Winter Haven Senior Softball

The Hot Stove League

A beautiful, fun, February 16^th day at the ballpark; sunshine, with pizza, drinks and dessert after the game. What a treat. I’ll tell you right now, the MVP of the day in all the games played, was Mel Hite. She cooked and served up some fantastic desserts. Way to go Mel, standing ovation.

Tigers: Stier, Hamilton, Held, Seguin, Keller, Witmer, Scarbrough, Murphy, Knox, Poke and Pinnick.

A’s: Hicks, Shirer, Doerbaum, Wiltshire, Duff, Matta, Vanderhyde, Pep, Zelazny, Crowell, Gazarek and Deemie.

Before consuming the yummies we did play a game, on Field C, between the Tigers and A’s. Who needs pizza? It was Dave Doerbaum serving up the cheese from the mound. Dave started the game notching 4 scoreless innings. Meanwhile the A’s bats were hot as an oven, we scored 9 runs during the first three meals/ innings.  

The A’s scored five runs in the first inning when Hicks, Doerbaum, Wiltshire, Duff, Matta and Vanderhyde all cut into the pie. In the 3^rd inning, Deemie started things off with a double, Hicks singled him in. Shirer tripled in Hicks, Doerbaum singled in the 3^rd run of the inning. Duff, Matta and Vanderhyde finished off the scoring by reaching base. When the smoke from the kitchen cleared, the A’s had scored 4. Both teams fasted in the 4^th inning, notching a zero.  After 4 innings the score was Tigers: 0- A’s: 9.

That is about the time when the Tigers rolled up their sleeves, threw off the aprons and started cooking on the field. Steve Pinnick threw 3 scoreless innings, from the 4th through the 7^th. Steve and the defensive Tigers, retired 9 out of 10 batters during that time. Tony the Tiger, of Frosted Flakes fame hails from Battle Creek, Michigan. Tommy’s Tigers, of WHSS, via Detroit, started to put some frosting on the old softball while batting. They scored 3-3-4 runs in the 5^th-7^th innings, while the A’s were eating soggy cereal in those middle innings.

The Tigers big 4 run inning, in the 7^th, had some hits that could make Tony The Tiger utter his famous line; “they’re grrrreat”. Hamilton started the inning with a single, Held; doubled, Seguin; tripled, Witmer then singled, Scarbrough; singled and Knox; walked.  After the Tiger was finished roaring, they had taken the lead, 10-9. The A’s tied the game in the bottom of the 7^th with a single run. Thanks to chefs, Zelazny, Crowell and Gazarek for cooking up a run, instead of a bun, in the oven. After 7 innings the score was 10-10.

Vanderhyde came in to pitch in the 8^th  for the A’s. It was his job to grab the Tiger by the tail and keep him from having a big inning. Mission accomplished, the Tigers scored a solo run when Hamilton tripled and Seguin singled him in. They did manage to regain the lead, 11-10.

The A’s needed to feast in the 8^th, or 9th inning; if they did not want to leave the field hungry. They had the right guys at the plate in the 8^th. Shirer started out with an appetizer, a single to left. Then the man with the big fork, I mean bat, came up to the dish. All game long I heard a construction crew tearing down a tree across the street from the ballfield. It reminded me of the sound the ball makes when Doerbaum hits a homerun trough the palms, or oaks. A sound I have heard many times. The construction guys had finished their job. Dave was just getting started. He hit the coconut over the leftfield fence, into a palm tree, everyone on the field heard the thud. That gave the A’s the lead back. We did not stop the chow down with that HR.  Wiltshire and Duff then reached base; Matta tripled them in to add some insurance runs. Vanderhyde closed out the inning, driving in the 5th run from third, with a single. After 8 innings, the score was 11-15, in favor of the A’s.

I am sure it was similar at your home growing up, Mom always taught us to clean our plates at meal time. Vanderhyde, along with a solid A’s defense, kept the plate clean in the 9^th as the Tigers went scoreless. Final Score: Tigers: 11-A’s:15. It was a well-played game by both teams, with some solid pitching, defense and timely hitting on display. Bon Appe’tit.

Thanks to Joe D’Herin for umpiring, a very difficult task at times.

Frosting the flakes for the Tigers:

Hamilton: 4/5 with a triple.

Held: 3/5 with a double.

Seguin: 3/5 with a triple.

Keller: 4/5 with a double.

Scarbrough: 3/5.

Knox: 3/5.

Using the hot sauce for the A’s:

Doerbaum: 4/4, with two doubles and a HR.

Duff: 3/4 with a double.

Matta: 2/3 with a walk and a triple.

Vanderhyde: 3/ 4 with a double.

Zelazny: 2/3.

Write up by Nick Matta