Photos by Gary Emeigh

The Bank was outscored 28-12 Friday in two preliminary round game losses at the 2016 Senior Softball USA tournament being held in Winter Haven, Fla., this weekend.

Eighty-eight teams from all over the country are entered in the two-day tournament, divided into nine brackets according to age. One team from Hawaii traveled to Florida to compete. The Bank is entered in the over 50 major division.

Bank manager John Zimmerman said his team decided to play in the tournament despite three starters not being available to travel south. Also, hard-hitting shortstop Mike Johnson was seeing limited action Friday due to a severe injury to his throwing arm.

“Those guys were the heart of our lineup”, Zimmerman said. “It’s really hard to make up their absence but we’re here and we’ll it our best shot.”

In Friday’s second game against Kentucky, Bruce Pierce went 2 for 3 trips to the plate with teammate Lenny Legar adding two singles. The final score in that contest was 8-4.