The old saying in major sports , is that “Defense wins Championships” .. well there was plenty of that in this game ! ( Offense  was so remiss , there were truthfully , more hits in the original “Godfather” movie ).   After three innings, the score was 7-4 in favor of the Yankees .  That’s when the defenses took over .  KFC only scored 1 more run in the last 6 innings .  The Yankees only scored 3 more runs in the same timeframe .  The final result was Yankees 10 , KFC 5 .  Great defensive plays for the victorious Yankees were made by their outfielders , Guzman - Debroeck- Guttenberger , and the infield by Alumbaugh - Hurn - Guzzo - Jacobsen .  Larry Book was hurling a gem on the mound .   KFC had their  share of defensive  gems , also ,  thanks to Essenmacher &  Quinones,  and precision pitching by Wells .
Hitting : Yankees
Guzman / Book                   3 hits
Alumbaugh / Carpenter     2 hits
Guttenberger / Debroeck  2 hits

Hitting : KFC
Davis / Ogden / Coffman   2 hits
Write up by Al Guzzo

The Fury of A Storm

The WHSS league has had to endure some unusual weather in the month of January. We have had plenty of cold weather and rain to dodge. The game on 1/23 started out with a threat of rain, but the rain held off and the weather turned for the better. We played most of the game under blue skies. With that in mind, the write up today will converge around phrases that deal with the weather.

Visiting team, The Lightning: Stier, Hamilton, Held, Seguin, Gonzalez, Scarbrough, Witmer, Knox, Poke and Pinnick.

Home team, The Storm: Pep, Doerbaum, Shirer, Deemie, Gazarek, Matta, Aufiero, Zelazny, Vanderhyde and Crowell.

The game started out in mild conditions and both teams hit in a mild fashion. The Lightning put up two runs, they were both scored in the first inning, they had sub- zero in the 2^nd. The Storm was a tempest in a teapot, we could not make it rain, or pour. The Storm did just enough to tie the game, scoring a single digit in both the 1^st and 2^nd innings.  After two innings the score was 2-2. It looked like we were in for a slow-i-cane, the opposite of a hurricane, as far as hitting and scoring goes.

In the third inning, team Lightning was poised to make some noise and sound the thunder. As you know, lightning can strike at any time.  It did not happen though, defensively Walt Deemie took a hit away from the Bolts when he made an over the shoulder catch in shallow right field, from his position at 2^nd base. That quieted the Lightning rally and limited them to a run. When the Storm came to bat, in the bottom of the inning, we managed to end our drought. Pep walked, Doerbaum singled, Shirer then singled Pep in. Deemie flew out, Gazarek and Matta came up and knocked runs in, with base hits.  Aufiero knocked the 4^th run in, with a SF. Zelazny added the final turbulence with a single, that scored Matta from 2^nd base, making it a 5 run inning.  After 3 innings, the score was 7-3.

The Lightning was kept in a bottle for the next two innings, scoring a single run in the 4^th and 5^th. The Storm rode the wind during that time, putting up two more five run innings. The big blow came in the 5^th inning, from Hurricane Dave. A hurricane only has one eye, but Doerbaum had both eyes on the ball as he smashed a three-run homer, deep over the left field fence.

In the 6^th inning the Lightning hit and started a small fire, knocking in three runs in the 6^th and three more in the 7^th.  It would not be enough because the Storm’s bats were scorching hot, we answered back with eight more runs in those same innings.

After a quiet 8^th inning, the Lightning came to bat in the 9^th, needing to hit like a typhoon. However, a dangerous Lightning team had cold bats today and only managed one more run. Final Score: Lightning: 11- Storm 26. Just like the weather can change each day, the scoring that these two teams can accomplish can change on any given day and sometimes on the same day.

Thanks to Joe D’Herin for catching and umpiring for both teams.

Lightning Hits:

Hamilton: 4/5 with a double, triple and SF.

Held: 5/6 with two doubles.

Witmer: 3/5.

Pinnick: 3/ 4 and a walk.

Storm Chasers:

Pep: 4/5 and a walk.

Doerbaum: 5/5 with a walk, two doubles and a HR.

Shirer: 5/5  with a walk and a double.

Matta: 4/5.

Zelazny: 5/5.

Crowell: 3/5.

