 2 more in the 3^rd the key hit being delivered by Coffman with a double.  Both teams went quickly and quietly in the 4^th. The 5^th saw the Rangers start their move with 4 singles and a double, by Joe D'Herin, plating 4 runs.  The Sox tied the score at 9 when Tom Hamilton led off the inning with a walk, and eventually scoring on a sac fly by Donny Held. 

Don drives one deep

The Sox took the lead again in the 6^th, after the Rangers got only 1, in their half of the frame, with 7 straight batters reaching base, including 6 singles. The Sox added 2 more in the 7^th, with a double by Denny Shaffer and then 3 singles from Andrews, Radlien and Hite.  

 The Sox held a 7 run lead starting the 8^th, but no lead is safe when playing the "Never say die" Rangers.  They got 7 runs in the 8^th when 10 players reach base, featuring 7 singles, 2 fielders choices and a double by Jim Goodhue.  The Sox failed to score in the 8^th, so the 9^th began with the score knotted at 16.   The Rangers got 7 more runs, sending 11 men to the plate.  The big hits were provided by Juan Rivera and Joe D'Herin's triples.  The Sox could only answer with a solo HR from Don Held to close out the scoring 23-17. 

Rangers:

• Coffman 5 for 6, 2B
• Goodhue 4 for 5, 2B & HR
• D'Herin 3 for 4, 2B, 3B & Sac Fly
• Matta 5 for 5, 3B

Sox:

• Hill 3 for 5, HR
• Hamilton 3 for 3, HR & 2 BB
• Shaffer 3 for 5, 2B
• Harris 3 for 4

Bob Hite

 Field D

Cubs Vs Pirates
In a rare instance of playing back to back games against the same team, the Cubs and Pirates faced off again this beautiful Florida day at Winter Haven's
DiamondPlex softball field.  

The Pirates continued their way with the bats scoring 5 runs in each of the first two innings.  Fred Ducham lead off with a walk then a single by Stepp and doubles by Wilcox and Burrell that started the 5 run explosion in the first and ended with a single by Manager Smith.  

The Second inning started with a single by first baseman Gene Morey followed by the top of the line up again and a lead of 10 to 0 after 2 innings.  

Gene takes a cut

After two scoreless innings, the Cubs started a rally on Jim Altamose single and base hits by Barnes, Depalma, and a double by Sam Cuscovitch and another single by Kline.  

After 3 the score was 10 to 4.  Both teams scored 3 in the 3rd and were held scoreless in the 5th. 

In the 6th the Pirates tallied one run and the Cubs put on their hitting shoes starting with a ground out by John Fulton and ended with a base hit by John Fulton as the Cubs batted 12 batters.  The inning produced a triple by Ken Wilson, and 'Joltin' Joe Deforge's base hit followed by hits by Barnes, Sam C, Ed Kline, Erv Fitzki, and Walt Leggett.  John Fulton's hit scored the 7th run of the inning and tied the game at 14 each.  

John Drives one

The Cubs again scored 5 runs in the 7th.  The Pirates fought back with a run in the 8th and two in the
9th but fell short. The Final score was Cubs 20 Pirates 17.

Cubs Hitters

• Barnes 3 for 4 with SAC
• Depalma 4 for 5
• Cuscovitch 3 for 5 with 3 doubles
• Kline 4 for 5
• Fitzki HR
• Wilson 4 for 5 with double and triple

Pirates

• Wilcox 5 for 5 with 2 HR turned into triples
• Burrell 3 for 5 with 2 doubles and triple
• Waddell 4 for 5 with HR and double

 Field B

The undefeated Giants, coached by Bloom, beat the Braves, coached by Moots, by one run again.  The game started off with the Giants scoring five runs in the first  inning with Bess, Black, Bill Miller, Thompson, Remington, Chamlee,and Merritt getting hits.  The Braves come back scoring three runs with Peterson, Chrest, Lautenschlager, And Frank Miller getting hits.

Vasserl takes a strike

The game went into the fourth inning and the Braves tied the score with hits from Chrest, Stewart, Lautenschlager and Moots. 

In the sixth both teams scored one run .The Giants had hits from Remington and Chamlee and the Braves had hits from Lautenschlager, Frank Miller and  Ravo.

The Giants scored again in the seventh with hits from Wolff and Guspyt.  Both teams scored in the eighth when Black led off with a single followed by some errors and a single by Chamlee.  The Braves scored two runs with hits from Peterson, Crest and Lautenschlager. 

Nobody scored in the ninth and the Giants won 9 to 8 to remain undefeated.

Good hitting came from Bess, Black, Remington, Chamlee, and Guspyt from the Giants. The Braves got outstanding hitting from Chest, Lautenschlager, Frank Miller, and McPartlan.

Field C 

The Three Team game between Larry Powell's Rays, Don Witmer's Tigers and Freddy Gonzalez's Angels was a close fought low scoring struggle right to the end.

The Angels pulled out the win in the bottom of the last inning to rack up two points in the standings.

Final Score Rays 12, Tigers 14 and the Angels 15