By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
Week two of the Laguna Madre Park’s men’s softball season has come to a close, featuring some close games, blowouts, and plenty of movement in the team standings.
Cantu’s and the Hitmen both sit atop the standings with perfect 4-0 records after two weeks of action. Right behind them are potent teams in Powerhouse and Coming Hot, both sitting at 3-1.
The middle of the pack remains competitive, with the Bandidos, Ballaholics, and Kings, sitting at 2-2. The bottom half of the standings have, Swingers, Hopper Haus, Brew Crew, and Star Playaz at 1-3. Meanwhile, the Spicy Cats currently sit at 0-4.
The league, which is in the midst on its second season, has seen several the new ‘outside’ teams provide some stiff competition and at times dominate the local squads.
Playing a in the late 9 p.m. game, the Kings faced off with previously undefeated Ballaholics.
The Kings wasted no time getting their offense rolling, quickly putting together a string of singles and doubles before adding an inside-the park homerun to jump out to a 7-0 lead in the first inning.
The Kings were just as impressive defensively, keeping the Ballaholics off the scoreboard while adding three more runs in the second inning to extend their lead to 10-0.
In the third inning, the Kings’ bats started to get heated once again as it seemed the team was in batting practice, as they continued to find the gaps with more singles and doubles while adding another inside-the park homer. By the end of the inning, they had built a dominating 18-0 lead.
The Kings only grew stronger as the game went along. A grand slam and a third inside-the park homer in the top of the fourth inning helped push the Kings’ lead to 32-0.
Ballaholics did manage to score two runs before the game was called on a mercy rule, giving the Kings a convincing 32-2 victory.
Although the Kings lost both their week one games, they came back with a vengeance in week two, winning both contests and evening their record.
Games will continue to run every Wednesday in the month of September with games starting at 7 p.m.