UPDATES FROM MY POST ON THURSDAY, JUNE 4TH

Well, I got my hopes up to play ball this week but the City of Winter Haven shot me down again. The City has now decided that we cannot play ball until the week of July 13th. Our first pickup game would be on Tuesday, July 14th. They will not even let us have batting practice on the fields until then. I certainly do not understand their reasoning but they are in charge and there is nothing I can do about it. 

I did have batting practice in Lakeland this morning but only four people showed up besides myself. The fields were wet from all the rain we have been getting and the City staff was concerned about their batters boxes. We hit a couple of buckets of balls from in front of home plate and went home. The City staff did say they were concerned about large crowds at this time. 

Polk County's fields are open for batting practice. I understand that some people are hitting balls at Carter Road (Loyce Harpe Park) and everything is fine there. I may try to go to Carter Road this week and will post something when I do. The FHC 60's, 65's, 70's and 74's Tournament scheduled for July 11-12 is now excepting sign ups. The tournament will be at Carter Road and Walker Road. They are limiting the tournament to the first 60 Teams that sign up. 

There are still a lot of concerns in local government about the COVID-19 virus. They are being overly cautious but it might be to our advantage. None of us want to have the virus or be responsible for spreading the virus. I would not be surprised if more changes to our schedule will occur. In the meantime, Stay Safe, Wash Your hands, Practice Social Distancing, Wear a Face Mask in Public, Avoid Crowds and if your are sick, Stay Home. 

Don Witmer, Commissioner

Winter Haven Senior Softball

   

UPDATE FROM MY POST YESTERDAY

Lakeland Senior Softball has received an update regarding the use of the City of Lakeland's softball fields. You can go to their website and review the latest info. In a nutshell, There will be no pickup games allowed and only small groups will be allowed on the fields. They were not sure about batting practice. I still plan on being there at 9:00 AM. There are three field available and depending on how many people show up, we will be on different fields. We will not be affiliated with any adult league but just a bunch of old guys that want to hit a few softballs. 

Sorry for the confusion, but during my conversation with City of Lakeland staff it mirrored what Lakeland Senior Softball put on their website yesterday. Somebody in government changed their minds and that is their prerogative. They are in charge.

If you come Monday morning, please bring your face mask and your hand sanitizer. 

Don Witmer, Commissioner

Winter Haven Senior Softball

Thursday, June 4th

Hey Everyone, we are getting closer to playing ball. I Hope. The Governor's Phase 2 plan goes into effect tomorrow but it does not mention adult softball. Neither does Phase 3. That's not good. However, the plan does mention large sporting events and that could include us. I will be discussing the Phase 2 plan with the City of Winter Haven next week. We will see how they interpret the Phase 2 plan. 

Polk County is opening up their ball parks on Monday, June 8th. You can go take batting practice on their fields but no organized adults leagues will be allowed to play. That means Winter Haven Senior Softball.

Hopefully that will change in a week or two because the County is allowing Florida Half Century to play a 50's softball tournament on June 20-21. The July 11-12 FHC 60's tournament has been approved by the County so thing are getting better in the county.

The City of Lakeland will open their fields to practice on Monday, June 8th. You can look at the Lakeland Senior Softball website for details. I will be in Lakeland at the Southwest Fields on Monday morning at 9:00 AM to have batting practice for anyone who wants to show up. If it is raining, I won't be there. I will post something from my phone to let you know. CDC Guidelines and Social Distancing will be required.

That is the latest news. Stay Safe, Wash Your Hands, Practice Social Distancing, Wear a Mask in Public and most important, if you are sick, stay home.

Don Witmer, Commissioner

Winter Haven Senior Softball

    

Wednesday, May 27th.

I hope that everyone is doing fine and staying healthy. There has been a couple of changes since my last post on May 13th. Here is what I know right now. 

The City of Winter Haven updated their website on May 21, 2020 and it still shows that the Diamondplex will be open for playing ball on Friday, June 12th. They are calling this the Phase 5 opening and are limiting the attendance to less than 50 persons. Not sure how that effects our softball league but I will be looking for more detail as the time gets closer. 

Polk County updated their website today and they are going to open up their ball fields on Monday, June 8th. If you want to go to a County ballpark and have batting practice, you will be allowed to do so. You will need to adhere to the CDC guidelines and social distancing requirements.

The City of Lakeland website still shows they are going to wait on the governors Phase 2 plan to be announced before they open up their ball parks. This may change anytime.

