Friday, May 26th  Double Header with Solivita Softball.


Our friends from Solivita came to visit us again today. This is the second time they have been here and we have traveled to Solivita to play them once. We hope to travel to Solivita at the end of June and play another double header.

Final score in the first game was WH Warriors 13 and Solivita Smashers 4. As the hitting numbers will reveal, the Smashers didn't put up many hits or runs. But in fairness they were playing ATOM BALL most of the game, meaning they did hit a lot of smashes, but many right at em. They put Hicks and Coffman on the centerfield fence several times for catches and hit 4 line drives right at Rad he never had to move for. 

Meanwhile, the Warriors did have hitting shoes on, putting up 4 in the first and 4 in the fifth and scattering single runs throughout. This does get more fun each time these two senior teams get together. 

I also need to mention that Bo Miller did not make an appearance today for Solivita. Nobody said why not. I say hi Bo and you too Jack. See ya next time. 

Box score for Solivita.    Ed, 1-3, Keith 1-3, Bill B 1-3, Dave 1-3, Ken 1-3, Bill K. 1-2, Bill Y. 1-2 w/triple. 

Winter Haven.       Hicks 2-3, Rad 2-3, Shipley 3-3, Shirer 3-3 w/HR, Witmer 2-3, J.D. 3-3 w/2 doubles, Matta 1-3, Pepin 3-3, Smith 3-3, Toro 2-3, Crowell 1-2. 

Again, I must mention the commraderie, sportsmanship and friendship between us old farts out there having a good time. Players from both teams are getting to know each other. 

The second game was a complete flip flop from the first game. Final score was Solivita Smashers 10 and the WH Warriors 4. Solivita had their hitting and defense going strong the second game and managed to hold the WH Warriors to eight hits for the entire game.  

Write up by Loren Fabian and Don Witmer. See ya'll next time. 

Tuesday, May 23rd
On a beautiful, cool Tuesday morning, 39 ball players showed up to play ball. It would have been nice to have 40 players but we made 4 teams anyhow. The National League played with 10 players on a team. The American League tried something different this morning. I put nine players on a team and I played shortstop for one team and second base for one team. I did not bat. This made 10 players per team in the field, each team provided a catcher/umpire when they were at bat and we played one heck of a ball game. The visiting team was made up of Steve Hicks, Dave Shirer, Juan Toro, JD Davis, Don Scarbrough, Randy Crowell, Bobby Skidmore, Ralph Boswell and Bob Hite. The Home Team was made up of Rad Pcholinski, Bobby Reagan, Ray Aufiero, Dave Doerbaum, Ron Pepin, Terry Smith, Bob Zelazny Curt Coffman and Larry Book. The visiting team started out hitting a lot of "ATOM" balls. Everything they hit for the first three innings were hit right at the fielders and were caught. After three innings, the visiting team was down six runs. In the top of the fourth inning, the visiting team decided to change strategies and hit the ball where there were no fielders. They scored six runs and tied the score. In the sixth inning the visiting took the lead while scoring four more runs. Not to be outdone, the home team scored three runs to tie the ball game. Each team scored one run in the seventh inning to remain tied. In the eighth inning, the home team decided to take the lead again and scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth. The visiting team, now behind five runs had to make something happen in the ninth inning. The first four batters reached base and the fifth batter hit a sac fly to score the second run of the inning. Two more runs crossed the plate with two outs and runners at first and second base when the final out was made. The final score was Home Team 16 and Visitors 15. Everyone had at least five at bats and some players actually had six at bats.


Write up by Don Witmer   

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

A long hot, humid game between King's Kruisers and Fabe's Flyers where the Flyers took charge early, were up 17-8 after 4 innings and stood their ground for a 23-16 victory. Many good hitters, including Lee  Baker who was 3-5. Other hitters for the Kruisers were Pedro Navarro 3-5, King 6-6, D. Hill 4-6, Marino 4-6, Morton 5-5. Great hitting. 

Wells was the WP and hitters were Thompson 5-6, Bobby C. 5-6, Laffoon 5-6, Jacobs 5-6 Fabian 3-4. 

New player on board Pete had a very good game in centerfield with at least 5 catches. 

Gene Baker got his glove up in time to snag a foul ball. It may have been in self defense, but he got it. Good job Gene along with Lee Baker's hot bat today. You both should get game balls. Lee, you're in charge of that. 

Everyone show up who can on Friday, as the Solivita boys are showing up to play 2 seven inning games against our American League boys. That is turning into a classic that Donnie and Eddie want to keep going maybe for years. Sure is fun.

