The Villages Daily Sun

LEESBURG — Kinetico Water/Royal Highlands scored four times in the sixth inning to take a hard-fought 6-3 win against Toadvine and Associates/Royal Highlands in the winners’ bracket semifinal game of the Division IV Sun ’N’ Fun Invitational Tournament at Royal Highlands on Wednesday.

Kinetico got on the board first with two runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Darrell Ewing smacked a one-out triple to centerfield and scored when Jigs Zamierowski followed with a single. Jerry Walker drove home Zamierowski with a two-out single.

In the top of the third inning, Toadvine tied the score.

Bill Conroy singled to begin the inning, but was forced at second by Larry Delgado. Robert Matos’ double sent Delgado to third. Garry Hummer then reached on a two-base error and both Delgado and Matos scored.

Pitcher Ed Ziegler of Toadvine and the Kinetico duo of Joe Meers and Tommy Jenkins didn’t allow any more runs until Kinetico had the big sixth inning.

Don Cassidy led off the inning with an infield hit and, following a one-out single by Ewing, scored on a single off the bat of Zamierowski. One out later, Steve Pierce slammed a double to plate both

Ewing and Zamierowski. Pierce scored on a single

by Walker.

The sixth-inning rally for Kinetico followed a fifth inning when they had loaded the bases with no outs and failed to score.

“Our bats just woke up,” said winning manager Henry Kirchner. “Our good hitters were not hitting early. I have six excellent hitters and they didn’t start hitting until late.”

Toadvine had one last chance in the top of the seventh inning.

Larry Simonson hit a bloop single to begin the inning and scored on a two-out single by Wayne Swope. Carl Miller walked to load the bases, but Jenkins retired Ziegler to end the game with the tying run on base.

“We just made too many errors,” Ziegler, Toadvine’s manager, said.

Kinetico’s pitching duo of Meers and Jenkins did a good job of scattering 10 Toadvine hits.

“This is my normal pitching rotation,” Kirchner said. “They always rotate. They did an excellent job.”

Ewing, Zamierowski, Walker, Bill Allen and Vern Lamm all had a pair of hits to pace Kinetico.

Swope and Ed Peters both had two hits to lead Toadvine.

RH Toadvine 002 000 1 - 3 10 0

RH Kinetico 200 004 x - 6 14 1

W: Tommy Jenkins. L: Ed Ziegler.

2B: RHT - Robert Matos. 3B: RTK - Darrell Ewing, Steve Pierce. RBIs: RHT - Gary Hummer 1, Wayne Swope 1. RHK - Ewing 2, Pierce 2, Jerry Walker 2.

Other Division IV Games

Oakwood Grill/Pennbrooke 4, Discount Carpet/Holiday Travel 3

Woody Davis, Rick Fetty, Wayne Hyde and Don Ness each had two hits for Pennbrooke. Ness added a home run for the winners. Fetty was the winning pitcher.

Bud Harburn, Bill Wright, and Walt Habich each had two hits for Holiday Travel.

Highland Lakes Dental/Hawthorne 4, W.D. Aluminum/Plantation 2

Hawthorne moved to the winners’ bracket final with the win.

Jerry Milligan had three hits and Marty Boermeester, Jim Hebert, and Romie Marble each had two hits for Hawthorne. The winning pitcher was Gary Butler. Tom Tyvol had a double for Plantation.

Lake Tax Advisory Group/Del Webb 11, Toadvine and Associates/Royal Highlands 2

Del Webb advanced to the losers’ bracket semifinals and Royal Highlands was eliminated from the tournament.

Al Dorion, Bill Brown, Dan Kelly and Virgil Green each had a pair of hits to pace Del Webb to the win.

Gary Hammer, Ed Peters, John Snyder, and John Vega all had two hits for Royal Highlands.

Oakwood Grill/Pennbrooke 8, W.D Aluminum/Plantation 1

Pennbrooke advanced to the losers’ bracket semifinals and Plantation was eliminated from the event.

Galen Friend had three hits for Pennbrooke. The winning pitcher was Rick Fetty.

Walt Campbell and Dave Muselwhite both had two hits for Plantation.

Division II

Urology Center of Florida/Spruce Creek 15, David Knowles Agency/Pennbrooke 12

Spruce Creek advanced to the winners’ bracket final with the win.

George Matthews had four hits and Howie Bowman and Carmen DiCocco both had three hits for Spruce Creek. Bowman smacked a pair of home runs and Pete Butala and John Bafaro each went deep once in the win.

John Martucci had three hits, including two home runs, for Pennbrooke.

Lake County Eagles Post 4273/Holiday Travel 14, SummerGlen Sales Staff/SummerGlen 13

SummerGlen was eliminated from the tournament by the close loss.

