–FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—
April 21, 2026 (Liberty Park Sports Complex)
Cool, dry weather persisted in Alabama and the outfield grass sparkled with dew under a bright sun. Several RASSA players are preachers and one of them, Steve Belcher, was describing his experience over the weekend. “I told all the men in the congregation that if they don’t have full dominion over their wives as the Bible directs, they should stand and face the east wall of the church. Every man except one stood and faced east. So I asked the man what his secret was. He said, “Well, my wife told me I better not stand up.”
Blue faced Red in the early game and stumbled through the first 2 innings without scoring. Red got a string of hits by Jim Raley, Hootie Ingram, Harold Fincher, Wayne Pike, and Bill Lovell and scored 4 in the first inning but then got shut out in the second. Blue scored its first run in the 3rd when Rick Erdimir reached base on a fielder’s choice followed by hits by Brian Gierlatowicz, Tom Wasmer and Sid Hilton. Red came back with 2 in the bottom of the 3rd highlighted by Bill Lovell’s triple, to take a 6 to 1 lead after three.
Blue finally got untracked in the 4th when Steve Belcher drove in Mike Richards and Ken Aubin and Rel Underwood drove in Steve and David Brasfield. Blue scored another 3 in the 5th when Sid drove in Tom Wasmer with a two-run homer and Ken Aubin drove in Edwin Yergen. Red got shut out in the 4th but scored 5 in the 5th to maintain an 11 to 8 lead. Jim Anderson led off with a single and Jim Aubin hit a double. “Watchin’ my pinch runner run all the way from first to third wore me out.” Jim puffed. Hootie drove in Jim and Finch drove in 3 with a homer. Wayne Pike and Earle Dunn singled and Bill Lovell drove in the speedy Wayne for the fifth run. Red got 3 more runs in the sixth on 7 straight hits by Wayne Graham, Ron Oliver, Buddy Cannon, Holly Whitmire, Keith Frederick, Jim Anderson, and Jim Raley, but didn’t need them because they shut out Blue in the 6th and 7th innings to win the game, 14 to 8.
Red hitters were 24 for 37 with one walk for a .648 team batting average and a .658 on-base percentage. Finch, Wayne Pike, and Bill Lovell were all 3 for 3. Blue hitters were 19 for 37 for a .513 team batting average. David Brasfield was 3 for 3.
Sky Blue faced Green in the late game and started out hot. Ronnie Muro and Chuck Killough got singles, Jeff Tyler drove in Ronnie, David Bedwell drove in Chuck, and Harold Fincher drove in everybody with a 3-run homer. Green scored 2 in the first inning; Mark Lilla got a hit and David Ferguson drove him in with a double. Jerry Bevel drove in David. Neither team scored in the 2nd and both teams scored 3 in the 3rd. Jeff Tyler drove in Chuck Killough and Ronnie Muro with a 3-run homer for Sky Blue and Green’s runs came on hits by David Ferguson and Jerry Bevel, a walk by Pete Manown, Sid Hilton’s 2-run single and Bob Slanovits’ single. Sky Blue eked out a run in the 4th on hits by Glenn Little and Duffy Vanderford and Wayne Sheets’ RBI fielder’s choice, and shut out Green in the bottom of the 4th. Sky Blue 9, Green 5 after four innings. Sky Blue never scored again.
Green scrounged up a run in the 5th on hits by Pete Manown and Bob Slanovits, Sid Hilton’s walk, and Mark Branin’s fielder’s choice. Then Green won the game with 5 in the 6th. Mark Lilla walked, Steve Entrekin singled and David Ferguson drove them in with a 3-run homer. Then Jerry Bevel and Pete Manown got hits, Sid drove in Jerry, Bob Slanovits walked and Mark Branin drove in the 5th and last run with a sharp single to right center. Green’s defense kept Sky Blue throttled in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings. Bob Slanovits caught a David Bedwell drive to the fence and then caught a high pop-up after a long run. Finch hit another ball out of the park for Sky Blue but, because it was his second of the game, it counted only as a dead ball single and nobody scored. Green won the game, 11 to 9.
Green hitters were 19 for 34 with 3 walks for a .559 team batting average and a .595 on-base percentage. David Ferguson was 4 for 4 (three doubles and a homer) and Sid Hilton was 3 for 3 with a walk. Sky Blue hitters were 15 for 35 with one walk for a .417 team batting average and a .444 on-base percentage.
Players are worried about inflation because of the war. Ellen Slanovits pointed out she used to be able to go into a store with $3 in her pocketbook and come out with a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, milk, and lunchmeat. “Now,” she said, “they’ve got those darn security cameras.”
Mark Branin became a great grandfather between games. When his granddaughter went into labor he called 911 and asked what he should do. The operator asked, “Is this her first child?” and Mark yelled back, “No. It’s her grandfather.”