No Games Today in Winter Haven. The City is doing field maintenance and the ball park is closed.


See You Tuesday.


Don Witmer

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There are no softball games in Winter Haven tomorrow. The City is spraying the fields.


See you Tuesday.


Don Witmer

Let's see if anyone can relate to this dice game.  When I was in the Navy it was called ship's captain and crew.   Civilian life it is called 6-5-4   That was the final score of a very well defensive played 3 team game.  Simon's Smashers 6. King's Kruizers 5. The Gonzalez Guru 4. I do enjoy doing these write ups but do need better penmanship to be more accurate.

The defensive play of the game was definitely Chris Constantine on a backhand stab of a line drive at 3 rd base. Fantastic catch Chris. Also, Johnny Ojeda went deep in the hole at shortstop to snag a well hit ball by Richard Moots to stop a rally in the fifth inning.

Even though one batter on the winning team batted out of turn, got a double but had to be called out thanks to Fred Gonzalez's paying attention. They still hung on to win. Good job Freddie. 

Snowbirds. Hurry and get back. It is cooler in Florida than the North. 

Write up by Loren Fabian

One of the best games of the summer. You snowbirds don't know what you miss in this summer league 95 degree weather and 95% humidity. We only had two teams today but we did put 14 players on each team and played 5 outfielders. Simon's visitors were up 11-2 after 3 1/2 innings. Fabian's home team came back with a 6 run 4th and 4 run 5th. By the bottom of the 9th it was Simon 15 and Fabian 14. Lee Baker led off the bottom of the ninth with a single up the middle. Fabian's team got the tying run in with runners on First base and Third base with one out. The last batter hit into a double play which ended the game with a 15-15 Tie.

There were many very hard infield line drives hit and caught by both sides. The golden glovers were Laffoon, Lopez, and Marino in the outfield for the visitors. For home team they were Rad, King, Vandenburg and Fabian. Our fellow players also said I should mention a backhanded grab headed up the middle of a sharp 1 hopper by me for a force at second. We all get lucky sometimes.

See y'all Tuesday.   I couldn't read all the writing on the score sheets to highlight the hitters. We need better penmanship. OH WELL !!!!!

Remember, there will not be any games on Friday, July 29th due to the City of Winter Haven spraying the fields.

Write Up by Loren Fabian

Friday, July 15

3 teams again. Capozzi and Fabian tried a new strategy to team up managerial instincts to win a ball game. DIDN'T WORK. final score Hite's Heros 15, Thompson's Travelers 5, Capozzi's Crusaders 4. The Heros started off strong and were up 9-2-2 after 3 innings and the travelers and Crusaders never got close. The Heroes put up another nickel in the 6th for the final. 

Best defensive play was made by Luis Abreu at 1st base when a 2 hopper hit to him he turned into a double play by stepping on first and firing to 2nd for a tag out at 2nd. 

Hite's Heros hitters.    Quinones 3-4,  Rivera 3-4,  Hite 3-4,  Constatine 3-4,  King 3-4,  Poke 3-4. 

Capozzi's Crusaders. Ojeda 2-3,  Coffman 2-3,  Capozzi 1-1 sac fly BB,  Abreu 2-3.  

Thompson's Travelers. Vega 2-3 and 3 runs scored,  Rodriguez 4-4,  Vandenburg 2-3,  Spitalari 2-3,  Herbie O 2-3. 

WP. BJ Kallister.    ---  he's on a roll

Johnny Merritt's wife was the only fan in the stands. 

Submitted by L. Fabian

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND COMMISSIONER ELECTION


There are two vacancies on the board of directors for the term beginning October 15, 2016 and ending on October 14, 2018. A slate of nominees has been determined and we have four individuals who have put their names in the hat to become board members. No one other than the existing commissioner has put their name in the hat for the commissioner's job. The Official Ballot is on the right side of the web page under Links. Click on the link for Official Ballot 2016/2017. You can print the ballot and mail it to Richard Moots along with your registration fees for next year. Please vote for only two of the nominees. You can write in a name for another nominee to the board that does not appear on the ballot or for the commissioner. The deadline for submitting ballots is September 30, 2016. I will have ballots at the ball park beginning Friday July 22th for anyone who will be here before September 30, 2016.


