The Central Florida League’s Joel Beason Memorial Tournament semi-final
action saw the higher seeds fall as IHOP bested Arden Jewelers 10-7 and Paul Davis Restorations defeated Fross & Fross 14-4.
Fourth seeded Paul Davis jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead after two innings and
added 8 more runs in the last two innings as the Fross bats couldn’t get going. John Barracato drove in two runs in the first with a triple and scored on a single by George Pugh. Mike Jeffries, Bob Buchanan, and Jim Boerman each drove in a run in the second. The Fross team scored two runs in the bottom of the second as Vin Stebbins drove in Tim Carroll and Jack Nagle drove in Manny Sanchez. Paul Davis got three runs in the 6th as Vic Nucatola scored on a single by Jeff Bekasi and Jim Moyer and Bekasi scored on a triple by Bob Kelly. In the top of the seventh the first seven batters each got a single and sub, Rick Murgittroyd, had a sacrifice fly to drive in the fifth run of the inning. Fross tried to respond as Jim Morton had a triple and scored on a single by Bill Nesbit. Nesbit scored on a single by Manny Sanchez. The following batter, Vin Stebbins, singled to load the bases; but, Jim Moyer got Jack Nagle to fly out to end the game.
Season champion Arden Jeweler didn’t get their bats going until half way through the game and couldn’t overcome the five run lead that IHOP had built up. IHOP got two runs in the first as lead off batters Gary Roth and Mike Bernbach singled and Scott Marshall drove them in with a double. Josh Sheldon had a solo homer in the second. In the third Scott Marshall again drove in two runs as he homered with Roth on base. Arden held IHOP scoreless in the fourth and got three runs as Pat Kirk and Maury Fjestad singled. Following a fielder’s choice by Doug St. Andrews, Jim White drove in a run with a double. Mark Hildebrand drove in two more with a single. IHOP came right back in the top of the fifth scoring four runs as lead off batters Josh Sheldon and Paul Justice singled and Leroy Yoder reached on an error. Pitcher, Neil Marple, drove in all three with a triple and scored on a triple by Gary Roth. Following two walks Arden got a double play to end the inning. Arden scored a run in the bottom of the inning as Peter Daub and Terry Baughman singled
to start the inning. After an out by Paul Isenberg John Charles singled and Daub scored on a sacrifice fly by manager, Tom Bortle. IHOP scored it’s final run in the sixth as Bill Reed led off with a double and scored on a single by Rich Bergman. Arden’s attempted to comeback in the bottom of the seventh as John Ashby and Peter Daub singled and scored on a home run by Terry Baughman. The next two batters made an out to end the game.
Seventh seeded IHOP’s run in the tournament ended as Paul Davis Restorations
used a strong defense to win 8-4. Paul Davis scored three runs in the first as second batter Mike Jeffries tripled and scored on Bob Buchanan’s sacrifice. Jim Boerman singled and Ed Haith and George Pugh doubled to drive in two more runs. Following a scoreless second Paul Davis scored a maximum five runs in the bottom of the third. Lead off batters Bob Kelly and Mike Jeffries singled. Following a long fly out by Bob Buchanan, Jim Boerman doubled to score Kelly. Ed Haith singled to load the bases and George Pugh drove in two with a single. John Barracato sacrified to score Haith. Mark Beasley singled and Vic Nucatol drove in the last run with his single. The fourth inning saw IHOP score two runs as Bill Reed and Mike Bernbach singled. John Gouin singled to drive in Reed and Bernbach scored on a single by Tom McGann. Following a scoreless fifth inning IHOP got a run as Jim Lambert led off with a double and Josh Sheldon followed with a single. Lambert scored as Bill Reed hit into a fielder’s choice. Cal Driskill hit a hard line drive to center that Jeff Bekasi caught to end the inning. IHOP in the seventh got a lead off single from Mike Bernbach, followed by a fielder’s choice by John Gouin who was safe at first. Bernbach scored on a single by
Tom McGann. Following outs by Paul Justice and Rich Bergman, Leroy Yoder singled to load the bases. Manager, Jack Nesci lined out to end the game.
The Central Florida League returns to action on Jan. 8. We wish all Villages softball players a happy holiday and a safe and healthy new year!
