Tuesday March 30th

Games are on. The virus is still with us. Don't let your guard down. Wear a face mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer. Stay home if you are sick.


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The last game of the regular season will be tomorrow, Tuesday March 30th. There will be a playoff on Friday, April 2nd between the first half winner, Steve Hill and the second half winner, Robert Spitaleri for the overall season winner. Steve and Robert decided to do this game on Friday because several players will be missing tomorrow. The game will be played on Field C. 

We will start our regular summer season on Friday, April 2nd where everyone will sign in at the pavilion and teams will be made up depending on how many  players show up. Applications for the 2021-2022 season will be available tomorrow and Friday. Stop by the desk and get your application for next year. 

We were not able to have a end of season party due to the COVID-19 Virus. The Board submitted a written plan to the City outlining how we would comply with the CDC COVID-19 Guidelines but we were still denied the opportunity to have a party. We will try again next year. 

Don Witmer, Commissioner

Winter Haven Senior Softball

Friday, March 26th

Fabian's Flyers vs O'Callaghan's Legion team. The closest the Flyers ever were was 4-3 after two innings and it got worse after that and 20-8 going to the bottom of the 8th inning so the famous flip flop was played and the Flyers scored 7 that inning to make it 20-15 so the 9th inning was played. The Flyers held the meat of their order scoreless in the top and had a decent chance of pulling off a pretty good comeback but only came up with one hit in the 9th by Coffman so the final remained 20-15. 

See y'all Tuesday for the grand finale. 

Write up by Loren Fabian. 

Friday 3/26/21

The Steve Hill Dukes hosted the Robbie Spitaleri Coconuts on Field D today .

The Coconuts jumped out to an early lead with 4 in the opening inning , the Dukes answered with 5 in the bottom of the inning . 5-4 Dukes after one .

It looked like it was going to be a high scoring game , but both teams defenses took over , or the bats cooled . Neither team scored again until the Coconuts tie the game in the 4th at 5 . Both teams scored one in the 5th . The game was 10-8 Coconuts in the 7th before they took over the game in the 8th with 5 runs , following a 3 run homer by Robbie Spitaleri extending their lead to 15-8 .

The Dukes come back fell short as they managed just 3 in the bottom of the 9th . Final score 15-11 Coconuts .

Hitting stars , Coconuts , Gary Burtner , Jim Reed , and Joe LeTourneau 3-4 , Dukes George Vanderhyde and Ken Gelinas 4-4 .

Thank you Don Witmer for umpiring .

Submitted by Steve Hill

Friday March 26

Games are on. Get vaccinated for COVID-19 when you can. Stay home if you are sick. 


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Mar 23, 2021

Coconuts VS Legion

What a beautiful day to play ball.  I was very happy to have my wife Joann

and her two nieces, Kris and Molly and her dog Hazel cheering us on. 

They were very impressed to see us old guys playing ball.  It was not a

good day for the Legion but always a lot of fun!

Coconuts  

17

Legion      

  7

Written by Mike O’Callaghan

 

The Dukes got revenge against Fabian's Flyers Tuesday 18-9 after barely losing to them in their last match up. 

There were 6 players with 4 hits in the game and 4 played for the Dukes, 2 for the Flyers. They were Coffman, Levesque, Vanderhyde, Morton, Spegel and Puma. Steve Hill playing in the middle made a great catch of a screaming liner by jumping VERY HIGH to squelch a potential rally by the Flyers. 

See y'all Friday and let's start hoping for a non-pandemic plagued season next year and welcome our Canadian friends back and have a full league next year. 

Write up by Loren Fabian. 

Tuesday March 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. 


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 Fabian's Flyers vs Fighting Coconuts  March 19, 2021

A good game was played by both teams. The Coconuts started strong with 5 runs in the 1st inning and 4 runs in the 2nd but the Flyers came back with 7 in the 3rd inning and 3 more by the 5th inning. Finally the Coconuts had a rally in the 5th and 6th innings to go up in runs.

Home runs were hit for both sides. Jerry DeJongh and Russ King hit homers for the Flyers while Jim Reed and Bob Zelazny had round trippers for the Coconuts. Also adding good offense for the Coconuts were Wayne Shearer, Bob Hudson, Freddie Gonzales, Bob Hite, BJ Kallister and Don Torok.

