Just a reminder as we are about a month out. Saturday August 19th the A, B, and C Division Champions will be playing at Szot Park in the 2017 Massachusetts Church Softball State Championship.
Our representatives will be playing against Eastern Massachusetts opponents. Please mark the calendars and plan on coming out to take in this day of softball.
It looks like we got all the games in tonight except for Blunt #’s 3&4. My apologies to those who went to Blunt to those games. Let me try to explain what happened. Bethany’s fields were also under water and thanks to Phil I was notified early enough to move these teams to other fields.
It just so happens that this rain pick a bad week. This is the week that our director Nikali, my contact Randy at Spfld P&R and my contact Rich at Chicopee P&R went on vacation. Randy has always been good to call me by mid-morning to let me know about Springfield field conditions. I again apologize, but who knew all three would vacation the same week and then the rain, but it is Tuesday
Bethany fields are unserviceable tonight. Hope Community #1 vs. City Church are moved to Van Horn #3 and Bethany #1 vs. Evangel are moved to Szot #3
I failed to post right after the All –Star game that some items were left behind and put in my truck. A couple of the items were missed right away and I was contacted and they are back where they belong. I still have three items. Contact me at dphenry@integrity.com if you left something behind. I may have it!
All games are cancelled for tonight. The latest batch of rain/hail has made all fields unplayable. Enjoy the fourth of next week and we’ll hopefully be back and better than ever in two weeks.
Games between Szot Park #1 and Blunt Park #3 are going to be switching fields tonight.
After a thrilling finish by the coed all-stars, the men looked to take the field at Szot Park. With the sun beginning to go down on a gorgeous evening, the men had a tall order in front of them to present a game as exciting as the coed teams. Early on it looked as if the visiting squad West, coached by Chuck Mickey (Hope Community) would run away with the game. In the 2nd inning, Bill Maki (Church of Christ) led off with a triple and the West squad exploded for 9 runs to take a commanding 9-1 lead after two. In the top of the 3rd, the West team tacked on four more runs with Matt Dean (Bethany) leading the way with a towering homerun to right field. In the bottom of the 3rd with the East team down 12 – 1, they started trying to come back, scoring four runs led by Josh Langley’s (Faith Baptist) three-run homerun. After three innings the score was now 12-5 with the West still looking to have a comfortable lead and flashing some nice leather around the diamond. The next few innings saw more homeruns by Matt Dean and Bill Maki and we entered the bottom of the ninth inning with the East all-stars down by a score of 18 – 12. Chasing six runs seemed to be too insurmountable for the East team as they never scored more than four in any previous inning but the stage was set for a remarkable and memorable closing to the game. In the bottom of the ninth, Bobby Santiago (City Church) reached base on an error and Trav Kuffel (Redeeming the Time Ministries) followed with an RBI double. After Kevin “More Athletic than Hurley” Demaria (Church in the Acres) was ruled out an up the middle hit, Colin Chisholm (Trinity) responded with an RBI single. A few batters later, with the bases loaded, Jason Aldrich (Lifepoint) hit a massive grand slam homerun to tie the game. After the celebration and excitement died down a bit, Tom Duffy (Mt. View Baptist) hit a single. Nate Woodward (Trinity) grounded out on a hit to the second baseman but Tom advanced into scoring position with Taylor Brust (Sonlife) coming to the plate with a chance to be the hero. With two outs, Taylor roped a solid hit to the outfield and in came the winning run. The East squad, coached by Chris Buell (Christ Life Fellowship), came back in epic fashion and it all made for another entertaining and thrilling game in Chicopee.
MVP Honors went to the starting pitcher Taylor Brust. Taylor had 3 strikeouts on the evening and went 4 for 4 at the plate including the game winning RBI. Congrats!
It was a beautiful evening for softball at Szot Park and the coed softball stars came out for an epic battle of East vs. West. The East took a quick 1 – 0 lead on a leadoff “homerun” by Brandon Keith (Christ Community). In the bottom of the first inning, the West tied the score on a run by Jason Warner (First Central). A close back and forth affair had the score at 5 – 4 in favor of the West entering the top of the fifth. The East squad then exploded for seven runs to take a commanding lead, 12-4 with Jody Pierce (West Springfield) starting the inning off with a double. Not going away quietly, however, the West continued trying to claw back into the game and entered the bottom of the seventh chasing just 4 runs. In an exciting final half inning, the West team put up 3 runs to close within a single run (13-12) and had the bases loaded with only one out, but the East All-Stars ultimately got the final two outs on an exciting double play started by Tara Pierce (West Springfield) at 3B and prevailed with a thrilling win.
COED MVP honors went to Jen Mattson (New Day) who went 2 for 3 on the night with a double, triple and two runs scored.
This year’s All-Star Games are at Szot Park in Chicopee on June 20th. The Coed All-Star Game starts at 5:30 PM. The Rick Lidwin Memorial All-Star Game starts at 7:00 PM.
Hello All
Please be advised that Chick Fil A of Chicopee will be providing concession for the All Star festivities on June 20th. They will be providing concession for both the coed and men’s game, starting approximately at 5:30.
Chick Fil A is working on securing a portable card reader system but in case that doesn’t come to fruition, cash will work. Come hungry and looking forward to the 20th!
Andrew Hulse
Christ Community Church
Sent from my iPhone