Please take the time to vote for the people that you would like to see on the board of directors.


Thanks.


Don Witmer, Commissioner

Tuesday, July 12th

Another 3 team game in which Capozzi's Crusaders jumped out on top with  a nickel in the top of the 1st and never relinquished the lead. Final was Capozzi's Crusaders 17, Simon's Smashers 12 and Fabian's Flyers 11. For Capozzi's team, Johnny Ojeda had a fantastic game at shortstop making every play hit at him including backhanded double play and virtually every other defensive play you could think of. Great game Johnny. Their hitters were Rivera 4-4, Ojeda 4-4, Coffman 3-4, Crowell 4-4, Mohan 4-4, BJ 3-4, Chrest 4-4 and Reggie Barnes 3-4. Maybe that's why they won so handily. Lot of hits!!!!

The defensive catch of the game didn't come until the 7th inning when a wicked line drive was hit to POKE in right field and he charged in as fast as he possibly could and made the catch off his shoe tops. I think even Poke was a bit surprised. Hitters for that team were Reagan 3-4, Lafoon 3-4, Simon 3-4, Morton 2-4, Thompson 3-4 and Johnny Merritt 2-4.      GREAT CATCH POKE. 

The Flyers didn't have a lot to shout about although Luis did have a lot of action at 1st base and made several good plays. They were pretty well out of it until the 5th inning when they put up a nickel to come within range but couldn't score any more in the last 2 innings. Leading hitters were Pepin 4-4, Gonzalez 4-4, Luis 2-4, Miguel 2-4, Fabian 2-4, Wells 2-4 and John Gibson 3-4. 

It was hot and fun. SEE YALL FRIDAY!!!!   

WP   BJ Kallister

Submitted by L. Fabian. 

Friday, July 8, 2016

Hello snowbirds and Floridians. Yet another nicely played 3 team game. The 5th and 6th innings we're nearly scoreless and going into the 7th the score was Gonzales Gladiators 8, Fabians Flyers 9 and Witmer's Wonders 9. Gonzales' team to take the lead, the Flyers answered with 5 and Witmer's Wonders scored 4 for a final of Flyers 14, Wonders 13, Gladiators 11. The final play of the game with the tying run on 3rd was a ground ball up the middle turned to a double play by shortstop Jose Rodriguez to Crowell. 

Defensive catch of the game was a running back hand stab of a line drive in right center by Dave Shirer. 

Leading hitters 

   Reponen.       4-4

   J. Rodriguez.  4-4

   Toro.               3-4

   Butler.             3-4

   Coffman.         1-1 and 3BB

   Witmer.            3-4

   Shirer.              4-4

   Hite.                 3-4

   Hicks.               3-4

   Miguel.              3-4

  Constantine.     3-4

   Angel.               3-4

Only 2 fans in the stands. 

Submitted by L. Fabian. 

Tuesday, July 5 2016

For all snowbirds especially Don LaMay up in Michigan. 

Another well played 3 team game especially defensive. That is until the bottom of the 7th inning when a lead off walk and back to back errors led  to the winning run. The score was Fabian's Flyers 7, Witmer's Warriors 8 and Hill's Heros 9. Josh Wells led off with a walk and pinch runner scored the winning run after 2 errors and a walk off base hit by Jimmy Laffoon. 

Leading hitters. Duff Hill 2-3, Coffman 3-3, Wells 2-2 with BB

                          Rivera 3-3, Witmer 3-3, King 3-3

                          Capozzi 3-3, Shirer 3-3 and new player Jose Rodriguez 4-4 with 2B and 3B

There were a number of very good defensive plays as the final score indicates. Perhaps the best was a throw from right field that bounced all the way to Fabian at home plate and a good stretch gunned down the speedy Robert S. 

See YALL Friday