Dec. 18, 2006 — Two of three first-place challengers met up at the D.C. Canegata ballpark Monday night for slow-pitch softball, with 40 Caliber taking a relatively easy 15-10 victory over past league champions Wyatt Heat.
Steve Nisky, 40 Caliber's ace, turned in a strong pitching performance to pick up the win, while David Oetken got the loss for Wyatt Heat. Top hitters for 40 Caliber were Luis Cintron, (4-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs), Angel Soto (1-for-2 with a home run and three RBIs ) and Robert Ramsingh (2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs). For the Heat, top hitters were David Gonzalez (2-for-3 with home run and three RBIs), Steve Rosario, (1-for-2 with a home run and four RBIs) and Dwayne Harvey (4-for-4 with one RBI).
Batting first, Wyatt Heat got on the board with a three-run shot off the bat of Rosario. Then 40 Caliber answered with three runs on a two-run shot by Cintron and a solo shot by Ramsingh to knot the game at three after one inning.
After Wyatt Heat failed to score in the top of the second, 40 Caliber got two more runs on a two-run shot by Orlando Benitez in the bottom of the inning to extend their lead to 5-2 after two innings.
Wyatt Heat tied the game in the top of the third on a two-run shot by David Gonzalez. 40 Caliber came up empty in the bottom of the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, 40 Caliber took the lead for good, plating four runs for a 9-4 lead after Wyatt Heat failed to score in the top of the inning. They scored four runs on a three-run shot off the bat of lead-off hitter Angel Soto and an RBI single by Steve Nisky.
The Heat got three runs back in the top of the fifth on RBI singles by Andres Ponce Gonzalez and Rosario to close to within one at 9-8, but 40 Caliber really put the game away in the bottom of the inning. They erupted for six big runs for a 15-8 lead after five complete innings. They scored six runs on two-run singles by Gregory Francis and Carlos Velasquez, and a two-run double by Wayne Scott.
With the game's 1:45 time limit expired, the umpire let both teams know that the sixth inning would be the last. Facing a seven-run deficit in their last at bat, Wyatt Heat could only muster two runs on an RBI double by Harvey and a solo shot by Freddy Carrasquillo.
Stealers 22, Cartel 9
In the second game of the night, the defending champion Seaborne Stealers ended their four-game skid with a resounding 22-9 thrashing of the Cartel.
The Stealers looked like their team of old, the two-time defending champions who put fear in the hearts of their opponents any time they took the field over the last two years. It remains to be seen if this was a turnaround game for them.
Samuel Ramos got the win for the Stealers while Troy Lee Ling got the loss for the Cartel. Top hitters for the Stealers were Ronald Schjang, (3-for-5, two home runs and seven RBIs), Enrique Soto (3-for-5, with a home run and four RBIs) and Freddie Pimentel (4-for-5, with a home run and three RBIs). For the Cartel, top hitters were James Smith (2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs), Daren Lewis (2-for-3 with a home run and one RBI) and Kenneth Dunkirk (3-for-4).
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