There are a lot of rules that we will have to comply with when we start playing softball again. I have seen the rules put out by USSSA, FHC and Don Lamay sent me a copy of the rules that they are going to use in Michigan. Softball will not be the same as it was in March when we left Poinciana. I am sure that Winter Haven Park and Recreation will have some rules for us to follow.  As soon as I know what they are proposing, we will have a Board meeting to discus how we are going to implement these rules and what additional rules that the Board may want to enforce. 

That's all for now. Stay Safe, Wash Your Hands, Practice Social Distancing, Wear a Mask in Public and if you are sick, stay home.  

Don Witmer, Commissioner

Winter Haven Senior Softball

NEWS FROM THE COMMMISSIONER - MAY 13,2020

I  hope everyone is healthy and doing okay. I don't have any good news to tell everyone but I haven't posted anything in a while so I though I had better let you know what I know concerning the opening of the Diamondplex and others.

After the April 27, 2020 City Commission meeting, the City of Winter Haven posted on their website that the DiamondPlex is going to open on May 29th. I got excited and called Cameron Stevens and asked if we could start having pickup games for our league that day. As usual, when you are dealing with the government, what they said is not what they meant. Cameron says their will be no league or pickup softball at the DiamondPlex until at least June 12th. At that time they will make a decision as to how the structure of the league will be handled. This will include the number of players allowed in the dugout, rather or not spectators will be allowed and how they will deal with social distancing. When I hear more, I will let you know.

Polk County announced they were going to open their parks on May 1st. So, I called the parks and recreation department to find out what that meant. Disappointed again. The parks are open but the softball fields remain closed. They could not tell me when they would be open again for playing softball.

The City of Lakeland has started opening up some of their parks. So, I called the parks and recreation department to find out what that meant. Disappointed again. No softball fields are open. They anticipate opening the ball fields when the Governor opens up Phase 2 for the rest of the state. The date of the Governors Phase 2 has not been announced yet.

We are not alone in this lack of softball being played. Florida Half Century had to cancel their
June 6th-7th 60's tournament scheduled for Polk County. Hillsborough County has not opened their fields yet.

There is good news. Bot Hite has been very active with our Facebook page. If you have not joined the growing number of our members on Facebook, send Bob a Facebook request and he will let you join. Good Job Bob Hite.

Stay Healthy. Wash Your Hands, Practice Social Distancing, Wear a Face Mask in Public, Avoid Crowds and stay away from anyone that you know is sick.

Don Witmer, Commissioner
Winter Haven Senior Softball    

NEWS FROM THE COMMISSIONER

Well, it has been over three weeks since we finished softball in Poinciana. I miss it and I miss our fellowship. It does not look like we will be playing ball in Winter Haven any time soon. The City's website says May 9th right now but I expect that to change. This COVID-19 virus isn't going away anytime soon.

I hope that everyone is still safe and healthy. Please continue to practice social distancing, washing your hands and keeping traveling to a minimum. We all have to eat, so we all have to shop at the grocery store. Wear a face mask when in public. We will get through this and start playing softball again in the near future.

Don Witmer, Commissioner
Winter Haven Senior Softball  

NEWS FROM THE COMMISSIONER

I want to thank all of our players that came to Poinciana to continue league play until the COVID-19 Virus made us quit league ball and do to pick up ball. We are now through with pick up ball until this virus is contained and life gets back to normal. Hopefully in May
Mike O'Callaghan's American Legion team was the winner of the league. Mike was a first year manager and did a great job. His players were dedicated and it showed. They will receive a 2020 Championship Patch when we return to playing ball.
We held our annual election on Friday, March 20th at Poinciana. Bob Hite and Chris Constantine were elected to the Board and Don Witmer somehow managed to be Commissioner again. I think it was because nobody else ran for the job.
The 2020-2021 league application is on the website and can be printed. You will need to go to our website, click on registration, click on the link for the application, go the upper right corner of the page next to login, click on the three lines and you will get an option to print. You cannot right click on the application to print. It doesn't work. As usual, there will be plenty of hard copies of the application at the ball park when we get back to playing ball again.
For all of our Players and family that had to leave early to go home due the virus, I hope you made it home safely and will come back next year.
I will continue to update the website when I get information on when we may play ball again at the Diamondplex. Until then, Be Safe, follow the recommendations of the CDC, practice Social Distancing and be ready to play ball whenever we can.

Don Witmer, Commissioner
Winter Haven Senior Softball