Special to the News-Sun
SEBRING - In the Thursday, Feb. 21, games in the Sebring 70s Softball League, the Silent Salesman had a big upset win over VFW4300 in mind when they led 3-2 after three innings and 6-2 after seven innings.
Good defense kept the VFW Team from scoring in four consecutive innings.
That all changed in the bottom of the 8th inning when VFW's hot bats took over.
The last man in the batting order led off with a base hit, then the top of the order took over, banging out six more hits and scoring five times to pull the 7-6 win out of the fire.
Salesman's Cliff Sheane had another good game for a first-year player, going 3-for-3.
Norm Grubbs had 3-for-4 and rapping out two hits each were Don Day, Fred Moore, Richie Burkholz and Bobby Iott.
VFW4300 reports Don Knowlton had a hit that started a late rally.
Chuck Fluharty and Bob Fulcher had 3-for-4, which were key hits in the last inning.
Doran Quinn drove in the winning run on a fielders choice.
John Kloet was the winning pitcher.
Royal Palms had a 12-7 victory over Highlands Independent Bank.
Palms Bobby Floodine went 4-5 with a bases-loaded triple.
Having two hits each were Curt Brown, Dale Demar, Gene Hanford, Kyle Saunders and Harley Smith.
The Bank had the only home run of the day banged out by Bobby Fahnestock, who went 2-for-4.
Gene Phillips, Jose Torres and Andy Timmermanis each had a double in their 2-for-3 times to bat.
Don Cunningham and Don Sheets were 2-for-4 and four other players followed with a one base hit each.
Andrews Allstate Insurance took control over Buttonwood Bay with an 11-9 win.
Their John Pena went for a double in his 4-for-5 times up.
Four players having 3-for-4 were Jerry Kauffman, Marvin Knutilla, Rudy Pribble and John Smith.
Having 2-for-4 were Mel Gross and Tom Royal.
Buttonwood Bay made a good effort with their multiple hits.
Tom "Moose" Morrissette banged out a 4-for-4 day, including a triple.
John Degnen had two doubles in his 3-for-4 times at the plate.
Tony Christo was 1-2 with a double and Fred Boyd had his double in 2-for-4 times up.
Tuesday, Feb. 19 was a troubling day for the Sebring Seventy and Over Softball League teams.
The weather was good and the fields were up to par, but all three games played had unusual final scores.
Silent Salesman and Highlands Independent Bank, two evenly matched teams, played an exciting game that ended with a big "come from behind" win of 15-14 for the Salesman.
The Salesman scored 11 runs in the last two innings.
The bottom of the batting order did a fantastic job as they scored seven runs to put the Salesman back in the game.
The deciding hit came off the bat of Don Goodwin, with the go-ahead run on second base.
Don scorched a double down the left-field line to drive in the game winner.
Don Day had an outstanding day, going 4-for-4 and three runs scored.
Don Goodwin had 4-for-5 with a double and Bill Todd went 3-for-4.
Norm Grubbs chipped in a double and a single, while Larry Ambuel and Fred Moore rapped out two hits each.
Highlands Independent Bank held the lead as long as possible with Bob Fahnestock having a double in his 4-for-5 times at bat.
Don Cunningham had 5-for-5.
All hitting 3-for-4 were Harry Bell, Ross Moody, Gene Phillips and Bob Sheets.
Lloyd Noaker went 2-for-4 at the plate.
Andrews Allstate Insurance's final score was an upset of 16-3 over Royal Palms.
This was attributed to good pitching and very strong defense for Allstate.
Jose Torres had two triples in his 3-for-4 times at bat.
Dick Ostrich, Rudy Pribble and Eddie Lindberg each had 3-for-4 including a double.
Jerry Kauffman had a 4-for-4 game.
Having 3-for-4 were Gallo Gonzalez, John Pena and John Smith.
Mel Gross came up with 2-for-4.
Royal Palms also exhibited some good defensive plays by Harley Smith.
J. C. Brown had 2-for-3 including a double, and Kyle Saunders went 2-for-3.
VFW4300 and Buttonwood Bay had a wide spread final score with VFW on top 15-5.
For VFW, Bob Ross had a double in his 2-for-4 times at bat.
Cal Bready and Bob Fulcher each had 4-for-4.
Ross "Spider" McMinn and John Kloet each had three hits and Ron Lewis was the winning pitcher.
Buttonwood Bay's leading hitters were John Degnen with a triple in his 3-for-3 times at the plate.
Rick Vancuren had 3-for-3.
Tony Christo and Tom "Moose" Morrissette were 3-for-4.
Having 2-for-3 hits each were Jim Delahunt, Jack Grasso, Diz Jones, Jim Moore, Fred and Nelson Richardson.
The games are played at the Highlands County Sports Complex each Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 10 a.m. Bleachers are furnished.
Sunday, February 24, 2013 - www.newssun.com/SUN-2-24-13-Sebring70s