Don Hartig, George Muller and Harold Brown all had a home run for Holiday Travel.

Dave Rinaldo had two home runs and Al Cleveland homered once for SummerGlen.

Clerbrook RV Resort 23, All Safe Pest Control/Del Webb 12

Clerbrook advanced to the winners’ bracket final with the victory.

Ed Poliski, Allan Cramer, Joe Bown, Bryan Carmack and Max Dunn all had three hits for Clerbrook. Cramer had two home runs and Bown one in the win.

Gary Baxter had three hits and Paul Brown had two for Del Webb.

Lake County Eagles Post 4273/Holiday Travel 18, David Knowles Agency/Pennbrooke 5

Holiday Travel advanced to the losers’ bracket semifinal game with the win and Pennbrooke was eliminated with the loss.

John Parkhurst had four hits, including a pair of home runs, and Harold Brown and Larry Jankowski each had three hits for Holiday Travel. Jankowski also had a home run.

Joe Carico had a home run for Pennbrooke.

Continental Country Club 10, All Safe Pest Control/Del Webb 5

Continental advanced to the losers’ bracket semifinal game and Del Webb was eliminated.

Tom Maxwell had three hits, including a triple, and Jeff Ashley and Mike Dineen each had two hits, including a home run, to lead Continental.

Tom Gimeli had three hits, including a triple, Jay Smith smacked two hits and Lou Parise had a double for Del Webb.

Division III

Armstrong Homes/Stonecrest 20, Pennbrooke Fairways 3

Stonecrest eliminated Pennbrooke from the tournament.

Loy Brashear, Chuck Emery and Bill Jacobs each had three hits for the winners. Stan Smith hammered a home run, Brashear had a triple and Bill Jacobs had four RBIs for Stonecrest.

Charlie Browder and Sammy Shelton each had two hits for Pennbrooke.

United Southern Bank/Royal Highlands 9, EZGO Factory Showroom/Del Webb 6

Royal Highlands moved to the winners’ bracket final with the win.

Jack Lavin and Marv Chapman each had three hits and Kevin Smith and Lee Fjeld both added a pair of hits for Royal Highlands.

Jim Hazen, Ron Newman, Paul Shiffman and Paul Modugno all had two hits for Del Webb.

American Legion Post 219/Water Oak 10, United Southern Bank/Plantation 1

Water Oak took the other spot in the winners’ bracket final with the win.

John Betts, Al Mason, Willy Wilcox, Den Angebraundt and Gil Jacobs each had two hits to lead Water Oak.

Don Weston had a home run for Plantation’s only score.

EZGO Factory Showroom/Del Webb 5, Don’s Golf Carts/Legacy 4 (9 innings)

Del Webb advanced to the semifinals of the losers’ bracket and Legacy was eliminated in the extra-inning affair.

Excellent defensive plays by Ron Newman, Ron Pike, Jim Hazen and Milt Billing in the eighth and ninth innings secured the victory for Del Webb in a tough defensive battle.

Pike had four hits and Demetri Soutsos and Paul Malashevitz each had a pair of hits for the winners.

Jim Reardon had two hits and John Gaffeo had a home run for Legacy.

Armstrong Homes/Stonecrest 13, United Southern Bank/Plantation 1

Stonecrest moved to the losers’ bracket final and Plantation was eliminated from the tournament with the loss.

Hank Tribu, Joe Safreed and Chuck Emery each had three hits for Stonecrest. Safreed’s total included a pair of home runs.

Jim Fauci had three hits for Plantation.

Division V

Lakes at Leesburg 16, Cebert Wealth Management/Pennbrooke 8

Lakes at Leesburg advanced to the winners’ bracket final game with the triumph.

Winning pitcher Chuck Boreman and Dave Boram each had three hits for Lakes at Leesburg. Austin Wetherell hit a mammoth blast over the center field fence for the winners.

Bill Dean, Bernie Stecki and Joe Ritter each had a hit for Pennbrooke.

Nobles Golf Carts/Plantation 12, Discount Carpet/Holiday Travel 6

Holiday Travel was eliminated from the tournament with the loss.

Thermo Cool/Water Oak 13, Sunlake Scrubjays 7

Water Oak advanced to the winners’ bracket final with the win.

Nobles Golf Carts/Plantation 16, Cebert Wealth Management/Pennbrooke 8

Pennbrooke was eliminated from the tournament with the loss.

Sunlake Scrubjays 11, McCutcheon AC and Heating/Del Webb 6

Sunlake advances to the losers’ bracket semifinal game and Del Webb is eliminated from the tournament.

Steve Day is a sportswriter for the Daily Sun. He may be reached at sports@thevillagesmedia.com.