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 8th inning. In the 8th 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 8th, 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
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