–FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—
August 4, 2026 (Liberty Park Sports Complex)
The morning was pleasantly cool with clouds passing over and a cooling breeze, uncharacteristic for an Alabama August day. Black bears had been spotted roaming along Route 119 and residents were warned to be on the lookout. Holly Whitmire pointed out that RASSA has its own big Polar bear in Phillip Cheek. Rel Underwood was talking about new cars and said he drove one with a video screen for the first time. “I thought it was pretty slick. When I put the car in reverse, it showed me a video of a guy gettin’ run over in a parking lot.”
Sky Blue faced Red in the early game and came out hitting. Dale McWhorter, Chuck Killough, Ronnie Muro, Jerry Bevel and David Bedwell all reached base before anyone made an out, Jeff Tyler reached on a fielder’s choice, Charles Jones and Royce O’Donnell got hits and Duffy Vandeford drove in the fifth run. Red matched them; Jim Raley legged out a triple, Hootie drove him in. Wayne Pike doubled and Harold Finchem drove Hootie and Wayne in. Pete DiCiara reached on a fielder’s choice, Bill Lovell doubled, Wayne Graham drove in Pete and Holly drove in Bill. Sky Blue only scored 2 in the second but Red kept on hitting and scored 5. Wayne Sheets led off with a walk for Sky Blue and Dale drove him in with a double. Chuck singled and Ronnie Muro drove in Dale, but the rally stopped there. Buddy Cannon singled for Red, Jim Raley walked, Hootie singled, Wayne Pike drove in a run, and Finch hit a 3-run homer. Then Pete DiCiara, Bill Lovell, and Wayne Graham all got hits and Keith Frederick drove in the fifth run. Red did it again in the third, holding Sky Blue to 2 on hits by Jeff Tyler, Chas Jones, Royce, Duffy and Dale and scoring 5 more on Holly’s leadoff double, Buddy Cannon’s RBI double, Jim Anderson’s walk, Jim Raley’s single, Wayne Pike’s sacrifice fly, Finch’s outta the park single, Pete DiCiara’s 2 RBI single and Bill Lovell’s RBI single. Red 15, Sky Blue 9 after three.
Sky Blue made it a one-run game in the 4th by scoring 5 and then shutting out Red. Chuck led off with a triple for Sky Blue, Ronnie Muro hit a sacrifice fly, Jerry Bevel singled, David Bedwell walked, and Jeff Tyler, Chas Jones, Royce O’Donnell, and Duffy all drove in runs with singles. Holly got Red’s only hit in their 4th. But Red shut out Sky Blue in the fifth and scored 2 to take a 17 to 14 lead. Jim Anderson singled and Jim Raley doubled for Red but Jim Anderson got cut down at third on a good relay from the outfield. Wayne Pike drove in Jim Raley and Finch drove in Wayne. Sky Blue could only manage one run in the 6th when Chas Jones drove in Jerry Bevel with a sacrifice fly, but they shut out Red in the bottom of the sixth and went into the open 7th inning needing 2 runs to tie; but Red shut them out, one, two, three, and that was the game. Red won, 17 to 15.
Red hitters were 26 for 39 with 3 walks for a .667 team batting average and a .690 on-base percentage. Sky Blue hitters were 24 for 39 with 3 walks for a .615 team batting average and a .643 on-base percentage. Dale McWhorter and Chuck Killough were both 4 for 4 and Chas Jones was 3 for 3 with a sacrifice fly.
Green played Blue in the late game. Dale McWhorter was a last-minute replacement at pitcher for Blue as Brian Gierlatowiecz’s wife needed his attention due to a fall, and Dale held Green to a 2-run first inning. Gene Garcia singled and David Ferguson drove him in with a double. Then Jerry Bevel drove in David with a single. Blue scored 5. Tom Wasmer and Edwin Yergen led off with hits but the next two batters made outs. Then a string of two-out hits by Sid Hilton, David Brasfield, John Remley and Rel Underwood drove in the 5 runs. Green came back with 4 in the second and shut out Blue to take a 6-5 lead. Larry Enzweiler, Bob Slanovits and Bobby Watkins loaded the bases with hits and Carlos Davis drove in 2 runs with a long single. Joey Johnson reached on a fielder’s choice, Mike Madden drove in Bobby, and Mark Brannin drove in Joey. But Blue shut out Green in the top of the third and took back the lead with 5 runs in the bottom. Ken Sransky doubled, Sid Hilton singled, John Remley drove in Ken, Rel Underwood singled, Rick Alston drove in 2 runs with a single, Dale loaded the bases with a single, CeCe drove in a run with a walk and Rick Erdimer drove in the fifth run. Blue 10, Green 6 after three.
Blue outscored Green 2 to 1 in the 4th. Jerry Bevel homered for Green’s run and David Brasfield drove in Blue’s 2 runs. John Remley got another hit but Mike Madden shut off the Blue rally with a running catch at the fence. Then Blue outscored Green 3 to 1 in the fifth. Mike Madden drove in Carlos for Green’s run and Dale, CeCe, Rick Erdimer, and Tom Wasmer reached for Blue; Edwin Yergen drove in 2 runs and Ken Sransky drove in the third. Blue shut out Green in the sixth and scored 2 more runs on hits by David Brasfield and John Remley, an RBI single by Rel and Dale’s RBI fielder’s choice. So Blue led Green 17 to 8 going in to the open 7th and Green scored 9 runs to tie the game at 17. Jerry Bevel, Phillip Cheek, Cecil Kwong, Larry Enzweiler, Bob Slanovits, Bobby Watkins, Carlos Davis, Joey Johnson and Mike Madden got a string of hits before anyone made an out and Dennis Horne drove in the 9th run. Green shut out Blue in the bottom of the 7th to send the game into extra innings.
Green scored 3 in the top of the eighth inning. David Ferguson drove in Gene Garcia who started the inning at second base by rule. Phillip Cheek drove in David, Cecil singled and Larry Enzweiler drove in Phillip with his fourth hit of the game. Phillip, pitching for Green, got the first batter to fly out to Joey Johnson’s running catch. But then Rel drove in David Brasfield, Rick Alston drove in Rel who flew from first to home on a single (it was actually pinch runner Ken Sransky), Dale singled, CeCe drove in Rick Alston with a clutch hit to right, and Rick Erdimer won the game with another single to right. Blue 21, Green 20 in 8 innings.
Blue hitters were 33 for 53 with 4 walks for a .600 team batting average and a .649 on-base percentage. Four Blue hitters had 4 hits but none had a perfect day. However, Dale McWhorter pitched a walk-free game, and pitched 15 innings across the two games while going 8 for 9 at bat. Green hitters were 31 for 55 for a .564 team batting average and on-base percentage. Larry Enzweiler was 4 for 4, Mike Madden was 3 for 3, and Mark Branin was 1 for 1 before he retired from the game.