Colorado Springs - Week 7 - Highlights

Bazinga (red) vs. The Freeballers (lime):

Bazinga was looking to solidify their top seed in the Pikes Peak Cup against the shorthanded Freeballers squad. The unstoppable duo of Nate Kischer and Tim Menditto led off the damage for Bazinga in the 1^st with back to back bunt singles, later scoring to make it 2-0. In the bottom half of the 1^st, The Freeballers’ captain Vinny Nocito would get a leadoff single, and then scored on a sac-fly by Jessica Mogge to bring them within a run. Bazinga seemed to get a little nervous about the close gap, so they pounded out a 5-run 2^nd inning to help pad their lead to 7-1. Bazinga was glad to have their former 5280 MVP Matt Howes back on the mound for them, as he held The Freeballers to only five safe kicks for the remainder of the game. The Bazinga offense did most of their offensive damage by playing small ball, as Matt Howes had the only extra-base kick of the night.

Final Score: Bazinga 11, The Freeballers 1

HeadShots (white) vs. Hashtag Balls (forest green):

These two veteran teams came in very evenly matched up on paper, but Hashtag Balls was hoping to get the edge to move up in the rankings. Hashtag Balls got the action started in the 1^st, and Dan Z (Jacob Busch) came through with Big Hurt (Adam Huerta) on base, launching a monster homer over the outfield. Kickball enthusiast Chris Berman made the call on the play with his classic “back, back, back, back… GONE.” HeadShots answered in the 2^nd with a run scored by Baylor Finch on a sac-fly by Nate Van Wingerden to make it a 2-1 game. Hashtag Balls got their offense rolling again in the 3^rd after a pair of doubles by Alamo (Kenneth Jackson) and Shallow Hal (Lawrence Halby) and an RBI single by captain Holla Holla (Scott Holewinksi) to make it 5-1. In the top of the 4^th, HeadShots’ Anna Playfair got a leadoff single and scored on a kick by Caleb O’leary. HeadShots would fail to get any more runs home, stranding a couple of runners in scoring position that inning. In the final inning down 5-3, HeadShots would load the bases with 1 out, but a fly-out by Jared Dumont would turn into a double play, as Hashtag Balls picked off Roberta Benz for the final out of the game, preventing a come-back win for HeadShots.

Final Score: Hashtag Balls 5, HeadShots 3

The Freeballers (lime) vs. Hashtag Balls (forest green):

In the final battle for these two teams before the tournament, both teams stepped up their defensive efforts. In the top of the 1^st, as The Freeballers were trying to get together a rally, catcher Alamo (Kenneth Jackson) made an incredible diving grab to end the inning. In the bottom half of the 1^st, Big Hurt scored on an RBI fielder’s choice kick by Professor (Adam Clark). In the bottom of the 6^th, Horny (Camden Nahorniak) was able to score on a clutch kick by Baby Simpson (Maggie McCullough) that left her at third base after the ball was thrown around the field a couple times. Hashtag Balls’ pitcher Dan Z was able to deal some tricky pitches that caused The Freeballers to fly-out 15 out of their 21 total outs for the game, including two in the bottom of the 7^th to secure the win for Hashtag Balls.

Final Score: Hashtag Balls 2, The Freeballers 0

HeadShots (white) vs. Fresh Kicks of Ball Air (black):

The summer regular season concluded with black vs white… or good vs evil, night vs day, hot vs cold (you get the point). HeadShots wanted to prove they could keep up with the top competition, and FKOBA wanted to show they have what it takes to win it all this season. In the bottom of the 1^st, FKOBA plated 9 out of their 10 kickers, scoring 4 runs with 7 singles. In the top of the 2^nd, HeadShots’ Baylor Finch led off with a single, later scoring on Cortney Smith’s sac-fly. Nate Van Wingerden would attempt to get another run on a grounder to 3^rd base, but Alan Paquin pulled a Nolan Arenado and pegged him out as he tried to score from 3^rd base on the play, despite it not being a force play. Down 7-1 in the 4^th, HeadShots put together a string of well-placed balls to get some runs in; the Calebs (O’leary and Van Wingerden) scorched back-to-back triples to right field to knock in 3 runs, and Baylor Finch brought Caleb VW home with a sac-fly to bring the score to 7-5. FKOBA answered in the 4^th and 5^th with back-to-back 3 run innings, thanks in part to a bases loaded 3-RBI triple by Joey Vincent that went way over Nate Van Wingerden’s head in right field. HeadShots would get shut down by the nasty pitching of Erik Martin, who retired HeadShots 1-2-3 in the final two innings.

Final Score: Fresh Kicks of Ball Air 13, HeadShots 5