The first-place navy blue team was determined to finish the regular season on a winning note after a disappointing loss.
They did just that June 28 by beating green, 20-14 on field 2 at Brahan Spring Park. Navy blue has a first-round bye as the top seed in the single-elimination tournament which began Thursday for the 55-and-over Rockets league in Huntsville Senior Softball.
Navy blue (12-5) will next play in a semifinal game July 12.
“We finally hit together. Played pretty good defense,” player/coach Larry Guthrie said. His team rebounded from their loss June 24 to defending champion red, 18-7.
Jerry Cowan pitched all seven innings for the win and had two hits at the plate. He started in place of left-hander Michael Gundersen who was out with a lower back injury from the golf course. Gundersen plans to be back for the semifinal.
Gary Wilkison went 5-for-5 with four runs batted in and three runs scored. Booger Clark and John Pope had four hits apiece. Guthrie, Jerry Bevel and Moto Miller had three hits apiece. David Stumbaugh added two hits. Defensively they turned a pair of 6-4-3 double plays.
Tom Fickling belted a three-run homer and had four RBIs for green (3-14). Vince Smith had four hits with two doubles and three RBIs. Ragnar Opiniano, the Redstone fire chief, had three hits with a double. Scott Piro, Terry Koelbl, Billy Cooley, player/coach Jeff Abbott, Shawn Gordon and Rick Anthis added two hits apiece. Abbott took the loss in the circle.
“We went two innings without scoring and that was the game,” Abbott said. “That was the difference.”
Green did not score in the fifth and sixth innings but scored five runs, two earned, in the bottom of the seventh.