Written by Nick Matta

Today’s game played on Field B (The Sun Field).  At this time of the year the sun is directly over the pitcher’s head making it hard for the batters to see the ball.  But today started with a chance of rain and some was in the area, so it was cloudy during batting practice.  The game started with partly cloudy skies and the batters had some problems but with Thompson on the mound for the Braves and Lopiccolo for the Flyers both took control of the game.  After three innings the score was Braves 1 Flyers 0, the Braves run was on a double off the bat of LeTourneau and singles from Altemose and Fryzowicz.  In the fourth inning Thompson posted the forth of six straight shout innings. (That does not happen often.)  Bottom of the inning the Braves recorded 5 runs on singles from Marino, Newton, Burtner, and Hite and a LeTourneau three run homer.  Braves 5 more in the next two innings to take a 11 to 0 lead after six innings.  Constantine blasted a drive over the head of the leftfielder to the fence for the first run of the game for the Flyers.  Constantine’s home run put some life in the Flyers and they held the Braves scoreless in the bottom of the inning then tallied 5 runs in the 8^th to make the score 11 to 6.  Only two players had 3 hits in the game, the Brave's Newton and Peske.

The lineup’s posted for the Flyers Managed by Loren Fabian: Guspyt, Simon, Boswell, Zakrowski, Constantine, Vorher, Lopiccolo, Taylor, Zukic, Moots, Britton and Fabian.

Larry Strait’s team: Marino, Newton, Burtner, Hite, Boito, LeTourneau, Altemose, Strait, Fryzowicz, Peske, J. Andrews, Thompson, LaMay and Kriger. 

Winning Pitcher – Thompson

Final score was Braves 13 – Flyers 6

Great Game.

Write up by Don Lamay

The King ( Post 8 ) defeated the Black Knight ( Nationals )

Jan. 23rd. on field D the Nationals held at bay a superior Post 8 team for 5 innings but as the farmers

say the cream will rise to the top of the can, and it did. Score was 5 to 4 , Post 8 and that's all she wrote.

Inning by inning scoring below:

Inning        1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     Total

Post 8         0    1     0     3     1      4     0     0     4        13

Nats            1     0     2     1     0      0     0     0     3          7

                                                    Top Hitters

Post 8                                                                  Nationals

Skidmore     5-5                                                   McLellan     4-4  D

King              3-5   HR.                                         Hawbaker   3-4                                    

Brian             4-5  D, T

 Rudy              5-5                                                  

Two hard hit line drives snagged by Remington.. McLellan also a great catch on a line drive.

Mr. Commish, I have to report another error on my part. Last Fri. I reported that Hartley

hit a home run, but failed to mention that it was a grand slam, sorry Dave.

Submitted by Elmer Black.

Tuesday, January 23

Games are on. Fields are playable. I will post again if/when anything changes.

Sent from my iPhone

Friday, January 19th
The game today was between Larry Strait Braves vs Larry Powell Warriors.

The Warriors got off to a great start by scoring 4 runs in the first inning, 4 in the third, and  5 in the fourth. The Braves started slowly before their bats exploded. The score after 4 innings was 13 Warriors and 9 Braves. The Braves scored at least one run in every inning. They had four 5 runs innings.

Final score was Braves 30 -Warriors 18,winning pitcher was Ron Thompson for the Braves.

Outstanding hitters were: Richard Newton 4-5, one home run, one double, Gary Burtner4-5, one home run ,one triple, Travis 4-4, one triple, one double, Leo Kriger 4-4, one triple.

Hitters for the Warriors : Bill Ayer 4-5, Larry Grabb 5-5, one home run,

Fred Dampier 5-5 one double, one triple, Norm Learn 4-5.

Submitted by Larry Powell

Friday, January 19th

A great game between the Tigers and Yankees took place on Field C Friday.  The game started out with the Tigers scoring 6 runs after 2 innings and held the Yanks scoreless.  The Yanks bats thawed out and they posted 6 runs in the 4th inning to tie the score at 6.  Each team scored 1 run and the score was even at 7.  The Yanks put 5 on the board in the 7th and held the Tigers to 2 runs in the final 2 innings handing the Tigers their first loss 12-9.  There were too many great plays by the Yankee outfield to list.  It was a great game to participate in.  Great job both teams.
Leading Hitters For The Yankees:                    Leading Hitters For The Tigers:
Guzzo 2-4                                                             Stier 3-5

Alumbaugh 3-4                                                    Hamilton 2-5

Guzman 2-4                                                          Held 2-5

Hurn 2-4                                                                Keller 3-4

Book 3-4                                                                Witmer 2-4

Carpenter 2-4                                                       Knox 2-3

DeRidder 3-4                                                        Thirey 2-4

Gutenberg 2-4                                                      D'Herin 2-4

     Pinnick 2-4

Write Up by Joe D’Herin