Special to the News-Sun
SEBRING - The Sebring Seventy and Over Softball League results on Thursday saw Buttonwood Bay try hard to get into the win column against the Silent Salesman.
The first four innings went quite well for the Rebels as they only trailed 16-12.
The Salesman decided to play a little defense the last four innings for a final score of 23-12.
The Salesman were swinging hot bats as they scored five times in four of the seven innings they batted in.
Norm Grubbs had the only extra base hit, banging out a double and two singles. Bill Todd went 4-for-4, Don Day and Larry Ambuel had four hits each.
Cliff Skeans had three hits and scored three times.
Don Goodwin singled three times and Bob Iott, not to be outdone, rapped out two hits and scored four times.
Buttonwood Bay's Jim Delahunt had a perfect day at the plate going 3-for-3.
Tony Cristo was 3-for-4 including a triple.
John Degnen was 2-for-3 with a double.
Earl and Nelson Richardson were both 2-for-3.
The most unusual game of the week was between Highlands Independent Bank and Andrews Allstate Insurance.
It was a real barn burner that ended in 10 innings with a 6-5 score in favor of Highlands Independent Bank.
Harry Bell pitched nine shutout innings.
Allstate only scored five run, all in the fourth inning.
The Bank scored in the first, fifth and 10th innings.
In that final frame, Don Sheets got on base with his third hit.
Bob Fahnestock hit a double and drove Don in for the winning run.
Don Cunningham had 3-for-4 with a double, Don Sheets and Bobby Fahnestock each went 3-for-5.
Harry Bell, the winning pitcher, was 3-for-4.
Andy Timmermanis was also 3-for-4.
For Allstate, Dale Baughman was 4-for-4.
Mel Gross, Dick Ostrich, Eddie Lindberg and Gallo Gonzalez each had 2-for-4.
VFW4300 and Royal Palms began with a close game but VFW pulled away scoring 11 runs in three innings.
The final score was 14-5 in favor of VFW4300.
John Kloet went 4-for-4 with a triple.
"Spider" McMinn had three hits including a triple.
Bob Roth and Bob Fulcher each had three hits.
The Team exhibited good defense with three double plays.
Royal Palms' Jim Longman and Dale Demar each went 2-for-3.
Bobby Floodine and Kyle Saunders had 2-for-4.
In league action on Tuesday, Feb. 5, Silent Salesman tangled with the undefeated VFW4300 team.
A big upset was brewing, but VFW ended a see-saw battle with six runs in the eighth inning to claim a 23-18 win.
The game took over two hours to play with a total of 41 runs and 70 hits.
VFW4300s Jerry Murphy produced the only double for the team.
Ron Lewis was 5-for-5 and Bob Fulcher and Cal Bready went 5-for-6.
John Kloet, winning pitcher, had 3-for-6
The Salesman's Don Goodwin is to be commended for stepping in to pitch in place of regular pitcher Victor Rodriquez.
It was the first slow pitch game Don had ever pitched and with a little help from VFW batters who swung at bad pitches, he did a good job.
Don also was 5-for-5 at the plate.
Going 4-for-5 were Fred Moore, Norm Grubbs and Larry Ambuel.
Bill Todd had two triples in his 3-for-5 day.
Richie Birkholz had 3-for-4 with a double.
Don Day was 3-for-5 and Cliff Skeans 3-for-4.
A close match for Royal Palms and Highlands Independent Bank ended with a 19-17 win for the Palms.
Royal Palms was behind 7-0 early in the game and improved as the game progressed.
Kyle Saunders had a triple in his 2-for 5 times at bat.
Dale Delmar 2-for-3 with a double.
Jim Longman had 3-for-4, Mo Pier 2-for-3 and Doug Hammond 3-for-5.
Charlie Quinn was the winning pitcher.
Highlands Independent Bank Bob Fahnestock and Don Cunningham each went 3-for-5 including a triple.
Gene Phillips smacked a double in his 4-for-5 times at the plate.
Harry Bell and Russ Moody each had a 3-for-4 and Andy Timmermanis was 3-for-5.
Andrews Allstate Insurance held a tight rein on Buttonwood Bay for a 15-5 victory.
For Allstate Jerry Kuffman was 5-for-5 including two triples and a double, getting credit for driving in eight runs.
Dick Ostrich had a triple in his 4-for-5 times up.
Dale Baughman was 3-for-4 and Eddie Lindberg 3-for-5.
Winning pitcher was Rudy Pribble.
Buttonwood Bay Rebels' hot batters were Tony Cristo going 2-for-3 with a triple.
Rich Vancuren and John Degnen each went 3-for-3 and Fred Boyd was 2-for-2.
Diz Davis, Jim Monroe, Earl and Nelson Richardson all went 2-for-3.
At the mid-way point of the season, VFW 4300 remains unbeatean at 10-0, with Royal Palms at 7-3 and Allstate at 5-5.
Highlands Independent Bank and the Silent Salesmen each stand at 4-6, and Buttonwood Bay is still looking to get into the win column at 0-10.
Thank you to all of the spectators who attend the games on Tuesday's and Thursday's at 10 a.m. at the Highlands County Sports Complex in Sebring.
Sunday, February 10, 2013 - www.newssun.com/SUN-2-10-13-Sebring70s