Hitting excellent for the Flyers were Jerry DeJongh, Ralph Boswell, Kurt Essenmacher, Don Lemay, Chuck McCulgan, Ron Thompson and Pat LoPiccolo.

Defensively, Gary Burtner and Joe LeTourneau both made terrific catches in the outfield to rob hitters of well hit balls.

Final score: Coconuts 31

                     Flyers     13

Write up by Robert Spitaleri

Friday , March 19th , 2021

The Steve Hill Dukes hosted Mike O Callaghan Post 8's on Field C today .

The Dukes jumped out to a 11-0 after 3 innings , before Post 8 got started , scoring 4 in the 4th and 6 in the top of the 5th inning , to trim the Dukes lead to 12-10 after 4 1/2 . The Dukes answer with 5 in the bottom of the inning to extend their lead to 17-10 five .

The Dukes kept rolling with 4 in the in the 6th and 3 in 7th inning to run their lead to 24-10 eight .

Post 8 mounted a comeback in the 9th scoring 4 with just one , before the inning ended . Final score was 24-14 Dukes .

Hitting stars were , Post 8 , Tim Gallagher 3-3 and Larry Well 3-4 , Dukes , George Vanderhyde and Ken Gelinas 4-5 .

Submitted by Steve Hill

Friday March 19th

NL games are on. AL games are iffy, depending on the number of players who show up. There is a Tournament in Polk County this morning and at least 15 AL players will not be here. Batting practice is always available.


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  GOOD NEWS     GOOD NEWS    GOOD NEWS

Games are on for tomorrow, Friday March 19th.

Mar.  16, 2021

 

Flyers VS Legion

This game was close until the 8^th inning when the Legion scored 5

runs and went on to win.

 Legions  

17

Flyers        

8

By Mike O’Callaghan 

 GOOD NEWS     GOOD NEWS    GOOD NEWS

Games are on for tomorrow, Friday March 19th.  

 Dukes vs Coconuts  March 16, 2021

Steve Hill's Dukes and the Fighting Coconuts had a good game today. The Dukes started strong with 5 runs in the first inning. The Coconuts came later in the game with runs to catch up and go ahead. The Coconuts were led in hitting by Don Torok, Jim Reed, Greg Denny, Bob Zelazny and Bob Hudson who hit a home run deep to center field. On defense Jim Reed was excellent at 2nd base.

For the Dukes, hitting was notable by Joe Peskie, Ken Gelinas, George Vanderhyde and Sam Lopez. For the Dukes defense, Julian Puma and Joe Peskie both made athletic catches in the outfield to save runs from scoring.

Nice to see Charlie Pelkey play with us again.

Final score:   Coconuts 20

                     Dukes        6

Write up by Robert Spitaleri

Tuesday March 16th

Games are on. AL double header today. Temperature checks are still happening. Wear a face mask when possible, practice social distancing, wash your hands and use hand sanitizer. If you are sick today, stay home.


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 March 12, 2021

Mike O'Callahan's American Legion team soundly beat the Fighting Coconuts today.

The Coconuts started with a lead but by 4th inning the game was tied. Then the Legion put it all together with impressive hitting and fielding. Their hitting was led by Chris Lynch, Chris Constantine, Jimmy Lafoon, Fred Stevens, Herb Oesterreich, Josh Wells, Bill Rutan and Dale Johnson.

The Coconuts were led in hitting by Gary Burtner, Freddie Gonzales, Joe LeTourneau, Greg Denny and Bob Zelazny.

It was a good game and good competition.

Final Score: American Legion 18

                    Coconuts             11

Write up by Robert Spitaleri

Friday March 12th , field E

The game on Field E had Steve Hill's Dukes hosting Lauren Fabian's Flyers .

The Dukes lead through out the game .Scoring 33 runs in the first seven inning to take a 33-19 lead .

For reasons known only to the Flyers , we did a visiting team double flip flop in the 8th and 9th inning . This allowed the Flyers to score two runs in the 8th and 4 in the 9th . The final score was 33-25 Dukes 

Too me our Winter Haven flip flop rule is quit clear . " The flip flop rule will be used when the visiting team is ahead by 10 or more runs going in to the last inning of the game . "  

Maybe we should adopt the Florida Half Century run rules ?

