Feb/26/ 2021

Today Friday Feb26 , Steve Hill's Dukes hosted Mike O'Callaghan's Post 8's on field D . Post 8 got off to to a slow start scoring one in each two first two innings on RBI hits by Jim Laffoon and Herb Oesterreich .The Dukes started on fire scoring 5 in the first , 4 in the second and 5 in the third . Their big blows were a Willie Morton double , and triples by Joe Peskie and  George Vanderhyde . 14-2 Dukes after three .

Post 8 started chipping away at the lead , scoring 6 in the top of the 4th , their key hit was a bases loaded triple by Jim Laffoon , cutting the Dukes lead to 14-8 . The Dukes scored 5 in the bottom of the inning on triples Joe Peskie and Julian Pama . 19-8 Dukes after four .

After a scoreless 5th , Post 8 scored 3 in the 6th , then holding the Dukes scoreless again . Post 8 got  timely hits by Art Zakrowski , Fred Stevens , Bob Castillega , Chris Gallagher and Chris Constantine , cutting the lead to 19-11 Dukes after six .

Post 8 scored 8 runs in the top of the 7th on hits by Bill Rutan , Fred Stevens , Norm learn and Dale Johnson , to tie the score at 19 . The Dukes answered with three in the bottom half , on hits by Bob Skidmore , Steve Hill and George Vanderhyde . 22-19 Dukes after seven. 

Post 8 took their first lead of the game with 5 runs in the top of the 8th . On Charlies 1st hit and a grand slam by Bill Rutan , while holding the Dukes scoreless . 24-22 Post 8 after eight .

Post added one in the top of the 9th , extending their lead to 25-22 going into the bottom of the 9th . Hits by the bottom of the Dukes lineup , Sam Lopez , Ed Spegel and Steve Pinnick loaded the bases after two out , Lead off hitter Bob Skidmore hit a triple to tie the score at 25 . Two intentional walks reloaded the bases for Willie Morton . Pitcher Norm Learn got strike two on a foul ball , Willie hit two shots off the screen before lining one just over the screen into centerfield for the game winner . Final 26-25 Dukes .

Hitting stars , Post 8 , Fred Steven and Tim Gallagher 5-5 , Chris Constantine , Zakrowski and Jim Laffoon 3b,  4-5 , Dukes , George Vanderhyde , 3b and Steve Hill both 4-4 ,w , Bob Skidmore 4-5 , 3b and Joe Peskie 3-4 ,2b , 2, 3b . 

Submitted by Steve Hill

  

Friday February 26th

Games are on. Today is the last day to submit an application to run for the vacant board of directors position. See Don Witmer if you are interested. Stay safe today.


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Feb. 23 Tuesday

 

Flyers VS Legion

 

A great day for softball.  Both teams battled to stay out of last place.  Big hits of the day was Flyers Ralph Boswell, 2 home runs and  Legion Fred Stevens, 1 home run!

Flyers 20  Legion 15

 

Mike O’Callaghan

 NEWS ABOUT LARRY POWELL

Larry Powell passed away last Friday after a valiant fight against an aggressive cancer. He was a long time member of Winter Haven Senior Softball. Larry managed many league teams, served on the Board of Director for many years and was inducted into the Polk County Senior Softball Hall of Fame in 2014.  Larry will be missed by all of us at Winter Haven Senior Softball. 

Services will be held for Larry on Sunday, February 28th at the St. John's UMC, 1800 Cypress Gardens Boulevard in Winter Haven. Visitation will begin at 12:00  in the Sanctuary, the Celebration of Life Service at 1:00 and a reception in the Christian Life Center after the services. The service will be streamed live at www.stjohnswh.com. If you attend the services, for the health and safety of others, please wear a face mask and practice social distancing.  

A very good contest was played today by the Dukes and the Coconuts. The Coconuts led all game until the last inning when in the top of ninth Steve Hill's team scored 6 runs to go ahead. The Coconuts could not match them and didn't score in the bottom of the ninth when the opportunity was there.

 The Coconuts were led in hitting by Freddie Gonzales, Bob Zelazny, Joe Letourneau, Bob Hudson and Don Torok.  Joe LeTourneau gave excellent defense in left field.

The Dukes were led in batting by Steve Hill, George Vanderhyde, Willie Morton, Ken Gelinas, Wayne Vorhes, Sam Lopez and Ed Spegel.

Wayne Vorhes had a home run with a well hit ball to left center field. Steve Hill and Joe Peske each made excellent defensive catches in the outfield.

Final score: Dukes 17

                   Coconuts 14

Write up by Robert Spitaleri

Tuesday February 23rd

Games are on. Lets be safe today. Wear a face mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer. Stay home if you are sick. Get the vaccine when available to protect yourself and others. 


