Tuesday, April 25th
On Field C, Larry Strait and Bob Hite managed the two teams to a one run game that was won in the bottom of the ninth inning.  Strait's team was up by 10 in the 7th but Hite's team scored 8 in the 8th and won it in the 9th 21-20.


On Field D, Tommy Hamilton and Les Jacobson managed the two teams that also had a one run finish in the bottom of the ninth. Hamilton went ahead in the top of the ninth only to have Ray Aufiero hit a booming fly ball to left field to score the winning run from first base.


Write up by Loren Fabian and Don Witmer

Friday, April 21st.

What a fantastic double header between the best of the best from these 2 wonderful senior softball clubs. First I must say the commraderie and sportsmanship was fantastic. Actually off the charts. When the second game was done, the hand shake line was the longest I have ever seen in my 5 years of this. All were involved and also many hugs. All umpire decisions were honored without question and there were many bang, bang plays. Congratulations to both teams. 

Speaking of umpiring, the home plate and only umpire nearly got wiped out 3 times. First time was when Smashers shortstop Jack Bonura uncorked a relay to the plate which was a bit off line up the first base line and kept screw balling about 5 ft. as the  ump tried to get out of the way. The fans said that Smashers catcher Bo Miller snagged it right before thumping the ump. The umpire also had to quickly duck 2 intense foul tips, but he survived. 

On to the games. First one was won by Winter Have 18-17 even though they tried to hand it to Solivita in the bottom of the open inning. Solivita scored 15 runs in the first 5 innings and were up 15-8. BUT, Winter Haven scored 7 in the 6th to tie it and then 3 more in the 7th and hang on for the squeaky victory in spite of 4 home runs by the Smashers. 2 over the wall by Bo Miller, another by Chris Varrone which nearly reached the cart path beyond right field. The 4th was in the park by speedy Jack Bonura. 

Box score. Smashers,  Brown 0-4, Bonura 3-4 HR, C. Varrone 2-4 HR, Johns 2-2, Miller 2-3 both HRs, Tom Mc 1-3, Beck 2-3, Dan Brown 1-3, Francisco 1-3, Kelly 2-2 w/BB, Renwick 1-3, Keller 2-3,Good 2-3.   Also, there were so many good plays by both sides I could not record them all as I was the umpire trying to stay alive. HA!!!

Second game is why I came up with Solivita's name Smashers as they sprayed the ball everywhere, scoring in every inning, 3 of them where they out up nickels for a final of 21-9. Defensive play of the day was when Solivita pitcher Lenny Ike , scooted toward  third base and barely snagged a weak pop fly and was going to the ground, when third baseman Keith Beck caught him and kept him upright. Keith was told HE made the catch of the day and should be awarded the game ball. Great catch, both of you. 

Box score Smashers. Kelly 4-4, Bonura 3-4, Varrone 2-3, Johns 2-4, Miller 3-4, Beck 2-4, B. Brown 3-4, Tom Mc 3-4, D. Brown 2-4, Francisco 2-4, Keller 2-3, Ike 2-2 w/bb, Morin 2-3. 

Box score 1st game for Winter Haven. Rivera 3-4, Hamilton 4-4, Rad P 3-4, Jacobson 3-3, Matta 1-4 and WP, Guzzo 2-2, Witmer 2-3, Pepin 2-3, D'Herin 2-3, JD starting pitcher and BB, Lopez 1-2 BB, Torres 1-3, Castillo 2-3. 

2nd game. Rivera 2-3, Hamilton 3-4, Jacobson 2-3, Matta 2-3, Guzzo 3-3, D'Herin 2-3, JD 2-3. 

I don't know how to end this longest write up I have ever done other than I wish I could remember some of the great defensive plays made but I was the umpire trying to stay alive. There might have been close to 100 or more FANS IN THE STANDS. 

FANTASTIC TIME EVERYONE.  Especially if you enjoy softball. 

Write up by Loren Fabian. 

Tuesday, April 18th

A National League contest between Powell's Powers and Fabian's Flyers ended up 21-8 in favor of the Flyers in a flip flop game. I wear flip flops almost all the time. 

The play of the game was made by none other than Lee Baker behind the plate on a weak pop foul which he caught up with nearly saying hello to the fence. Nice catch Lee. 

Power's hitters.    S. Hill. 3-4,  Bess. 3-4,  Morton. 3-4,  Lopez. 4-4,  Schafer. 3-4,  Marino. 3-4. 

Flyer's hitters.       Dampier. 4-5 w/HR. Laffoon. 4-5,  Schapeler. 3-5,  Aufiero. 3-5,  Lopiccolo. 2-4 w/3b

                             Joe L.  3-4,  Parker. 3-4. 

