There are four things that will kill a team: bad base running, bad defense, bad pitching and bad hitting. We had three of the four killers on display, at times today, at WHSS. In honor of the dead bats, bad base running and dead gloves, I think it appropriate to name all three teams after deadly Florida animals / fish.
The hitting team will be dubbed the Sharks. This Jaws team consisted of the following players: Dampier, Coffman, Schapler, Butler, Simon, D. Hill, Constantine, Moots, Wells and Gibson.
There are many different sorts of sharks in the waters around Florida, including Bull Sharks, Mako Sharks, Tiger Sharks, Lemon Sharks, Nurse Sharks, and Hammerhead Sharks. There was even a Great White Shark caught 30 miles off the coast of Treasure Island, in the Gulf. There have been a few other Great White sightings in recent months. A Great White Shark, shot past the Space Coast, near Daytona, in July of 2014.
Florida had the most unprovoked shark attacks in the world in 2013, when there were 23. None of the 10 fatal attacks around the world, that year, occurred in Florida.
Most sharks have 5 rows of teeth. This shark team must have visited the dentist before the game and had their teeth pulled, all five rows of them. There was no bite in their bats. They only scored seven runs in the game. They hit into two double plays and had a runner thrown out at the plate. Jeff Simon did have a nice play on defense, for his shark team. Jeff fished in a sinking line drive while playing 2nd base. Josh Wells pitched a good game, but the sharks got tangled up in a net on defense, making too many errors.
The sitting team will be called the Snakes. This venomous team had the following players: Reagan, T. Smith, Lopez, Zelazny, Bess, Marino, Powell, L. Baker and Ayala.
There are 4 types of snakes in Florida which are dangers to humans: copperheads, cottonmouths (water moccasins), coral snakes, plus rattlesnakes. In the United States, only 5–6 deaths occur each year are due to a venomous snakebite. That is a tenth of the number of fatalities, around 50 / year, caused by hornet, bee, and wasp stings!
This snake team was dangerous; they scored in 5 of the 7 innings in which they batted. For a snake, timing is everything, if you strike at the wrong time you will miss your prey. The fielding team missed opportunities at the plate. There were plenty of innings when they had men on base, but their batters could not drive the base runners in, to produce a big inning. They also had a few fielding errors that allowed the home team to stay in the game. Larry Powell had a nice game on the mound.
The fielding team we will nickname the Spiders. Juan Toro wore all black to one of the games, a few weeks back, Freddy Gonzalez and I have called him the Black Widow, ever since. Of course when it comes to his play, Juan’s bat, glove, arm and speed can be deadly. Like a Black Widow’s bite. Personality wise, Juan is no Black Widow; everyone knows he is a nice guy.
There are two spiders in particular, found in Florida, which can potentially be dangerous. The brown recluse spider (also nicknamed the fiddleback spider, brown fiddler, or violin spider, because of its markings) is one of the most dangerous animals in Florida. It is only small but has a venomous bite that can put you in hospital or worse, and it tends to live in dark recesses.
Southern Black Widow spiders also are somewhat common in Florida and should be avoided. Widow spiders can be identified by the distinctive red hourglass marking on their black back.
Spiders like to catch flies. Our team spiders caught their share of fly balls and grounders. Gene Baker had a nice catch behind the plate. Overall, we played good defense and Nick Matta pitched a solid game. A spider has eight legs. With all those legs you would think that our Spider team would run the bases well. You would be wrong. We tripped up in our own web, when Freddy Gonzalez was thrown out, trying to advance to third, on an infield out. We also had a problem delivering the fatal bite. We loaded the bases a few times and could not get a key hit to cash in the runners.
The game came down to the last inning, between two teams. The Snakes, (sitting team), was tied with the Spiders, (home team), 13-13.
During their at bat, in the 7th inning, the Snakes threatened to score the go ahead run. They had runners at 1st and 2nd with only one out. Lee Baker had a key hit that inning and also earlier in the game. However, they ran out of venom, when they hit into an inning ending double play.
It was all up to Spiders to trap their prey and win the game. We had the 3rd, 4th and 5th batters due up that inning. However, the Black Widows hour glass was empty. We could only produce one hit. The game ended in a tie.
Final Score: Sharks 7 - Snakes 13 - Spiders 13.
After talking about these deadly creatures, you might be surprised to learn that they are not close to being the world’s deadliest animal. That title goes to the tiny mosquito. What makes mosquitoes so dangerous? Despite their innocuous-sounding name—Spanish for “little fly”—they carry devastating diseases. The worst is malaria, which kills more than 600,000 people every year; another 200 million cases incapacitate people for days at a time. It threatens half of the world’s population and causes billions of dollars in lost productivity annually. Other mosquito-borne diseases include dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis.
Leading Hitters:
Reagan : 4/5
- T. Smith: 5/5 with a HR.
- Lopez: 4/5 with a triple.
- Powell: 4/5.
- L. Baker: 3/5
- Toro: 4/5 with 2 doubles.
- Herb O: 4/ 5.
submitted by Nick Matta
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