June 3, 2008 — Wyatt Heat won the 2008 Bob Owens Slow Pitch Softball League championship for the second consecutive year Monday night at the D.C. Canegata Ballpark with a come-from-behind 17-8 victory over the Seaborne Stealers.
The Heat, quiet for most of the night, exploded for 13 runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 14-4 lead, and they were on their way to the championship.
Batting first, the Stealers were first on the board thanks to a lead-off solo home run by Guido Schjang. The Heat came up empty in the bottom of the inning.
The Stealers were back on the offense in the top of the second when they added two more runs on Owen Pimentel's two-run home run to take a 3-0 lead after two innings as the Heat again failed to score in their half of the inning.
After the Stealers failed to score in the top of the third, the Heat finally got on the board with one run on an RBI single off the bat of Freddie Carasquillo to trail 3-1 after three innings.
Pimentel's RBI ground out in the top of the fourth extended the Stealers' lead to 4-1. The Heat had no answer in the bottom of the inning.
The fifth inning was the beginning of the end for the regular-season champion Stealers, as the Heat really got hot in the inning. They erupted for 13 runs, highlighted by Dexter DeSouza's three-run home run and two-run shots by Kennedy Feist and Spencer Hendrickson to take the lead at 14-4. They never trailed again.
The Stealers added four runs in the top of the sixth on two-run home runs by Raymond Cintron and Pimentel to close to within six at 14-8, but that would be as close as they would get. The Heat closed the deal with three runs in the bottom of the inning for the final margin of victory, 17-8, as the Stealers went quietly in the top of the seventh.
Robert Todman picked up the win on the hill for the champions, while Sam Ramos got the loss for the Stealers. Top hitters for the Heat were DeSouza, 2 for 4 with two home runs and five RBIs, and David Gonzalez, 2 for 3 with a home run and one RBI. For the Stealers, Schjang went 2 for 3 with a home run and one RBI and Owen Pimentel went 2 for 3 with two home runs and three RBIs.
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