Aloha oe’ Kenny

 

In Tuesday’s game we bid Aloha oe’ (farewell to you), to our favorite Hawaiian American ballplayer, Kenny Ota. Kenny will be moving to Palm Springs, this week.

(As always more pictures are located at WHSS Albums )

I keeping with this theme, we had 3 Hawaiian teams take the field in Winter Haven today.

 The Surfer Dudes consisted of Coffman, Witmer, Zelazny, DeRidder, D. Hill, Herb O, Wells, Barnes, Moots and L. Baker.  Cowabunga! (Slang from 1960's surf culture, cried out enthusiastically when surfing — The surfer's cry "Cowabunga" as they climb a 12 foot wall of water and "take the drop.")  The Surfer Dudes started out cranking, catching big waves, scoring 9 times in the first two innings. Coffman, Witmer x2, Zelazny x2, DeRidder x2, D. Hill and Moots all scored in the “epic” first two innings. (Epic:  Top class surf or extremely good waves; description of an awesome wave or surf session).  But the Dudes wiped out after the big start. In the end their performance was ranked a Barney, in surfer terms. (An inexperienced surfer, or someone who's no good at surfing.)  The Surfer Dudes only scored two more runs over the next 5 innings, giving them 11 for a final total, good enough for a last place finish. Bummer man.

The Rainbow Warriors (named after the University of Hawaii’s Sports teams), consisted of Constantine, F.Gonzalez, Dampier, Butler, Schapeler, S. Hill, Crest, Ota, Thompson and G. Baker.  The Warriors scored  “lolo wikiiwiki”, which in Hawaiian means crazy fast. In plain English, it means they scored a lot of runs. Scoring 5-4-4-5 times in the first four innings helped propel the Rainbow Warriors to “lanakila”, to have victory. The following Rainbow Warriors earned leis (a garland of flowers, leaves, nuts, or shells) for their play: Constantine and Gonzalez were on base 4 times and scored all 4 times. G. Baker, or his pinch runner, scored 3 times and had four hits. Kenny Ota scored twice and gave a memorable going away performance, finishing the day hitting 4/ 5.  Credit F. Gonzalez and L. Crest for “maika ‘I” (good) catches. Both players grabbed sinking fly balls that should have been hits.

 The Silver medal went to The Hawaii Five-0 team of M. Gonzalez, Reagen, Rivera, Laffoon, Matta, Giorgano, Lopez, Merritt, J. Smith and Powell.  The original Hawaii Five-O TV show was an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s. The theme music composed by Morton Stevens became especially popular. Hawaii Five-O was named in honor of Hawaii's status as the 50th state.

 The WHSS, Hawaii Five-O team had two big innings, scoring 5 runs in the first inning and 7 runs in the third inning. Other noteworthy accomplishments, all 10 players in the line-up batted in the third inning, eight reached base safely. The third out that inning was never recorded, as the Hawaii Five –O team tied the game in the third inning, ending play for that inning. John Smith, from the NL, had a great day going 3/ 4. Charlie Giordano had a great over the shoulder catch in left field for the police squad. Other than that, this Hawaii Five-O team was under arrest, we could only muster up four more single digit scoring innings. That was not enough to win this game. “Book em Danno, for lack of hitting”.

 Final Score: Surfer Dudes 11- Rainbow Warriors 22 – Hawaii Five O- 16.

Top Five Hawaiian sayings, (loosely translated), heard at Winter Haven Senior Softball games.

Freddie, Kapu en line fronti. - Get behind the red line, Freddie.

Z, Taki ex bais kalled ooout. - Bobby was thrown out trying for an extra base.

Hai pitch ova hed.- That was an illegal pitch.

Ota mi leg hurta. -  I need Kenny to pinch run for me.

Yie saf et hom. - I was safe at Home.

Kenny, we all wish for you to be safe at Home and remember you always have a home here with us on the ball field.

 WP: Thompson. * NL player.

Leading Hitters:

DeRidder: 3 / 4.

Dampier: 4 / 5 with a triple.

Ota: 4 / 5.

G. Baker 4/ 5. * NL player.

Rivera: 4/ 5 with a HR.

Reagen: 3/ 4 and a walk.

Matta: 3/ 4 and a walk.

Lopez 3/ 4.

J. Smith 3/ 4. * NL Player

Submitted by Nick Matta
Photos courtesy of Fred Dampier