Winter Haven Senior Softball

A Portrait Of The Artist At Work 

On this day, November 14, in 1840, Claude Monet, the brilliant French impressionist painter was born. Impressionism is characterized by both the subject matter and the technique. Typical Impressionistic art work includes scenic landscapes and depictions of urban and suburban life; which are painted in bright, bold, pure colors. Impressionists often began (and sometimes completed) their paintings outdoors rather than in a studio. Their rapidly applied their brushstrokes to the canvas and often you can see their brush strokes when you study their paintings. Monet would have been impressed with our game today and some of the artsy play that Joe D’Herin, Mike Wiltshire, Jerry DeRidder, Ron Pepin, Freddy Dampier, Don Witmer, Tommy Hamilton, Kirk Coffman, Les Jacobson, Donny Scarbrough and Angel turned in on defense. Although I am sure Monet may have wished for more sunlight to work with than we had available today. A heavy mist covered the ball field, however, the lack of bright sunshine and the presence of rain did not dampen spirits on the ball field. Good hitting and timely fielding made today’s game into a masterpiece.

 

In honor of art, Monet and the masterful work of all the ball players today, I will name all three teams after three of Monet’s paintings. All three team names will reflect their team’s performance.

The Hitting team will be known as the “House Among the Roses”. Dampier, D’Herin, Wiltshire, DeRidder, Heartly, Pepin, Matta, Torrez, McLellan and Fabian made up the rose squad. These guys hit sweet as a rose, Pete Rose, that is; they sprayed the field with base hits and bloomed like a well-kept garden.

 

The Sitting team modeled Monet’s ”Weeping Willow”: Coffman, Hamilton, Jacobs, Witmer, Thine, Benson, Constantine, Wells, Leversque and Burrelli made up this squad. A beautiful team to watch in regards to their defense and hitting. In today’s game they spread their branches out and achieved a high level of success, only to weep at the end of the game.

 

The Fielding team, “The Luncheon”: Gonzalez, T. Smith, Laffoon, Jacobson, Scarbrough, Angel, Poke, Vandenberg, Walsku and Wheeler. This team hit like they had an early lunch engagement, they took their cuts at the plate and then went back to the bench to sit and think about lunch.

 

Today’s game was a classic through 4 innings, all three teams painted using broad stokes with their bats and the score reflected the master artists work. After 4 innings the score was Hitting team: 14 – Sitting team: 10 – Fielding team 11.

 

That is as close as the game would get for all three teams. In the last three innings the Sitting team, or lunch squad, must have smelled a pie cooking. They played the rest of the game like they were ready to tie on the feed bag. They had six hits in those last three innings and only scored one run. Bon Appe’tit.

The Hitting team and Sitting team were locked in what the French would call ”Se Battre Royal”, a fight to the finish. The pièce de résistance, in this art war, came in the 7^th and last inning. The Hitting team/Rose Squad, lead the Sitting team/ Weeping Willows, by a score of 18-16 after six innings of play. The final portrait was still to be painted; the game was up for grabs in the 7th.

 

The Hitting team came out of the 7^th smelling like a rose. To begin the inning, the artists known as DeRidder, Pepin and Matta started things off with base hits.  Then McLlean, Dampier, D’Herin and Wilshire squeezed the paint tube dry, as they knocked in the runners in front of them with hits of their own. After the masters were through applying their strokes, and the canvas was revealed, it showed that the Hitting team had scored 5 runs and now lead 23-16, over the Sitting team. Oh, la, la.

It was time for the willows to spread their branches, or weep. They say if you listen closely you can hear the willow cry. In this case the willow cried for a lack of run support. The Sitting team could only manage two runs, in the 7^th inning. Their art work was turned into paint by numbers scheme, when Mike Wiltshire, (Hitting team), fielded a ground ball and turned it into an inning ending double play.

Final Score: Hitting team: 23- Sitting team: 18- Fielding team: 12.

 

“But he who dares not grasp the thorn, should never crave the rose.” ― Anne Brontë.

"C'est la vie", that’s life.

 

WP: Matta

The undefeated, Ron Pepin has now won his first three games as a manager and has a perfect 3-0 record.

 

Hitting team, leading artists:

Dampier: 4 / 5 and a walk.

D’Herin: 4/6 with a double.

Wiltshire: 4/5 with a HR, two doubles and a SF.

DeRidder: 4/ 6 with a double and a triple.

Pepin: 4/4 and a SF.

Torrez: 3/ 5 with a triple.

McClellan: 4/5.

 

Sitting team, leading artists:

Coffman: 3/5.

Hamilton: 2/ 4 with a HR and SF.

Witmer: 3 / 4 with a SF.

Jacobs: 4/5 with a double.

Thine: 3/5.

Benson: 3/5 with a triple and a double.

Constantine: 3/ 4 and a walk.

Leversque: 4/ 5 with a triple.

Burelli: 4/5 with a double.

 

Fielding team, leading artists:

F. Gonzalez: 4/4 with a double.

T. Smith 3 / 4.

Jacobson: 3 / 4 with a HR.

Scarbrough 2/ 4 with a HR.

Vanderberg: 3 / 4.