The Visitors beat the Home team 27–20, but that final score skips the part where the Home team grabbed the lead and made the Visitors work to get it back.
Jack opened with a triple, and Ralph’s sacrifice fly brought him home. Doyle and JD scored too, with Jeff and John adding base hits. Three runs in the first—a pretty good way to introduce yourselves. Greg answered with a hit and aggressive base running, scoring the Home team’s lone run of the inning.
The Visitors kept swinging in the second, with Tommy, Leslie and Bob Doyle crossing the plate. Jack’s bat stayed hot, and he and Ralph scored as hits from Doyle and Matt helped bring in five more. The Home team picked up two behind doubles from Danny and Karl and a base hit from Jeff H.
Then the Home team apparently decided everyone needed a turn. Every player came to bat in an eight-run inning, and suddenly this was anybody’s game.
For a while, the bats went quiet. Both teams went down in order, and the Home defense retired the Visitors three up, three down again in the fifth. Then Sully tripled, Fred, Danny and Karl doubled, and Jeff H, Stu, Kim and Bob B added hits. Five runs later, the Home team led 16–11.
The Visitors’ response: Cute lead.
Ralph, JD, Matt and Jeff singled, John doubled, and four runs scored in the sixth. The Home team went down in order, and the Visitors added four more in the seventh. Bob D singled, Luke and Ralph scored, and Doyle delivered a blast. Winter Haven sent over players who clearly remembered to pack their bats.
Fred and Danny doubled and scored to keep the Home team close, but the Visitors pushed ahead again when Jeff, John, Jamie and Leslie crossed the plate. The Home team loaded the bases in the eighth and sent three deep balls to the outfield. All three were caught. That’s a particularly cruel way for an inning to end.
The Visitors tacked on four more behind hits from Jack, JD and John and doubles from Doyle and Jeff. Sully and Fred scored in the Home team’s last chance, raising brief hopes of one more comeback. Two outs later, the suspense was over.
Visitors 27, Home 20. The Home team had the lead, the Visitors took it back, and the outfield made sure nobody got too comfortable.