By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan

“Everything we hit was right at somebody,” lamented Jake Mortimer, manager of Kim’s Barrel Inn.

Jake was explaining how his team was upset by the Sloppy Swats in Coed softball action Monday night at Moore Barn Memorial. The Swats, 2-5 on the year, not only beat KBI, but they also shut them out. Justin Scott pitched an amazing two-hitter as the Sloppys won, 12-0. The Barrel had been tied for first place with Airport Bar entering the game.

KBI’s record is now 5-2. KBI’s Nic Dulmes added, “We must’ve hit about six line drives right to Brady Spees.”

It won’t take long to run down KBI’s hits. Nic Dulmes led off the game with a solid single to center. Josh Barnes doubled in the fourth, and that was all she wrote. KBI also walked four times, but the Swats turned two double plays to keep the visitors off the scoreboard. Meg Lee of KBI was asked if it was difficult to hit Scott’s pitches.

Can’t say for sure because I never swung at them yet. . I walked both times,” KBI’s Meg Lee said.

The Swats’ second double play occurred when Nic Dulmes walked and moved to second on a groundout. Josh Barnes then hit a sinking liner to left which Matt Barden caught for the play of the game. Barden then fired to Randy Shirek to erase Dulmes who was sliding into third.

The Swats on the other hand had no trouble at the plate as they came up with 20 hits. The winners got three runs in the bottom of the first on singles by Brady Spees, Rachel Graves, Evan Volm, and Matt Barden while Justin Scott chipped in a double. Three more runs came across for the Swats in the third on walks to Volm and Jen Eggleston and singles by Matt Barden and Tracy Mixa. Scott added a sac fly.

The Swats went ahead 7-0 when Matt Barden tripled and scored on Scott’s RBI single. Then the Swats ended it with five runs in the bottom of the sixth. The rally included a walk to Tracy Mixa, singles by Volm, Jen Eggleston, Scott, Beth Singer, and Taylor Gregorich with Brady Spees and Matt Barden adding doubles. Justin Scott won a broasted chicken dinner from RD’s Diner for his outstanding pitching performance, and Taylor Gregorich won one as well for making a great catch behind the plate.

KIM’S BARREL INN BATTING STATS: Nic Dulmes: single, walk; Josh Barnes: double; Meg Lee: two walks; Jack Mortimer: walk; Jake Mortimer: walk. SLOPPY SWATS BATTING STATS: Brady Spees: single, two doubles; Rachel Graves: two singles; Evan Volm: three singles, walk, three runs; Jen Eggleston: walk, single, two runs; Matt Barden: two singles, double, triple, three runs, bunch of runs batted in; Tracy Mixa: single, walk, two sacrifice flies; Justin Scott: double, two singles; Beth Singer: single; Taylor Gregorich: two singles, run. TIME OF GAME: 41 minutes. (It was a fast game).

Airport Bar (6-1) took sole possession of first place in Game Two by downing the Shoe Crew (3-4), 9-6. The winners came up with 16 hits while the Crew had 12. The game marked the 2017 pitching debut of Tony Almanza, the Airport Bar head honcho. The veteran southpaw hadn’t taken the mound in several years but was up to the task.

A jovial chap, Tony explained: “They told me we might be short a player so I showed up. Then it turned out we had enough players. Our pitcher Josh Swan, who was filling in for our normal starter James Marthaler, told me to get out there and pitch. That was nice of Josh to do that, and he was rewarded for it. He was standing behind the fence just watching the game when he caught a foul ball and won a chicken dinner.”

Tony retired the first three Shoe Crew batters.

“The pitching part was easy,” he said. “Hitting the ball was a lot harder.”

Airport Bar jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a walk to Abby Rottier and singles by Adam Lee and Garrett Karnowski. Lee went four for four. The Airporters got one more run in the second when Stefanie Jackson, Almanza, Abby Rottier, and Adam Lee each singled. Shoe Crew finally scored two runs in the second with the key hits being singles by Kyle Norwood and Sam Stuard. Airport went up 4-2 in the third when Karnowski and Jackson singled and Garrett came home on Tyler Mader’s double. The Crew picked up a run in their half of the third when Andy Horst singled and scored on Jen Eggleston’s double.

The winners got three more big runs in the top of the fourth when Kyle Krieger singled, Adam Lee doubled, and Garrett Karnowski homered. Garrett’s home run was the only longball of the night so he won a chicken dinner from RD’s Diner. His blast went over the Roof Restoration LLC sign by the flagpole in center.

The Crew added two runs in the fifth when Max Delap singled and Matt Hodgson and Andy Horst each doubled. Kyle Krieger and Lee both scored in the seventh. The final score was 9-6 in favor of Airport Bar. Tony and Christine Almanza both won broasted chicken dinners. Michelle Morrisey of the Crew also won a chicken dinner for picking up a beer can.

AIRPORT BAR BATTING STATS: Abby Rottier: walk, single; Adam Lee: three singles, double, three runs; Garrett Karnowski: three singles, homer; Sue Gruba: single. (Well, she’s not really single. She’s married to Ricky Gruba, a fine shortstop back in the day); Tyler Mader: double; Stefanie Jackson: two singles; Tony Almanza: single, game MVP; Kyle Krieger: two singles, two runs, won a Ken Yenter softball card. SHOE CREW BATTING STATS: Matt Hodgson: two doubles; Melissa Dombrowski: single; Andy Horst: single, double; Jen Eggleston (on loan from the Swats): walk, double; Kyle Norwood: two singles; Samantha Stuard: single, two runs; Jared Shilka: two singles; Max Delap: single, run. TIME OF GAME: 54 minutes.

LEAGUE STANDINGS: Airport Bar: 6-1. Kim’s Barrel Inn: 5-2. Shoe Crew: 3-4. Sloppy Swats: 2-5. Team BAMF: 2-6. RAINOUTS: May 1 and June 12.