Navy blue hoped to regain their winning ways after falling into a first-place tie with the red seniors team. They had dropped four of their previous five games; and the lone win was by forfeit.
William Kelly delivered five hits as navy blue got what they needed July 25.
They beat red 21-12 on field 2 in Brahan Spring Park. This was a showdown atop the six-team, 55-and-over Rockets league in Huntsville Senior Softball.
“It was a total team effort from top to bottom,” Kelly, a retired sergeant first class, said. “Everyone hit and everyone played their position. We did what we had to do.”
The shortstop, batting third in the lineup, went 5-for-5 with two doubles, two runs batted in and three runs scored.
Mark Van Sickle went 4-for-5 with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs. Bill Hartsell, Reid Pincomb, winning pitcher Brian Jones, Gary Wilkison and player/acting coach Jerry Cowan had three hits apiece. Bobby Upton and Ruthie Hambrick added two hits apiece for navy blue (13-9).
“We played excellent defense and hit the ball as a team,” Cowan, the first baseman, said. “And really needed to win. We were in a four-game slump. It was a total team effort.”
Jones pitched all seven innings and scattered 23 hits for 12 runs, seven earned, with no walks and one strikeout.
“Long and high was working,” Jones said of his pitches. “I was happy except I took a dinger to my (right) thumb there. We had great defense.”
Navy blue set the tone with their defense in the top of the first inning. Third baseman Jerry Taylor knocked down a hard grounder by leadoff hitter David Stumbaugh, picked the ball up and fired to first for the first out. Left fielder Hartsell sprinted toward the left field line to catch a line drive by Freddie Childs for the second out. After two hits, Kelly stopped Kevin Barnhill’s hard grounder headed toward left field and threw to third for a force out to end the inning.
Kirk Wickizer had five hits but took the loss for red (12-10). Moto Miller had four hits while Freddie Childs had three. Stumbaugh, Booger Clark, Barnhill, player/coach Phil Haas and Deborah Childs had two hits apiece.
“They beat us, outhit us, out-defensed us,” Haas said. “We played well, though. They just outdid us.”