Write up by Loren Fabian 

Tuesday, May 16th

Defensive Gem

I am breaking two rules of mine to write this game report. Rule 1, don’t write up games after May 1. Rule 2, don’t write up a game just to boast on the other team’s performance.

The AL game in Winter Haven was such a tremendous effort given by the Home team that I am breaking my self-proclaimed rules, to give them the credit they deserve. Why not? We are all friends anyway. The defensive lineup of Hicks, Shirer, Ray Aufiero, and Skidmore in the OF, with Boswell, Scarbrough, Rad, Vandenberg and Cappozzi in the infield and JD on the hill, deserves acclimation. These guys played a solid and at times spectacular defensive game. They were the Steel Curtain of softball. They played like Martin Brodeur, between the pipes in hockey. Bill Russel was a defensive force in basketball, this softball defense played with that kind of effort. I had to look and make sure Brooks Robinson, Ozzie Smith, Joe Morgan and Willie Mays were not playing against us. Was that Bob Gibson on the mound? They caught line drive after line drive and ran down almost every fly ball we hit. Along with some timely hitting that enabled them to take an 11-2 lead, into the 8^th inning. In the 8^th the Visitors managed to tighten the game, by scoring 5 runs. Making it a 11-7 game. The Home team rallied to put the game away in the bottom of the 8^th, scoring 5 runs of their own. Hits by Hicks, Rad, Shirer, JD, Vandenberg, (triple), and Skidmore locked up the barn with the horses in the stales. Final score Visitors: 7- Home team: 16.

Write up by Nick Matta

Friday, May 12th

It was a very good game with a final score of Witmer's Warriors 10, Straits Sluggers 9 and Kings Kruisers 8. There were many fine defensive plays by all 3 teams and it was anybody's game going into the open inning at 7-7-8. All scored in the final frame and the Warriors were down by 2 for their last at bat being the home team. Shirer led off with a triple, Witmer followed with a triple and Book followed with a walk off single thru the right side. 

See ya Tuesday. 

Write up by Loren Fabian. 

Tuesday, May 9th.

This was a very good game between Fabian's Flyers and King's Kruisers. And it's good to have Russ King back. The score after 6 innings was 15-4 in favor of the Flyers and setting the table for a flip flop game. Not to happen as Fabe's did not put up a tally in the last 3 innings. Whereas King put up 3 in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th but couldn't squeeze any over in the 9th for a final of 15-10. Fun game in spite of some base running errors. 

Hitters were Capozzi 3-5, Jacobs 4-5, King 5-5, Schapeler 4-5, Strait 3-5, Powell 3-5. 

HITE 4-5 w/2hrs, Dampier 3-5, Laffoon 3-5, Ortiz 3-5, Navarro 3-5, Morton 4-5 and WP, Fabian 3-5. 

See ya'll Friday. 

Write up by Loren Fabian. 

Friday, May 5, 2017


Games are on!!  Rain predicted at 9:00 am.  Bring your umbrella!!

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

What a well battled game between Strait's Sluggers and Fabian's Flyers. Final was Fabian 22 and Strait 20 but so much fun from beginning to end. After 6 innings it was 16-14 in favor of the Flyers but the last 3 innings got very interesting when the Flyers put up a nickel in the 8th and thought they could coast which they did as they didn't score in the top of the 9th. But the Sluggers had other ideas as they put up 4 in the bottom of the 8th and another 4 in the bottom of the 9th and had Steve Hill at the plate representing the WINNING run before the rally was finally ended. It was a great game. 

Winning pitcher was Larry Powell. Jimmy Laffoon made a great backhand stab of a liner off the bat of ever so dangerous Larry (Josh) Wells. Bobby C had a fantastic game at 2nd base for the Flyers, making no less than 7 fine fielding plays possibly more. 

Russ King made a very fine flying catch on the outfield grass. Teammates were calling him twinkle toes. Great catch Russ. I hit that ball. 

Strait hitters.    S. Hill 3-6,  Capozzi 2-5. King 3-5. Dampier 3-5. Wells 2-5. Learn 3-4 w/HR. Schapeler 4-5. Hite 1-5. Bess 3-5. Navarro 3-5. L. Baker 1-2 w/3BB. Strait 3-5. 

Fabian hitters.    Boswell 2-5. Aufiero 3-5. Gonzales 3-5. Laffoon 5-5. Jacobs 3-5. Marino 3-5. Hawbaker 5-5w/HR. Gibson 2-5. Lopiccolo 4-4. Bobby C. 3-5. Powell 2-5. Fabian 2-5.  

Fans in the stands were Sally Strait and Nancy Fraizer. 

What a great game. 

Write up by Loren Fabian.

Tuesday May 2nd

Games are on. Bring your umbrella. Rain is coming.

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