Dec. 14, 2006 — The Divi Carina Bay Dolphins, despite its status as one of the Bob Owens slow pitch league's bottom feeders, put up a good fight early in the game Wednesday night against one of the league's elite teams, the second-place Anchor Dive squad.
In the end, however, Anchor Dive showed its class by overpowering the Dolphins, 19-9, in a 10-run, five-inning mercy rule contest. Anchor scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by Edwin Rivera's game-winning RBI single that pushed the 19th run across the plate to trigger the 10-run mercy rule, which is invoked whenever either of the teams have a 10-run lead after five innings.
Jose Belardo picked up the win on the mound for Anchor Dive, while Roman Cruz suffered the loss for the Dolphins. Top hitters for Anchor Dive were Carmelo Torres (2-for-3, a homerun and two RBIs), Junior Antoine (2-for-3, a homerun and three RBIs), and Mario Simmonds was 3-for-4 with a homerun and two RBIs.
For the Dolphins, Lebbeus Gittens was 2-for-3 with a homerun and two RBIs, and Juan Ayana was 1-for-2 with a homerun and three RBIs.
After Divi Carina failed to score in the top of the first, Anchor Dive exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the inning on a three-run shot off the bat Craig Swartz, RBI singles by Danny Rosa, Fernando Irizarry, and Jose Belardo; and a two-run single by Junior Antoine to take an early 8-0 lead.
Divi Carina got one back in the top of the second on an RBI double by Roman Cruz to trail 8-1 after two innings, as Anchor Dive failed to score in the bottom of the inning.
The Dolphins were back on the attack in the top of the third, coming up with three more runs to cut the anchor Dive lead in half at 8-4 on a three-run blast off the bat of Juan Ayana. Anchor Dive answered with three runs of its own on solo homeruns by Antoine and Mario Simmonds and an RBI triple by Koal Snyder to lead 11-4 at the end of five.
A two-run shot by the Dolphins' Lebbeus Gittens got them two runs closer at 11-6, but Anchor Dive again answered by way of the long ball. Solo shots by Torres and Irizarry extended the lead to seven, 13-6 at the end of the sixth inning.
Bases-loaded walks drawn by John Derrick and Roman Cruz, and an RBI groundout by Angel Cruz scored three runs in the top of the fifth to allow the Dolphins to close the gap again, this time to four runs at 13-9. Anchor Dive, however, ended the game during its at bat, scoring six runs to have the mercy rule invoked.
40 Caliber 25, Terminix 1
The first game of the night was also a five-inning mercy rule contest, as the 40 Calibers blasted winless Terminix, 25-1. Steve Nisky was the winning pitcher, while Rod Graci got the loss. Top hitters for 40 Caliber were Robert Ramsingh, 3-for-3 (two homeruns and six RBIs), and Sylvester Blake, 4-for-4 (two homeruns and four RBIs).
Wyatt Heat 17, Seaborne Stealers 15
The late game of the night pitted two league champions against each other, the defending champions Stealers and past champs Wyatt Heat. The Stealers jumped out to an early 10-run lead only to see the Heat storm back for a 17-15 victory.
David Oetken was the winning pitcher, while Samuel Ramos got the loss for the Stealers. Leading the Wyatt Heat at the plate were Andre Ponce, 2-for-3 (a home run and three RBIs), Oetken, 2-for-2 (a homerun and three RBIs) and Thomas Corcino, who was 3-for-4 with a homerun and two RBIs.
For the Stealers, Enrique Soto was 2-for-3 with a homerun and three RBIs, Owen Pimentel went 3-for-4 (one homerun and two RBIs) and Michael Schjang went 3-for-4, with a homerun and three RBIs.
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