Y'all have a great game Friday. I'm going to watch and umpire the American League game against the Solivita ball club which is a double header starting around 11:00 AM. 

Write up by Loren Fabian

Tuesday, April 18th

Good game between 2 good teams was played on field D.  Hamilton's team jumped out to a 7-3 lead after 2 innings.  JD's boys responded with 10 runs in the 3rd and 4th innings to take a 13-7 lead.  Hammers guys would not quit ,making the score 14-12 JD's team.  6 runs in the 7th and 8th innings gave JD's squad 20 runs and Tommy's boys could only tally 5 runs making the final score 20-17 in favor of JD.  Lots of hits and good plays.  Good game guys.

JD's Team

Pepin 3-5

Rad 3-5

Shirer 4-5

Wolfe 4-4

JD 4-4

Reagen 3-4

Smith 3-4

D'Herin 4-4

Capozzi 2-4

Wells 2-4

Hamilton's Team

Rivera 4-5

Hamilton 5-5

Jacobson 3-5

Witmer 2-4

Crowell 3-4

Reponen 3-4

Book 3-4
Write Up By Joe D'Herin

Straits Sliders beat Fabe's Flyers today 19-12 in a see saw game till the 7th inning. It was fun. Fabian didn't have much for hitting but here they are. Junior Ortiz 3-4, Arvell Waddell, 3-3 and Thompson 2-4. Top of the order for Strait was amazing and did win the ball game. Boswell 4-5 HR. Dampier 4-5. Laffoon 5-5 as usual. Joe L. 4-5 and Sam Lopez 4-5. Then it went down to Gene Baker who was 2-4. I think he's getting younger. 

Larry Strait had so many pop catches at 2nd base i couldn't keep track and Johnny Merritt caught one in RF running to the foul line in the last inning. Way to go Johnny. 

Maybe not the best play of the game but strangest I have ever seen, was Junior Ortiz playing 2nd base and Fabian playing middle. A liner was hit between them and both got gloves up for it. Junior backhand and Fabian the other way. They both thought they had caught it or not. After looking around on the ground and in gloves discovered it was in Fabians glove. That was great. It wasn't on the ground so we figured one of us must have it. JUST ONE OUT. 

Write up by Loren Fabian

Games are on for tomorrow, Friday April 14th. Be there no later than 8:30 AM. Games will begin as soon after 9:00 AM as possible.


Thanks.


Don Witmer

REMINDER     REMINDER     REMINDER     REMINDER


THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS DECIDED TO START SUMMER HOURS TOMORROW. THE GAME TIME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 9:00 AM. BE THERE NO LATER THAN 8:30 AM TO SIGN IN AND BEGIN WARMUPS.


THANKS.


Don Witmer, Commisssioner

Friday, April 7th

A very well played game between Strait's Sliders and Fabian's Flyers. Final score of 10-8 in favor of Strait. Unfortunately I can't do a hitter stat for both teams as only 2 of the players that scored were in the book as to how they got on base. This is disappointing especially after Tuesday's 3 team game books were kept very well. PLEASE KEEP BETTER SCORE SHEETS.

  

There were some very good defensive plays made by both teams. Strait ran to the outfield grass at 2nd to make a great catch and Willie Morton the winning pitcher, released a pitch that was hit back towards the screen and headed for a dead ball. Willie hustled out from behind the screen to snag the grounder and toss out the speedy runner. There were 2 or 3 others but I didn't make notes and can't remember.

 

Please keep better books.

 

The BOD is going to initiate short umpiring sessions after some games to try to eliminate some of the umping  hiccups we seem to encounter. These won't be long sessions, but if you enjoy umping , please come to some of them. There will be more information on a white board starting soon. 

It can make WHSS even better than it is already.

Write up by Loren Fabian

Tuesday, April 4th

I had to leave the 3 team game with a couple innings to play to attend my first BOD meeting which was very informative to me as a new member. I always knew a lot of effort went into WHSS by this BOD and that was confirmed to me during my first meeting. I hope all 165 of us truly appreciate it. What a life we have being able to do this. 

Now on to the game. When I left, the score was 10-10-8, but 24 runs were scored in the last 2 innings by 2 teams and the third putting up goose eggs. All 3 score sheets were kept quite well and I thank y'all for that. Hence, I am able to highlight the hitters quite accurately which I will just put all 3 teams together. The final score was 22-19-10 and here are the hitters

S. Hill.              3-4.                        Capozzi.        3-5.                      Boswell.        3-5

Lopez.             3-4.                        Letourneau.   4-5.                      Schaffer.        4-5

Acetta.             3-4.                       Ortiz.              3-4.                      Laffoon.         3-5

Powell.             4-4.                       Navarro.         4-5.                      D. Hill.            1 HR

Altemose.         3-4.                       Knox.             3-5.                      Fabian.           3-3

                                                                                                        Barnes.           3-4

                                                                                                        Castilleja.        4-4 w1HR

I also want to point out a fine catch of a foul ball by Johnny Merritt while catching. Also a catch made by Reggie Barnes at 2nd base going back on the outfield grass as well as Ralph Boswell going down on his back to snag a foul ball behind 3B. 

