March 2, 2007 — Claudio Enterprises continued their impressive play as the Bob Owens slow pitch softball league regular season comes to an end by knocking off yet another of the league’s upper-echelon teams in Speak the Word, 14-4, in a mercy-ruled contest.
Earlier in the season, Claudio Enterprises, which contains some very good baseball players, had trouble adjusting to the hitting in slow pitch softball. Now, however, they're the hottest team going into next week's playoffs.
Batting first, Speak the Word came up with two runs on a two-run shot off the bat of Norbert Pickering. Claudio Enterprises answered with three runs on a two-run blast to right center by Antonio Rivera and an RBI single by Miguel Rodriguez to lead 3-2 at the end of one inning.
After Speak the Word failed to score in the top of the second, a two-out, three-run error by the Speak the Word second baseman open the flood gates to what turned out to be a 10-run bottom of the second for Claudio Enterprises. After that error, a three-run blast by Alberto Medina, a two-run shot by Cruz, an RBI single by Wilfredo Ferreras, and another error accounted for the rest of the runs. They now led 13-2 at the end of two innings.
A two-run blast by Mike Franklin in the top of the third brought Speak the Word two runs closer at 13-4. Claudio Enterprises came up empty in the bottom of the inning.
After a scoreless fourth, Speak the Word, in danger of losing via the 10-run mercy rule, again failed to score in the top of the fifth.
Claudio Enterprises came to bat needing one run to win the game with the heart of their lineup coming to bat. Everyone in the ball park was looking for the game-winning long ball, but that never came to be, as a lazy fly ball into left field turned into a nightmare for Speak the Word.
Medina, who was on first base on the pop fly, tagged up on the out and advanced to second. The throw to second by the left fielder got away from the second baseman, allowing Medina to then scamper over to third. The first baseman then hurriedly picked up the ball and threw wildly to third and the ball got by the third baseman, allowing Medina to score the winning run of the game.
Wilfredo Carmona picked up the win for Claudio Enterprises, while Mark BeHarry took the loss for Speak the Word. Top hitters for Claudio Enterprises were, Cruz (3-for-3 with two home runs and four RBIs) and Medina (2-for-2 with a home run and three RBIs). For Speak the Word it was Pickering (1-for-2 with a homerun and two RBIs) and Franklin (1-for-2 with an RBI).
Cartel 19, Seaborne Stealers 17
In game two on the night, the Cartel jumped out to an early lead then was able to withstand a Stealers late rally to win an exciting ball game, 19-17. Troy Lee ling was the winning pitcher while Samuel Ramos took the loss for the Stealers. Leading the Cartel attack at the plate was Eddie Dunkirk (3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs), Arthur Lee (2-for-2 with two home runs and five RBIs) and Ray Defraitas (2-for-4 with two home runs and six RBIs).
For the Stealers, it was Owen Pimentel (2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs) and Eric Flynn (2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs).
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