Hitting stars , Flyers , Jerry Dejongh 5-5 , Ralph Boswell and Tom Benson 4-5 . Dukes , George Vanderhyde , Ken Gelinas 5-5 , and Bob Vandenburg 4-4, sac .

A big welcome back to Bill Bowley . Bill was on base all four times with 3 hits and a fc , plus 3 RBI .Yea Bill , I owe $3.25 haha .

Submitted by Steve Hill

Friday March 12th

Games are on. Lets have fun today. Get the vaccine when you can.


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Mar 9, 2021

Dukes VS Legion

A great day for softball.  This was a very competitive game!

And a close game all the way.  It decided in the bottom of the 9 th      

on a bases loaded single by Chris Constantine to give the Legion their 1st    

win over the Dukes this season. 

Final score

Legion 14

Dukes  13

By Mike O’Callaghan

 Tuesday March 9, 2021

Today's game on Field D had the visiting Coconuts managed by Robert Spitaleri against the Flyers managed by Loran Fabian.  League leading Coconuts batted in the first with a double from Gonzalez followed by hits from LeTourneau, Reed, Zelazny, Hudson and B.J. to post 4 runs.  Flyers crossed the plate once in the first on hits from Levesque and DeJongh.

Second inning had Coconuts put a 0 on the scoreboard.  Flyers Dampier and Benson drove balls deep to left field for home runs.  After 2 score was 4 to 3 Coconuts. A walk to Torok and hits from Zelazny and Spitaleri brought a run.  Fabian led off the 3rd with a liner to left, then hits from Levesque, a home run from DeJongh then hits from Essenmacher, Capozzi and Dampier put 4 runs on the book for the home team.  0's for both teams in the 4th.  Coconuts posted 2 runs in the 5th on hits from Gonzalez, LeTourneau, Torok and Reed.  Flyers rallied for 4 runs in the bottom of the inning that included the second home run off the bat of DeJongh.  In the next 4 innings the Coconuts crossed the plate 8 times and the Flyers left their bats in the rack and posted 0's over the final 4 innings.  Final score Coconuts 15 Flyers 11.

Well played game for both teams and a lot of line drives fielded by the infield player on both teams.

Coconuts: Gonzalez and LeTourneau 3 for 5, Torok 3 for 4 /walk

Flyers: DeJongh 4 for 4 w/2HR, Essenmacher 3 for 4, Dampier 3 for 4 w/HR and walk.  Benson 3 for 4, HR.

Written by Don LaMay for Fabian

 NOTICE     NOTICE     NOTICE     NOTICE

The Board of Directors would like to have an end of the year party to show our appreciation for all of the members who participated in this years League. The City of Winter Haven has not allowed us to have any gatherings yet. The CDC has recently revised their guidelines due to the number of COVID-19 vaccines being administered. However, the CDC still recommends that fully vaccinated people continue to take COVID-19 precautions when in public by wearing a well fitted mask, maintaining 6 ft. social distancing with people that you do not live with and avoiding medium and large size in-person gatherings.

That said, the Board would like to provide the City with information on the status of COVID-19 vaccinations of the members in our league to show the risk of a gathering for us would be small. If you are comfortable with providing this information to the league, please stop by the sign in desk and let me or a board member know if you have been fully vaccinated or have received at least one shot of the two shot vaccination process. We will not use your name but will provide an overall count to the City. 

Thanks.

Don Witmer, Commissioner

Winter Haven Senior Softball    

Tuesday March 9th

Games are on. AL double header today. COVID-19 shots at Lake Maude this morning. Lets be safe today. Things are getting better but we're not out of the woods yet. Wear a face mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently and use hand. Stay home if you are sick.


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 REMINDER     REMINDER     REMINDER     REMINDER

COVID-19 SHOTS WILL BE GIVEN AT LAKE MAUDE AGAIN TOMORROW. LEAVE A LITTLE EARLY TO DEAL WITH THE TRAFFIC.

Don Witmer

 Friday, March 5th

Fabian's Flyers vs Mike O'Callaghan's American Legion was a close game with the the American Legion coming out on top. More to come on this game.

