Axe-handle bat a big hit for TOTS' player

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Denny Leonard, 81, a member of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers for 26 years, is one of a hand full of players with over 1,000 hits with the club. In 1993, the hits seem to come easy. Not so much in 2019. Lately, the "young man" from Edmonton, Alberta is finding a gap or two and is getting back into the swing of things.

Case in point: Today, Leonard picked up an axe-handled bat and gave it a try. He hit the ball hard with each at bat and even connected with a gapper to left-center field to help Team White stay within striking distance of Team Blue at Udall Park.

Chances are Leonard will continue to check out the bat rack, searching for the axe-handled bat, which some ball players and baseball aficionados feel may actually revolutionize the game -- at least from a hitting perspective.

Today's game at Udall had a little bit of everything --including a comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning when lefty Reed Palmer sent a Lloyd Barzell fastball over the right field fence for a three-run homer as Team White closed to within two runs of Team Blue. The homer was Palmer's eighth of the season.

Barzell regrouped and got out of the inning to pick up the 11-9 win. Mike Dawson went the distance for Team White and was saddled with the hard-luck loss.

Dawson tried his best to get through Team Blue's potent offense -- especially the middle of the lineup, which included a hard-hitting lefty, Tim Tolson, and two hard-hitting right-handed batters, Tim Boyd and Doc Thompson. The trio combined for eight hits and combined for six runs scored.

Pete Peters and John Mathews had three hits apiece for the losing team. Mathews came close to a home run. His towering blast landed half way up the left field fence and the double accounted for two RBI.

The TOTS return to action at Udall on Friday. Game time: 9 a.m.

Photo:  Denny Leonard