Keep up the good work with the score sheets and just an idea, check it periodically during the game to see if YOU are being recorded properly. Might help for accurate write ups

Write up by Loren Fabian

Tuesday, April 4th

The Games, Within The Game

Remember growing up and playing the games of your youth?  We did not have Nintendo or Sega to entertain us. We played Hide and Seek, Freeze Tag and countless board games. For me the best games were sports: wiffleball, baseball, basketball and football. Sometimes we only had 4 kids playing, that was enough. Fifty years later many of us still have that inner child, we are exhilarated when we are able to come out to the ballfield and play. This write up will center around games, see if you can recognize the games and terms associated with playing the games of your youth.

Visitors, Team “Hungry Hippos”, this was the team I played on, (insert your own joke here).

Home, Team “Scrabble”, these guys scrambled and turned base hits, into runs.

No team had a “monopoly” on scoring. The Hippos started out with an early lead. We threw a “Yahtzee”, double 3’s, in the 1^st and 2^nd inning. The Scrabble team connected just enough base hits together, to keep the game close. They scored 1 run, in the first, and 4 runs in the 2^nd. After Two innings the game was 6-5, in favor of the Hippos.

The next two innings belonged to the Scrabble team. While the Hippos were playing “checkers”, the Scrabble team was playing “chess”. They outscored us 6-2. They captured our queen in the 4^th inning, scoring 5 runs. Vandenberg started the 4^th with a triple; Book, Hapeman and Rivera  then all singled and Hamilton grabbed the rook. Actually, Tommy hit a HR over the rook, to deep right field. The Hippos were not collecting many marbles, we only scored two runs in those innings. After 4 innings, the score was Hippos: 8-Scrabble: 11.

Both teams threw up a goose egg in the 5^th, neither team could “Connect Four”. The Hippos finally had a “Clue” on how to get things done in the 6^th.  Matta, Skidmore, Zelazny, D’Herin and Hite figured out that “Colonel Mustard, committed the murder in the Library, using the lead pipe”. We also figured out that we needed to hit and score some runs, we put up 3 runs, to tie the game. In the bottom of the inning the Scrabble team couldn’t spell Cat, even if you spotted them the “a” and the “t”. They were shut out. After 6 innings, the score was tied at 11.

In the last 3 innings, it was a race to get to “GO” to “collect 200 dollars”. The Hungry Hippos were the “bankers” in those innings, outscoring the Home team 9- 4, until the bottom of the 9^th.  The Hungry Hippos used their "get out of jail free card" in the 7^th. We hit “Free Parking”, scoring 5 runs. Hicks, Rad, Jacobson, Matta (SF), JD, Skidmore, Zelazny and D’Herin jumped in the “monopoly race car” and sped around the board. We were shut out in the 8^th, but in the ninth we “rolled doubles” and landed on “Boardwalk”. Rad, Matta, JD, all “built homes on Boardwalk”; Skidmore (HR) and Zelazny (Triple) added “hotels”. We were so close to winning, but we had to survive team Scrabble’s bottom of the 9^th  ,to secure the win. The score going into the bottom of the 9^th was Hippos: 20- Scrabble 15. That spelled “Trouble” for the Home Team.

Team Scrabble had a plan to “capture our flag”, like in the game “Stratego”. Their plan was simple, score 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th and win the game. They started out poorly, recording an out.  Then Rivera got the dice rolling with a single. Hamilton  “took over a continent”, like in the game “Risk”, when he hit his 2^nd homerun of the game. Needing 3 runs to tie the game, the Scrabble team was still very much alive. Shirer and Essenmacher were the next two batters and they played a mean “pinball game”, reaching base on hits. However, team Hippo sunk their “Battleship”, when we retired the next two batters to win the game. Final Score: Hungry Hippos: 20- Scrabble: 17. “Sorry”.

Leading Gamers For The Hungry Hippos:

Hicks: 3/5.

Rad: 5/5, two doubles.

Jacobson: 3/5, Triple.

Matta: 4/4, SF, Triple and Double.

JD: 3/4, SF.

Skidmore: 3/ 5, HR.

Zelazny: 5/5, Triple.

D’Herin: 3/4.

Leading Gamers For Scrabble:

Rivera: 4/5.

Hamilton: 4/5, 2 HRs.

Shirer: 3/5.

Book: 2/3, SF.

Write up by Nick Matta