Home Plate dominates kickball league

MARYSVILLE The erstwhile Galde's Gang, a team that won last year's city kickball league with just a one-loss season, has been on a rampage this season to go undefeated in six weeks of competition.

Calling themselves Home Plate this year, the team continued their tear through the season July 15 against the City Slickers, enforcing a 10-run victory after five innings and extending their lead in another two.

The City Slickers took a three-run lead as the first team up to kick but Home Plate used well-placed kicks to go up 8-3 at the end of one inning. After the bruising first inning, both teams buckled down on defense with Jeff Ballew leading the Slickers defense, holding off the Home Plate offense with six fly catches at third base.

Home Plate's greater success in catching the large, slightly deflated rubber ball helped them keep their edge on defense though, shutting out the City Slickers in four separate innings and holding them to just one run in another.

As the league's dominant force, Home Plate members have sought individual goals as well, one of which was finally met by team captain Jared Galde as he kicked for the cycle. While scoring hasn't been a problem for Galde or his teammates, he would sometimes find himself at the end of a game off from kicking for the cycle by a single or a double. Galde credited his team's success to their athleticism.

"We've had a lot of practice with baseball and softball," he said, adding that, comparably, the kickball "is actually a little easier to catch."

After winning it all last year, there was no doubt in his team's mind that they would come out again for the league's second season.

"You can't not have fun playing kickball."

Contact Arlington Times Sports Reporter Danielle Szulczewski at dszulczewski@marysvilleglobe.com or 360-659-1300.

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