LAKE FAIRWAYS SOFTBALL TEAM

Lake Fairways finished 2022 in 3rd place in the standing, but 1st place in hearts of all the fans. 

We had a wonderful end to the season, when the players and wives got together for the end of season celebration. We got to honor our Coach and Manager Fran “Kid” Dempsey for his leadership, our Equipment Coach Tom “Sarge” Koester for keeping us in uniform, our Refreshment Manager Scott “Meat” Burns for keeping us fluid, our team Photographer Cathy Beneteau for all the highlights, Mark “Our Biggest Fan” Beneteau for being there every step of the way, and our team Statistician Bill “Hammer” Mason for making our numbers look good. We also had Steve “Flea Bag” Theberge host the plate ceremony. Great job articulating our strengths and weaknesses. We played Corn hole, told some stories, the Coach cooked the food, and we all celebrated what Lake Fairways is very about, Fellowship. 

 I want to thank everyone who turned out to the games, it really is encouraging to see the support from Lake Fairways Community for a bunch of guys that are willing to try to hold up Lake Fairways against all the other communities, I am looking forward to spending next year, hearing and seeing everyone out there. 

 Lake Fairways will finish 2022 in 3rd place for the second year in a row. With 1 Game left in the season, we are currently in Third place A quick recap for the games from Feb 21st to Mar 14th. 

 21Feb, Monday night softball, tuff loss for Lake Fairways, we started well getting 4 runs in the first and held them to 0 until the 4th inning. We gave up 3 runs, then 1 and then 2 to fall behind 4-6. Our 7th inning rally came up short. Our best hitters John JJ Johnson 3-3 and Brian Flatliner Batterton 2-2. We had a great turn out of fans and past players. Thanks for coming out, we will be back on Wednesday for Del Tura. Come out, makes for a great date night, bring your chairs or sit together in the stands, get a great picture with the new banner. 

 23Feb, Lake Fairways fans, with a heavy heart this morning, I must report that we lost to Del Tura 3-10. They came out strong taking advantage of some defensive errors. We struggled at the bats with only Gerry Rifle Kelly going 2-2 and John Rocketman Donahue 3-3. Good play between John Pope Grab and Fran Kid Dempsey pitching for us. Looks like everyone is still enjoying a night at the ball field. See everyone on Monday night at 5:30pm as we work to get our groove back and make a run to get back in First place. Pictures with the new banner are looking great. I love it when couples kiss for the camera, love is everlasting.

  28Feb, thank you for coming out to the game last night. It was an intense game. We were behind the whole game until the 5 and 6 innings where we started getting some hits and breaks to score 8 runs. Tom Gums Welsh went 3-3 for us. Key hits by Eddy Twightlight Zone Claps, Brian Flatliner Batterton and Jeff TBD Davis got us tied. A Sacrifice fly from Tom Sarge Kostera to get the winning run in the 7th. Great pitching for Fran Kid Dempsey.  

 2Mar, Great turn out at the game on Wednesday. It was packed in the stands, around the stands and down the first base line. Unfortunately, we were almost completely shut down, Herons Glen played a great defense, the outfield caught everything hit to them. Our 1st four batters Al Woody Woods, Paul Wolf McMeel, John Rocketman Donahue, and John JJ Johnson had 5 of our 7 hits but got only 2 runs. We fought hard but they had consistent hits in the 3rd inning to get 5 runs on us. Can’t say how much we appreciate the support of the community coming out to cheer us on. We hope to come back on Monday fighting again as we only have 4 games left.  

9Mar, Update from Wednesday night at Carmelita Park. We played well against an improved Del Tura Turos team. We finally got the bats going to get 5 runs in the 1st inning. They fought back with 4 in their 1st. We got a handle on them and in the end won 18-9. Al Woody Woods and Jeff Rookie Davis went 3-3, Al with an in the park HR & 3B and Jeff with 2 3B. PS: Cathy does a wonderful job with capturing all the great photos for the game and Tanya keeps everyone happy with the cookies. Thank you. PSS: that sexy couple kissing is me and my wonderful wife. 