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Feb 19 2021 field D

Today the Steve Hill Dukes hosted Loren Fabian's Flyers on Field D . Both teams stared fast with 5 runs each in the first . Doubles by Fred Dampier and Tom Capozzi for the Flyers and a George Vanderhyde home run and a Joe Peskie double were the teams big blows .

 The Flyers slowed down scoring one each in the 2nd and 3rd and two in the 4th innings , While the Dukes added 7 runs to take a 12-9 lead after four .

The Flyers add a run in the 6th on a Ray Levesque hit .The Dukes seemed to put the game away with four in the 5th and five in the 6th inning on hits by Willie Morton , Bob Vandenburg , Steve Pinnick and Bob Skidmore .To take a  21-10 lead after six .

The Flyers mounted a comeback  with 4 in the 7th on hits by Tom Benson , Ron Thompson , and Don LaMay , then 5 more in the 8th on hits by Kirt Essenmacher , Jerry Dejongh and Ralph Boswell , while the Dukes could manage only a run in each inning . 23-19 Dukes after eight .

 The Dukes defense and Willie Morton's pitching stepped up in the top of the 9th with a one , two, three inning . Final 23-19 Dukes .

Game stars , Flyers , Kirt Essenmacher , Jerry Dejongh and Ralph Boswell 4-4 , Dukes , George Vanderhyde 5-5 , Ed Spegel 4-4 .

Submitted by Steve Hill

 February 19 game between American Legion and Fighting Coconuts

Mike O'Callaghan's American Legion team and the Fighting Coconuts had a well played game that was noted by sharp hitting on both sides. Jimmy Laffoon and Chris Constantine led the Legion in hitting going 3 for 4 while Tim Gallager had significant saving catches in left center field for the visiting team.

The Coconuts were led in good batting by Jim Vining, Jim Reed, and Bob Hite who all went 4 for 4. Also hitting excellent were Don Torok, Freddie Gonzales, and Greg Denny.

The best defense was the good glove of Jim Reed at 2^nd base.

Final score was: American Legion 6

                                      Fighting Coconuts 19

Write up by Robert Spitaleri

Friday February 19th Games are on

Tuesday February 16th

No games today. All fields under water. This is the end of the first half for the National League. Friday will start the second half. Steve Hill's Duke's are the first half winners. See you Friday.

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Friday, February 12th

 A great ball game between O'Callaghans Legion and Fabian's Flyers with a final of 15-11 in favor of the Legion. 

While the Flyers kept a very good book, there is no way of telling how many hits the Legion had as all that is indicated on the score sheet is runs and outs. Sorry, but more information is needed to do a decent "bipartisan" write up. 

The Flyers jumped up 4-0 after 1 inning and it was tied 5-5 after 2 innings and 13-10 after 5 innings. Then the scoring got sparse as the final will indicate. Jim Laffoon made some great key plays at short for the Legion and I'm sure had at least 2 hits. 

Here are the Flyers hitters. 

    Coffman.    3-4

    Essenmacher. 3-4

    Dampier.      3-4

    Capozzi.       2-3

    Boswell.       3-4

    Benson.        3-4

    Poke.             3-4

    Fabian.          2-3

Fans in the stands were Deb, Alice and Johnny. Thanks for coming. 

Write up by Loren Fabian

Feb 12 field C

Due to bad field conditions the Steve Hill , Dukes hosted Robert Spitalieri's Coconuts on field C rather than E today . The Coconuts scored a run in the opening inning after Jim Vining double .. The Dukes started hot with 3 in the bottom of the inning , on hits by George Vanderhyde , Willie Morton , Joe Penski and Bob Vandenburg . Dukes 3-1 after one .

Both team scored one run each in the 2nd inning , The Coconuts on a solo home run buy Jim Reed  . The Dukes on Steve Pinnick's rbi single , Dukes 4-2 after Two .

The Dukes scored 5 in the 3rd and a single run in the 4th , while holding the coconuts scoreless to extend their lead to 10-2 after four .

The Coconuts got back into the game with 3 in the top of the 5th , their big hits were a Jim Reed double and a Bob Hudson single . The Dukes added one more in the bottom of the inning on Ed Segel's hit . 11-5 Dukes

The 6th saw the Coconuts tie the score at 11 with 6 runs on key hits by , Wayne Shearer , Joe LeTourneau, and Gary Burtner . The Dukes answer with two runs on hits by Ken Gelinas and Wayne Vorhes . 13-11 Dukes after six .

The Dukes added two , extending  their lead in the 7th to 15-11 .

