A week four matchup inside the Clinton Parks and Recreation Co-ed Adult Softball league managed to give the audience a thriller between two teams earlier this week.
On Thursday, NGNL (4-1) took on Splittin Gaps (1-3), the second game both teams had played against each other in league action this season. Back in June’s week two, NGNL managed to edge out the Gaps by just a run, winning 18-17. NGNL headed into this second game, getting back into the win column by defeating Thrown Together (0-4) 25-9. Meanwhile, Splittin Gaps were hoping to bounce back from a 9-22 loss to Diamond Dynasty back on July 2.
NGNL batted first, getting as far as second base before three outs switched the offense for the Splittin Gaps. In the bottom of the 1st inning, after a flyout, Splittin Gaps’ Logan Carter managed to start the scoring on a deep shot to make it 1-0 in favor of the Gaps. Karis Antigo walked on her at-bat, which was followed up with a single hit by Braxton Doyle. The two runners on base scored thanks to back-to-back runs batted in (RBI) to make it 4-0 to close the first inning.
In the second, NGNL battled back. With his teammate Andrew Johnston on base, NGNL’s Tyler Williams sent a deep shot into play to bring the runner and himself home, cutting the Gaps’ lead to two before three outs switched the bats. At the bottom of the second, NGNL made two defensive plays to force two outs before giving up a single hit to Splittin Gaps’ Zachery Norris. The hit was the only one recorded for the Gaps before the third out ended the second inning with the score 4-2 in the Gaps’ favor.
To start the third, the offense for NGNL got going. Dani Harrison knocked in two runs off of a double RBI, while Dustin Edge managed to add another RBI of his own to help NGNL take the lead at 6-4. A sacrifice fly from Johnston brought in another run for NGNL before the top of the third concluded at 7-4.
At the bottom of the third, hits from Antigo and Doyle managed to get two on base, setting up an RBI for Splittin Gaps’ Makenna Martin sending Antigo home and moving the score to 7-5, before NGNL managed to keep runners stranded to ensure their lead inside of the fourth inning.
NGNL wasn’t able to string together much at the top of the fourth, recording three straight outs to give the Gaps the chance to score. At the bottom of the fourth, a run started for the Gaps. A few batters after Greg Coxum was walked, a sacrifice RBI by Logan Carter sent Coxum home from third to make the score 7-6. Doyle doubled to send the remaining two runners home to regain the lead at 7-8. Martin sent in two more runners off an RBI single to increase the Gaps’ lead to three. To cap off the run, two back-to-back RBI’s from Jeffrey Jacobs and Coxum ended the fourth inning 7-12, capping off a 7-0 run for the Gaps.
At the top of the fifth, with time cutting close to the end, NGNL fought their way back into the game. Cameron Wright managed to earn a double off of an error from the Splittin Gaps. That set up an RBI double by Mark Stanford to send Wright home to cut the lead to four at 8-12. After Kyle Molivas walked, an RBI double by Michael Dallas managed to get Stanford home to put NGNL down 9-12. Edge returned the favor by hitting a double as well to get both Molivas and Dallas home, moving the game to within one run. After securing the tying run thanks to his hit, NGNL’s Woo Lamb ran towards home plate off the next batter’s hit to take a 13-12 lead for his team to end the fifth inning.
The last opportunity for the Splittin Gaps came at the bottom of the fifth inning. The team would capitalize with their first two batters. First, Norris hit a home run to tie the game at 13-13. That set up Carter for a chance to win the game at the next at-bat, which he did by hitting an inside-the-park walk-off home run to take the game 14-13 for the Gaps.
“It felt good,” Carter recalled in an interview after the game. “I didn’t think it was going to go over. But you just gotta keep going; we want to win, so you just keep going and swing the bat. We’ve started off (the season) bad; we were at the bottom of the standings. So to beat them, they’re a good team, so it feels good.”
The win for Splittin Gaps is the second of the year, improving their record to 2-3. The team’s next game will be Monday, July 13 at 6:30 p.m., where they will face Thrown Together. As for NGNL, the loss moves their record to 4-2 on the season. They’ll look to bounce back against Diamond Dynasty on July 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Royal Lane Park.