Airport blanked Innovative Communication Corp. 4-0 Saturday evening in second-round action of the Government and Industrial Coed Slowpitch Softball League Farrington Division at Emile Griffith Park.
ICC, the division's regular season champions, ended the season in an uproar. For finishing first, the team got the first-round bye. ICC fans, wearing lime green T-shirts, stayed through a fifth inning rain delay. However, ICC got off to a cold start in the first game of the second round, clearly missing absent slugger Athniel "Bobby" Thomas.
Airport pitcher Dale Rhymer continued his dominance on the mound. On Friday, after taking a ball off his right pitching hand that split a fingernail, he gave up only one run for the rest of that game as his team defeated WAPA to advance to this series. Rhymer has not allowed an earned run in two playoff games. He not only kept ICC scoreless Saturday but did not even allow a runner to reach third, giving up eight scattered hits in seven innings.
ICC pitcher Henry "Trouble" Richards also pitched well, allowing no earned runs for the game. However, ICC made six costly errors defensively that cost the the team all of the Airport runs.
Airport scored first in the second inning. Terry Browne reached on a fielding error by ICC first baseman Antonio "Pumpkin" Lewis. Rhymer then reached on another fielding error by ICC shortstop Richard Penn, and Browne scored on another error, this time a throwing one on the same play by ICC left fielder Robert Crossley.
The second run came in the sixth inning, thanks to another throwing error by Crossley, and Airport padded the lead with two more runs in the seventh.
