LP Marine defeats Lockhart

The Lake Placid Marine team defeated Lockhart Service Center 19-18 in Lake Placid senior softball league play on Wednesday at the Lake June ball fields.

The Mariners seemed to be cruising to a win by leading the entire game and up five runs entering the last inning. However, the Lockhart team rallied to score 10 runs in the top of the inning to lead by five runs with the bottom of the order coming up for the Mariners.

Al Chipps, the 92-year-old wonder, had a key hit in that inning to load the bases with none out and the top of the order coming up for the Mariners. Key hits tied the score and then the Lockhart team chose to walk Jess Hathaway to load the bases with the winning run on third. Jeff Stanley stepped to the plate and drilled a sharp liner to left field to score the winning run.

In addition to that hit, Stanley was 5-for-5 with a double and triple, as was Duke Hensley, who had a triple and inside-the-park home run among his hits. Rudy Pribble was also perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 with line shots to center field. Bill Gallager continued his hitting streak with four hits, including a double, and Jess Hathaway had three hits with a triple for the winners.

In the field, it was outstanding play by shortstop Fred Cooper and left-center fielder Duke Hensley that helped keep the Lockhart team in check until the last inning. It was then that the Lockhart team's bats came alive, finding every seam as they batted around with 14 batters stepping to the plate, scoring 10 runs before making their third out of the inning. Leading the way at the plate for the Lockhart team was Moe Pier and Fred Moore with four hits apiece and Dusty Hensley with three hits, including an inside-the-park home run to match his brother Duke and Bob Poulin with three doubles.

The doubleheader on the other field saw the league-leading Michelle Yates team split with the second-place Schooni's Restaurant team. The first game was won handily by Schoonis, 17-11. Todd Martin and Andy Timermanis each had four hits and scored three runs apiece, and Don Cunningham scored four runs for the winners. The Yates team had no one with more than two hits, with Jim Morgan and Gary Steeves knocking inside-the-park home runs. In the field, Morgan continued his stellar play and Bob Weiss made several good catches in the outfield for Yates.

The second game was an outstanding defensive game with no walks and no errors, ending in a 4-3 win for the Yates team. Only two players had two hits in the game - Jim Morgan and 84-year-old John Ladensack. Ladensack, who still plays baseball in tournaments, had two line drives down the left-field line that would have been doubles, but teams now play him to hit that way.

The late game saw the Central Security team defeat the Seminole Tire team 16-10. Brian Pluta and Tom Walsh were 4-for-4, with Walsh having a double among his hits, but the blast of the day was delivered by Dave Reed, when he hit a ball to right field that not only cleared the fence by several feet but ended up in the orange grove across the parking lot. He also had a double.

Ken Ferano and Glenn Wearsh played great defense at third and second, respectively, with Ferano and Ed Engler also delivering three hits each for the winners. The Tiremen's bats were a little quiet, with only five players having two hits or more. Jim Radcliff was the only one with three hits with one being a double. Ken Morgan had a blast over the fence among his two hits, and Richard Rivera had a triple in the losing effort.

The Michelle Yates Insurance team leads the league with a record of 10-4, followed by Schooni's at 8-4, Seminole Tire at 6-7, Lockhart at 5-7, Central Security at 4-6 and Lake Placid Marine at 4-8. League play continues through March.