Laquida Isles delivered a clutch two-out, walk-off, two-run single Sunday afternoon to propel the Obama Mamas to a hard-earned 8-7 victory over the Thymes at the Renholdt Jackson Sport Complex.
Trailing for most of the game, the Obama Mamas began their comeback in the bottom of the sixth before pulling it out in the bottom of the seventh.
The Thymes drew first blood in the top of the first inning, plating two runs on an RBI double by Ludequa Phillips and an RBI single by Shay Roberts. The Obama Mamas came up empty in their half of the inning, and in fact would not get on the board until the bottom of the fourth.
Meanwhile, after a scoreless second inning, the Thymes added two more runs in the top of the third to extend their lead to 4-0. They scored two runs on an RBI single by Roberts and an RBI ground out by Zahra O’Reilly.
After the Thymes failed to score in the top of the fourth inning, the Obama Mamas finally got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the inning to close the gap to 4-2, and the comeback was on. Both runs scored as a result of the Thymes’ errors.
The Thymes extended the lead back out to five at 7-2, plating three runs in the top of the fifth on RBI singles by Phillips and Zameeka Allen and an Obama Mamas’ error. They would not score again in the contest, however. The Obama Mamas had no answer in their half of the inning.
Trailing by five heading into the sixth inning, the Obama Mamas began to reel in the Thymes. They plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to just two runs at 7-5 on RBI singles by Jabria Sweeny and Makeya Brice and a Thymes error.
The stage was now set for Isles’ seventh-inning heroics. The first batter lined out to left for the first out. The next batter reached base on an error by the Thymes’ third baseman. The third batter of the inning drew a walk. Derise Baker then delivered an RBI single to cut the lead to one at 7-6, but Jusel Morales — who had drawn the walk earlier — was thrown out trying to go from first to third for the second out of the inning. Reneah Guzman then singled, and there were now two women on base with two outs. Isles, the eighth-place hitter, then calmly stepped to the plate and delivered her clutch two-run single, propelling the Obama Mamas to victory.
Sherry Simmonds got the win on the hill for the Mamas, while Raquel Concepcion got the loss. Top batters for the Obama Mamas were Sweeney, 2 for 4 with one RBI; Baker, 2 for 3; and Isles, 1 for 3 with two RBIs. For the Thymes, Roberts and Phillips both went 4 for 4 with two RBIs, and Allen went 2 for 4 with one RBI.
