ARLINGTON A big first inning from the Wrecking Crew wasnt enough to hold off the hot bats of Busted and Bruised in their Aug. 1 rec league softball matchup.
Shawna Noble led off the game with a walk for the Crew and Brian Hardison knocked a double into right field scoring her. A two-base walk to Jason Parker put runners on second and third with one out before Robin Parker trickled an infield single down the third base line. It wasnt enough to score Hardison but it did load the bases for Ben Wilcox. Wilcox crushed a double to score all three of the runners and give the Crew an early 3-0 lead. Branden Hamby singled to score Wilcox and push the lead to 4-0.
Busted and Bruised stormed back in the bottom half of the inning, using a two-run home run from Kevin Willard to narrow the gap. Willie Willard tripled and scored on an RBI single from Terry Page making the score 4-3. Tawnya Hansen and John Hill also singled to make it 4-4 and an error by the Wrecking Crew third baseman allowed one more run to sneak home to give Busted a 5-4 lead after one inning of play.
The Wrecking Crew tied it up in the top half of the second inning after a Brian Hardison double. Hardison advanced to third base on an overthrow and scored on a sacrifice fly by Shawna Noble.
After the Wrecking Crew leveled the scores, Busted and Bruised broke the game open in the bottom half of the second inning. Tawnya Beak singled to center field to open the festivities. Matt Allison singled past third base to put two runners aboard. Karilyn Ames then drove a single off the tip of the glove of a leaping Wrecking Crew shortstop to load the bases. Eli Reddell popped a ball into centerfield that was dropped by the Wrecking Crew to allow a run to score.
With nobody out and the bases chalk full of runners Kevin Willard unleashed his second huge hit of the afternoon. He drove a deep shot to centerfield that a chasing outfielder could not corral. By the time the Wrecking Crew got the ball back to the infield the speedy Willard was already celebrating in the dugout.
Now trailing 10-5 the Wrecking Crew got some hope in the top half of the third inning behind the weighty bat of Ben Wilcox. With a runner on first, Wilcox drove a pitch deep into the left-centerfield gap and sped around the bases for a home run of his own. His two run blast put the score at 10-7 in favor of Busted and Bruised.
Wrecking Crew would get no closer as a huge bottom half of the inning effectively ended their chances. Busted and Bruised sent 16 batters to the plate, scored 11 runs and never looked back. The first big highlight came on a Phil Johnson three-run home run that brought the score to 15-7.
Busted and Bruised plated six more runs to lead 21-7. Jamie Dicey came up with a two-RBI ground rule double, deep into the brush beyond center field. Kevin Willard followed her with a two run home run to nearly the same spot. It seemed that every single batter that got up managed to scratch out a hit.
After the third inning demolition the game settled back down and nobody made much noise the rest of the way. Busted and Bruised did pick up another run in the fourth to close the game ahead 22-7, winning by mercy rule. With their powerful order, it remains to be seen if anybody can challenge Busted and Bruised atop the standings.