Dec. 11, 2006 — Kareem Dennis hit a walk-off home run Monday night at the D.C. Canegata ball park, pushing league-leading Speak the Word Ministries past Claudio Enterprises in a 14-13 squeaker.
Speak the Word's record now goes to 6-1, best in the Bob Owens slow-pitch softball league and the team's sixth win in a row. Mark Beharry was the winning pitcher, while Julio Carmona took the loss for Claudio. Top hitters for Speak the Word were Dennis, who went 3-3 with two home runs and five RBIs, and Dexter Skepple, 1-2 with one home run and two RBIs. For Claudio, Carmona was 3-3 with four RBIs, and Luis Alexander and Miguel Rodriguez were both 2-3 with an RBI apiece.
Batting first, Claudio batted around in the inning, scoring eight runs on an RBI single by Antonio Cruz, a two-run double by Carmona, an RBI double by Miguel Rodriguez, a two-run shot by Juan Santana and a sacrifice fly by Luis Morena, also scoring one run on an error by the Speak the Word shortstop. In the bottom of the inning, Speak the Word answered with a two-run home run off the bat of Mike Franklin, bringing the score to 8-2.
Claudio added one run in the top of the second on a solo shot by Wilfredo Ferreras, while Speak the Word failed to score in the bottom of the inning. Cladio led 9-2 at the end of two complete innings.
After Claudio failed to score in the top of the third, Speak the Word exploded for six runs on a three-run home run by Kareem Dennis, a two-run shot by Dexter Skepple and an unearned run on an errant throw by the Claudio third baseman, bringing them within one at 9-8.
In the top of the fourth, Claudio came up with four runs on a two-run single by Carmona and a two-run error by the Speak the Word shortstop, Norbert Pickering, to open up a five-run lead at 13-8. Speak the Word answered with three runs on a two-run single by Ronald Halls and an RBI single by Dennis to cut the lead to two runs at 13-11 to end the fourth inning.
Speak the Word then tied the game in the bottom of the fifth, plating two runs on an RBI single by Martin Charles and an RBI ground out by Beharry after Claudio failed to score in the top of the inning.
The umpire advised both teams that time constraints would make the sixth inning the last, and the stage was set for Dennis' late-inning heroics. After Claudio failed to score in the top of the inning, Dennis, leading off the bottom of the inning, drilled a 2-2 pitch high over the right-field fence for Speak the Word's game-winning homer.
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