–FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—
August 28, 2025 (Liberty Park Sports Complex)
The last week of August in Alabama produced record-breaking low temperatures giving RASSA players used to high heat and humidity an unexpected and welcome break. Clouds obscured the usually blinding sun giving players a chance to catch fly balls they often can’t see, and players didn’t look exhausted by the fourth inning.
Blue played Sky Blue in the opener in a battle for the league lead. Sky Blue jumped out to a 5 to 3 lead in the first inning; David Brasfield and Dick Baguley drove in the Blue’s runs and Carlos Davis, Larry Enzweiler, Rel Underwood and John Kuklinski drove in Sky Blue’s runs. Both teams eked out one run apiece in the second and third innings and then came alive in the fourth. Blue scored three runs on hits by Rick Erdimer, Beth Moore, Holly Whitmire, Sid Hilton, Cecil Kwong and David Ferguson. Sky Blue answered with four when Pete Manown singled, Chuck Killough doubled, Royce O’Donnell hit a two-run single and Carlos Davis hit a two-run homer. Sky Blue led 11 to 8 after four innings. Then Blue outscored Sky Blue 10 to 2 in the last three innings and won the game 18 to 13. Sky Blue scored its last two runs in the fifth on hits by Harold Easterwood, John Kuklinski, Harold Hagler and Chuck Killough, but fine running catches by Sid Hilton behind second base and Terry Sewell in right field choked off the rally. Blue’s runs in the fifth resulted from hits by David Brasfield, Terry Sewell, JD Lille, Brian G, Rick Erdimer, a Holly Whitmire walk and Sid’s RBI fielder’s choice. Their runs in the sixth took some doing. Cecil Kwong and David Ferguson singled and Carlos drove in a run with a fielder’s choice. David Brasfield and Dick Baguley singled, Terry Sewell drove in a run with a single and JD drove in another run with a fielder’s choice. Then Brian G got a hit and Rick Erdimer drove in the final two runs with a bases loaded single. Neither team scored in the seventh.
Blue hitters were 28 for 47 with three walks for a .596 team batting average and a .620 on-base percentage. David Ferguson was 4 for 4 and Dick Baguley was 3 for 3 with a walk. Sky Blue hitters were 23 for 41 with four walks for a .561 team batting average and a .600 on-base percentage. Chuck Killough was 4 for 4 and Harold Easterwood was 2 for 2 with two walks.
Orange beat Red in a low-scoring late game. Red started out hot, scoring 5 runs in the top of the first. Dale McWhorter doubled, Chuck Killough drove in Dale with double, Sid Hilton followed with another double, David Brasfield drove in Chuck and Sid with yet another double, Bill Lovell drove in David with a single and then scored all the way from first on Rel Underwood’s shot to right field. After their hot start, Blue only scored one run in the rest of the game. It came in the third inning on singles by Dale and Chuck and a sacrifice fly by Sid.
Orange didn’t score in the first but then crept up on Blue inning by inning, scoring one in the second on a Ken Sransky double and Steve Entrekin’s single. They scored two more in the third, one coming on Harold Easterwood’s roller to third base which turned into an inside the park home run as a result of some errant throws, and the other after Buddy Cannon singled and advanced on Tom Wasmer’s single and was driven in by Mike Madden’s hard shot to center. Harold’s only comment after running out the homer was that he never wanted to run that far again.
Orange scored one run again in the fourth when Jim Hill reached base on a fielder’s choice, advanced on Gary Singleton’s single and Scott Wadsworth’s fielder’s choice and was driven in by a Ron Oliver single. Red 6, Orange 4 after four innings.
Orange won the game in the fifth inning when they finished the game’s scoring with 4 more runs. Buddy Cannon opened the inning with a single and Harmon Turner followed with another. Buddy got thrown out trying to advance to third on a fielder’s choice and Mike Madden loaded the bases with his single. Ken Sransky cleared the bases with a three-run triple when he noticed a Red vulnerability in right field, and scored on Steve Entrekin’s hit. Neither team got a runner past second base the rest of the game and Orange won, 8 to 6.
Orange hitters were 18 for 35 for a .514 team batting average. Steve Entrekin was 3 for 3. Red hitters were 14 for 31 for a .452 team batting average. Neither pitcher, Bobby Watkins for Red nor Jim Hill for Orange, walked a batter in the game, the first walk-free game of the season.
Handsome Herb faced reporters. “The Red team is struggling through a stretch where most of our players are missing due to injuries and other situations. This is the second time this month we have had to work out one-day contracts with a majority of the team we field. We’ll keep doin’ what we haveta do but are hoping to get our regular team back together soon. Some of our injured players came out to watch the game including David Richey and Mike Richards. Mike was excited by some news he read. Apparently, there is a nudist colony in Homewood that had a hole in its fence. Mike said the police were looking into it.”