Rejects take care of business in Tuesday softball game

There was no shortage of runs scored by the Flippers East Coast Pub "Rejects" in the C division of the Whitehorse Co-ed Slo-Pitch League.

There was no shortage of runs scored by the Flippers East Coast Pub “Rejects” in the C division of the Whitehorse Co-ed Slo-Pitch League.

The team posted four solid innings of offensive brilliance in its 24-8 victory over Northern Hempisphere Tuesday at the Pepsi Softball Centre.

“Anytime we win we consider it one of our better games,” said Mark Leblanc, the Rejects team manager, equipment manager, co-ordinator and centre fielder. “We had a lot of people show up, which is good and everyone was excited to play.”

After shutting down Northern Hempisphere in the top of the first, Flippers East Coast Pub went to work on the offensive side of things.

The team notched seven runs in the bottom half of the opening inning, which began with an inside the park homerun that eluded the Northern Hempisphere’s right fielder.

The onslaught continued with the Rejects scoring six more runs, which were a credit to timely hits and smart base running.

Northern Hempisphere may have been down early on in the game, but they were far from out.

The team got off on the right track in the top of the second, opening the inning off with a hard shot to centre field that landed for a double. With runners on second and first, the team cashed in its first run of the game on a blooper to left field.

Northern Hempisphere added three more runs to its total before Flippers East Coast Pub’s second baseman was able to turn a double play on a routine ground ball. A casual touch of second base and a quick throw to first ended the inning.

The score was 7-4 heading into the bottom half of the second.

In the bottom of the second, Flippers East Coast Pub broke the game wide open.

The team scored an incredible 10 runs on mostly singles and doubles. The inning ended after a double scored the final two runs that were needed to reach the co-ed league’s mercy rule of 10 runs per inning.

In a gutsy effort, Northern Hempisphere attempted to battle back from its 13 run deficit.

The group managed to score three runs in the third and had several clutch hits before an automatic out rule, as a result of having two male hitters bat in a row, forced Northern Hempisphere to take its third out.

Players on the Rejects enjoyed their second seven-run inning of the game in the bottom of the third.

With two outs and runners on second and third, Flippers East Coast Pub was able to put together a series of hits, which were highlighted by the team’s second inside the park homerun.

A ground ball to the pitcher ended the inning after a quick throw was made to first base.

Northern Hempisphere added one more run in the fourth, but the Rejects got out of the inning after a running catch was made by the team’s left fielder.

The contest ended before the Rejects were set to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning as a result of the league’s individual game time limit of one hour and 15 minutes. The final score was 22-8.

With the victory, Flippers East Coast Pub ended a two game losing streak and improved its record to 4-9 on the season. 

This is the Rejects first year in the Whitehorse Co-ed Slo-Pitch League and the team began the season on a winning note before four straight losses dropped them down towards the bottom of the league’s standings.

Leblanc said everyone on the team has continued to improve and that the two of the standout players in Tuesday’s game included Natasha Rumsey and pitcher Norm Blanchard, who has the nickname of “Stormin’ Norman.”

“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” Leblanc said about Blanchard, who has pitched every game for the Rejects this season.

Leblanc said Rumsey had one of her best games this year in Tuesday’s victory.

Her great play was highlighted by a couple of crucial hits and two RBI’s.