March 5th Friday

Today Steve Hill Dukes Hosted Robert Spitalier's Coconuts on field C . The Coconuts jumped out early taking a 10 - 6 lead in the 2nd , before the Dukes came back to make the score 11-10 after three .

The Coconuts regained the lead 13-11 in the 4th and added two more runs in the 5th while holding the Dukes scoreless . 15-11 Coconuts after five .

The 6th saw the Dukes post a 5 spot retaking the lead 16-15 after six .

The Coconuts added 5 runs in the 7th taking a 20 -16 lead . The Coconuts never looked back  as the Dukes managed only two runs over the last 3 innings .

Final score 23-18 Coconuts

Hitting Stars , Coconuts , Paul Jefts , Dukes , Steve Hill 5-5 and Bob Vandenburg 3-3 , sac .

Submitted by Steve Hill

Friday March 5th

Games are on. Lets have fun today. Wear a face mask, practice social distancing when possible, wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer. If you are sick today, stay home.


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Mar. 2, 2021

Coconuts VS Legion

Legion was bombarded with Coconuts – 13 to 3 after 3 innings. 

We were not able to recover.

Coconuts

26

Legion    

12

Write up by Mike O’Callaghan

Tuesday, March 2nd

A very well played and hard fought game between Steve Hill's Duke's and Fabian's Flyers with the lead changing hands several times. The Flyers came out on top 16-14. 

It was tied 3-3 after 3 innings then the Flyers took a small lead which they held till the7th inning when the Dukes scored 5 from the bottom half of their order. Vandenberg started with a walk and was followed with singles by Lopez, Spegel, Newton and Pinnick. Then a couple of ground outs scored the last 2 of the inning for a 14-13 lead going to the last 2 innings which the Dukes put up goose eggs while the Flyers scored 5 to account for the final of 16-14. 

I think some of these hits were actually errors but this is how the were recorded in the book and the Flyers did turn 4 double plays to help much for the win. 

Dukes hitters

   Skidmore.   2-4

   Hill.              4-5 w/ HR

   Vanderhyde 2-4

   Morton.        2-3

   Peskie.         2-4

   Jacobs.        3-4

   Vandenberg 3-3

   Lopez.           3-4

   Spiegel.         3-4

   Newton.         2-4. 

Flyers hitters

   Levesque.    2-4

   DeJongh.     3-4

   Boswell.       3-4

   Essenmacher. 3-4

   Dampier.       2-3

   Capozzi.        3-4

   Benson.         3-4

   Poke.              2-3

   Lopicollo.       2-3

   Lamay.            2-3

   Thompson.     3-3

   Fabian.            2-3

Also Jerry DeJongh's 2 teen granddaughters were in the stands watching and that must be a ball playing family as they kept our book and did an excellent job. They just said some of our rules are different. 😆 😆

Have a great day and see y'all Friday. 

Write up by Loren Fabian

Tuesday March 2nd

Games are on. AL Double header 

today. First game at 9:00. Be here at 

8:30. Be safe today. Wear a face mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently and use hand hand sanitizer. Get the vaccine when available. Protect yourself and others. Stay home if you are sick.


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 February 26th game between Flyers and Fighting Coconuts

First of all we were blessed to have Terry Feehan in the stands to watch our game. Terry is 92 years old and a long time softball player here who is highly respected and loved. Thank you Terry for your encouragement to us all.

Both teams started out strong with runs in the first inning. Then both teams went cold for an inning. The Coconuts scored 2 more in the 3rd and 5 in the 5th inning and finally 3 in the 8th. The Flyers hitters had good at bats even if the final score doesn't show it. Fabian's Flyers were led in hitting by Jerry DeJongh, Ralph Boswell who hit 2 home runs, Ray Lavesque who hit a home run, and Kirk Essenmacher.

The Flyers scored another run in the 4th inning with no further runs scored.

On defense, Jerry DeJongh made a number of excellent plays and Ralph Boswell made an outstanding catch of a low line drive ball to his shoestrings.

The Coconuts were led in hitting by Bob Zelazny and Gary Burtner who both went 4 for 4. Also hitting strong were Freddie Gonzales and Bob Hudson. Defensively, Bob Zelazny made a saving catch in right center field. And Greg Denny made several good stops for outs in the infield.

Final score: Flyers 5

                   Coconuts 16

Write up by Robert Spitaleri