 14Mar, Wow, extra innings going into 9 innings to lose by 1 run with a runner in scoring position. We had Herons Glen back against the wall into the 4th inning where they got 5 runs and took the lead 5-3. In the bottom of the 7th, we hit, fought back and tied the game, then we allowed Herons Glen 1 run, while we struggled with 5 strikeouts in the 8th and 9th inning to lose 5-6. We struggled with getting hits but Tom Gums Welsh led with 2-3, John JJ Johnson had 2 RBIs. Its was also a welcome back to Rick Tubs Miller who was back after getting his heart repaired. He made some great catches for us in the outfield.  With the last game coming on Wednesday night 

16Mar, the team would like to thank Cathy Beneteau for all the wonderful photos of the team. Tanya for the wonderful cookies, add them up at is 42 plates of cooking between the fans and the players. Karen Caswell for making and donating the team Banner.  

Monday night, Great Valentine’s Day game last night. Both teams played great defense, Jeff Davis went 1-1, everyone else contributed a hit or 2. John Pope Grab and the defense shutdown Del Tura to 4 Hits and only 1 run.  Red hot fielding with unassisted double play, and multiple out by Paul Wolf McMeel. We struggled getting runs with 12 hits. Great coaching from Fran Kid Dempsey, Wolf scored on a sacrifice fly and John Rocketman Donahue score on a play of an error from Del Tura. Final score 2-1. We are now in the 3 way tie for First place. The fans were awesome, and Tanya made special heart ❤️ cookies as the treat. Thank you for coming.  

February 16th, Wednesday nights BATTLE OF THE LAKES. Pine lakes is looking to take back the title from Lake Fairways was denied in a 18-2 win, Tom Sarge Kostera was 3-3 tonight, Jean Marc Ribbit Beneteau was 2-2, while Al Woody Woods and John Rocketman Donahue combined for 7 RBI’s, John Pope Grab only gave up 2 runs 1 Earned, and Closer Fran Kid Dempsey pitched a perfect inning.    

Come on out in March:

2Mar against Herens Glen 

7Mar against Del Tua Amigos, the Buccaneers, 

9Mar against Del Turo Turos, 

14Mar against Herens Glen, 

16 Mar against Del Tura Amigos for the Final Game of 2022 Season.     

Wednesday update 

Wow, Lake Fairways is back, everyone played hard tonight, Herons Glen would not give us an inch, we were 2-2 through 3 innings, then in the 4,5,6 innings we got some bats going and defense shut them down. We won 10-3 with great pitching from the Pope- John Grab, and 2 double plays from The Wolf- Paul McMeel, The Fleabag- Steve Theberge to Ribit- Jean Marc Beneteau. At the bats Ribit, Rifle-Gerry Kelly, and Rocketman- John Donahue went 3-3. On a sad note, Meat-Scott Burns had an injury making a play in the outfield and had to go to the hospital and get 11 stitches in his hand.Thank you everyone who came out. Looking forward to Monday Night game against First Place Del Tura, please join us if you can make it. 

Game 11 was a successful win with everyone back in the lineup. The star of the game Fran Kid Dempsey, who is back hitting  for the first time in a couple years, and he went 3-3. As did Jean Marc Ribbit Beneteau and John Donahue. John Pope Grabs pitched 4 shutout innings but give up 4 in the 4th. Final score was 16-4. PS everyone said the lemon cookies were awesome, thank you Tanya. 

Let’s see everyone back in the stands for Wednesday night against Heron Glen, it is a must win for us. 

Tough loss tonight, very impressed on the comeback for being down 0-6 to tie it up by the 7th. Everyone made a contribution. Great rally in the 5th inning and shutting them down in innings 3-6. What I love is how the community supports the team, it is so encouraging when I walk to bat and see and hear the sidelines. Or as I walk out on the field down the sidelines and hear let’s go Rocket man.

Monday night was a beautiful night for Softball, Herons Glen was tough, we battled back and forth for several innings, but some errors caught up with us and we lost 7-13. We still had fun with all the fans that came out for us. Hoping to see you all tonight Wednesday at 5:30pm against our rivals Del Tura.