Solid hits, great catches and defense earned the Hardtimers a 7-1 victory over the Northbay Bombers, a co-ed visiting softball team.
“The Hardtimers are a very good team — definitely very good defense,” said Northbay’s Brian Palozola.
The Hardtimers took the lead in the second inning. DuPriest Brown set the stage with a triple to deep center.
Angelo Ramsey banged another triple that tipped off the glove of Northbay’s Kyle Dunlap near centerfield, bringing in Brown.
Hardtimer Juan Arballo singled into left field, setting up another score.
Northbay got out of the inning down 2-0 when Joe Huang snagged Isiah Daniels’ grounder before it could reach the outfield. He made the short throw to Lindsey Sakasitz, who fired to first to complete a double play.
The July 12 game was the first for Sakasitz this year. No other women members have come to any of the games this season.
“I miss coming in here. Life catches up though. Sometimes you have to put what you love to do off,” said Sakasitz. “I just got married, had a daughter and I’m raising my little sister now.”
She made several great plays, including doing a split in an attempt to catch a throw and make the tag at second.
In the third inning, Hardtimer Eric Post knocked in two more runs with a triple.
Northbay scored in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly, making the score 4-1.
Hardtimer John “Dunnie” Windham snagged everything Northbay knocked into left field.
Northbay played good defense, too. Bottom of the sixth, Brown smashed a hard line drive directly at Randy Ferino, coach, player and organizer of the Northbay Bombers. Ferino made the catch for the out and then shook off the sting of the ball pounding his gloved hand with an audible thud.
Then Ferino made another stop and got the ball to Brooks at second who completed the double play with a throw out at first.
The Hardtimers still slowly piled on runs, including a one RBI double by John “Hawkeye” Fleming in the bottom of the sixth.
By the top of the ninth, Northbay was down 7-1.
Palozola went up to bat with two outs and no one on base. He smacked a long fly deep into the outfield that looked like it would at least be a double. Then Angelo Ramsey ran toward the ball and dived under it to make the sliding catch.
“I had to meet it where it was going,” said Ramsey.
“That was a hell of a catch,” said Palozola.
The Hardtimers’ coach credits the win to the pitching techniques taught to Daniels.
“He looks at where the batter stands. If the batter is close to the plate, he pitches inside. If the batter is far off the plate, he pitches outside to keep the batter off balance. That makes the batter lose power,” said the Hardtimer coach.
Regardless of the outcome, Northbay enjoyed the game.
“It’s a combination of competitiveness and camaraderie. They separate themselves from what’s going on (in prison) and give us a good game,” said Ferino.