The Coconut were not done . They posting 5 runs in the top of the 8th on hits by , Wayne Shearer , Jim Vining , Gary Burtner , Robbie Spitaleri and Bob Hudson , taking the lead 16 -15 . Then in the bottom of the inning , holding the Dukes scoreless on a fine play at the plate .

The 9th saw the Coconuts add one more run on BJ Kallister's hit taking a 2 run lead , 17-15 going  into in bottom of the 9th . After Steve Pinnicks 4th single of the game , Julian Puma hit a two run homer to right center field to tie the game at 17 . After one out , 3 singles brought Joe Peski to the plate with the bases loaded . Joe hit a smash down the 3rd base line , that just went off the tip of 3rd baseman Gary Burtners glove , to score the game winner . A game of inches . Final score Dukes 18-17 .

Game stars , both defenses   , offense Coconuts , Jim Reed 4-4 hr , Dukes George Vanderhyde 5-5 and Steve Pinnick 4-4 

Submitted by Steve Hill

 

Tuesday, February 9th 

It started off as a good match up between the Duke's of Steve Hill and Fabian's Flyers. After 1 the Flyers led 3-2 and after 2 they led 6-5. Then the Duke's laced up their hitting shoes to tally 42 hits and plate 28 runs. The Flyers trying to stay in it could only muster 19 hits and another 3 runs for a final of 28-9. 

Six players for the Duke's had 4 hits including Hill, Vanderhyde, Morton, Vandenberg, Vorhes and Segel. All other hitters had 2 or 3 hits. Also Vandenberg made a heck of a backhanded catch of a hit line drive off the bat of left-handed hitting Ray Levesque. Great catch. Julian Puma also hit a home run. 

The Flyers didn't have much to talk about on offense as they played "atom ball" after the 2nd inning. 9 players had 1 hit, Essenmacher and Lopiccolo had 2 hits and Coffman and Boswell had 3 hits with a HR for Boswell. 

But we did have fun and a good time. 

See y'all Friday. 

Write up by Loren Fabian

Friday February 12th

National League games are on. There will be field changes. American League games are canceled due to several fields under water. Call me if you have any questions.

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 BOARD MEETING NEWS 

1. The WHSS Board of Directors convened a meeting after the games on Tuesday. It was decided that WHSS would not adopt a Mercy Rule for our league but would continue to have the Flip-Flop rule in the last inning. The Flip-Flop rule states: If the VISITING team is ahead by 10 or more runs after the eight inning, the HOME team shall bat in the top of the ninth inning. If the home team catches up to or surpasses the visiting team, the visiting team will bat in the bottom of the ninth inning. Nothing has changed from what we have always be doing.

2. The WHSS Board of Directors is looking for a Volunteer to be the Equipment Manger effective Immediately. Lee Baker is currently experiencing health problems and we need to give Lee a break. If you are interested, please let me know or a board member know. 

3. For the past several years, we have lost 4-6 weeks of playing ball at the DiamondPlex due to The Spring Games girls softball teams. The VIRUS has not been kind to girls college softball and those games have been significantly reduced. I would expect us to lose a couple of the games in our schedule at the end of February and in early March. As soon as I know for sure, I will let everyone know.

4. The City of Winter Haven has notified me that parking west of the ball field in the dirt and grass will no longer be allowed. All parking will be in the Polk State College parking lot. The gate will be closed starting Friday morning. 

5. ELECTIONS    ELECTIONS     ELECTIONS      ELECTIONS : There are three terms on the Board of Directors that will expire this year. Two of the board members still want to serve on the board and will run in the election for their position. If you are interested in running for a board position, please see me and get an application.

Thanks,

Don Witmer, Commissioner 

Tuesday February 9th

Games are on. Lets be safe today. Wear a face mask, practice social distancing, use hand sanitizer and practice social distancing when possible. Get a vaccine when available to protect yourself and others. Stay home if you are sick.

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Double Header in the American League tomorrow in Winter Haven. Team 1 @ 8:30 AM should wear Gray shirts. Rick Brock, Larry Larsen, Dave Shipley, Danny Grove, Tony Q, Dana Ferande, Jeff Stier , Rob Reed, Don Fee, Brad Scheirer, Ed Hurn, Lou Guzman, Mike Vaccaro, Mark Tutrani , Nick Matta, Bill Tesla. Team 2 @ 10:00 AM should wear Orange Shirts. Wally, Les Jacobs, Ronnie Ramos ,AL Guzzo, Doug McKinney , Rad, Rusty, Bob Schultheis, Don Keller, David Shirer, Paul , Steve Hicks, Pete Gutenberger, Jose Guzman, Martin Spellman, Lonnie,Tom Hamilton. If your name is not listed, call JD and he will add you to a team. JD's number is 313.405.3348.

 Fabian's Flyers vs Fighting Coconuts

Both teams score 5 runs in the first and the Coconuts added 5 more runs in the 2nd inning. The sun was a factor against both teams on defense. However, Ray Levesque made a wonderful catch in deep center field for the Flyers that saved several runs. Also for the Flyers, Ralph Boswell make an excellent catch in deep shortstop that robbed Freddie Gonzales of a hit.

Bob Hite, Jim Reed and Don Torok made good plays on defense for the Coconuts.

At bat Ralph Boswell and Art Zakrowski hit homeruns for the Flyers. Kurt Coffman, Tommy Capozzi, Art Zakrowski and Loren Fabian each went 3 for 5 in offense for the Flyers.

For the Coconuts, Bob Zelazny and Jim Reed hit home runs. Gary Burtner went 5 for 5 and Jim Reed, Bob Hudson and Jerry Remington hit 4 for 5.

Final score : Coconuts 31

                    Flyers      15

Write up by Robert Spitaleri

Friday Feb 5th

Today the Dukes hosted Post 8 on Field C . Post 8 opened the game with two in the 1st on a Dale Johnson triple after hits by Bill Rutan and Chris Lynch .Dukes managed just one run, on a home run by Steve Hill . 2-1 Post 8 after one . 

Post 8 extended their lead  to 3-1 after a Bobby Castillege home run . The Dukes scored 4 runs after a Frank Jacobs double on hits by Willie Morton , Wayne Vorhes and Ed Segel . 5-3 Dukes after two .

Neither team scored in the 3rd . The Dukes took the lead by two on a key hit by Ken Gelinas to take a 7-3 lead after four .

 

After a Norm Learn hit , Post 8 added a run on Bobby Castillega's rbi single . The Dukes answered with 5 on four singles and a Steve Hill grand slam homer in the bottom of the 5th . 12-4 Dukes .

Post 8 answered with 4 in the top of the 6th , big hitters were Fred Stevens , Herb Oesterrich and Jim Laffoon .trimming the lead to 12-8 Dukes . The Dukes plated 5 after two outs , in the bottom half of the inning , their key blow was a Wayne Vorhes grand slam . 17-8 Dukes after six .

Post 8 came back again with 4 in the top of the 7th , on hits by Manager Mike O'Callahan and Tim Gallagher , reducing the lead to 17-12 . The Dukes scored 5 on hits by Julian Puma , Bob Skidmore and Gorge Vanderhyde . 22-12 Dukes after seven .

The Dukes defense dug in holding post 8 scoreless in the 8th & 9th . Final score 27-12 Dukes .

Big hitters , Post 8 , Chris Lynch , Mike O"Callaghan and Fred Steven 3-4 , Dukes , Frank Jacobs , Willie Morton and Ed Segel 4-4 .

Submitted by Steve Hill

  

Friday February 5th

Games are on. The weather is a lot better than Tuesday. Lets be safe today. Wear a face mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands and use hand sanitizer. Get a vaccine shot when available to protect yourself and others. Stay home if you are sick.

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Tuesday, February 2^nd

Legion VS Flyers

 

Cold day to play ball but Legion bats were hot as they scored 5 runs in each of the 1^st 3 innings.  Final Score: 

Legion 18            Flyers 6

 

Mike O’Callaghan

 Wednesday, February 3rd

A representative from Reliance Medical Center in Winter Haven will be on site Friday morning to provide us with some information on the services they offer to Seniors. They will have a few giveaways so please stop by their table and visit with them. If you would like to talk them before Friday morning, you an call Jenna Livingston @ 863.225.7681. 

Thanks.

Don Witmer 

 February 2^nd game between Dukes and Coconuts

Finally Steve Hill's Dukes are found beatable. A good cold day with strong wind made for interesting fly balls and even pitches that curved.

The Coconuts prevailed with consistent hitting and sufficient defense. Don Torok made an especially spectacular catch in left field to rob the Dukes of extra bases in the middle of the game. Bob Hite and Bob Zelazny hit deep balls for triples.

The Dukes were missing key players but they still battled until the end. Bob Vandenburg went 5 for 5 and Steve Hill, Willie Morton, Joe Peskie, Sam Lopez and Richard Newton all had good hitting with each one going 3 for 5.

Final score: Coconuts 25 - Dukes 13

Write up by Robert Spitaleri

Tuesday February 2

Games are on. It is cold and windy right now. Sun will be out in a little while. Wear a face mask to help keep warm. Practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer. Get the vaccine when you can to protect you and others.

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