Two teams jumped in the standings after Week 6 of the Adult Summer Softball League, played on Thursday, July 6, at Posse Grounds Park.

Pagos staked its claim in the top four after it won both games, 9-6 against Reddell Construction and 9-3 against Rokzoo Bucket List, to rise to third place after starting the day in fifth. Those opponents were ranked second and third beforehand, respectively.

Red Rocks Rotary also moved up two places, from fourth to second, after winning 11-2 against the Dirty Rats.

A Day in the West remained in the driver seat to finishing in the regular season’s top spot, beating Rough Country Pools & Spa 20-6 with three games left. It will take on Pagos in Week 7 and Reddell in Week 8.

“I guess it’ll all be told in playoffs,” Reddell’s Larry Perry said. “Everything changes. A Day in the West, they’re like the Yankees.”

Against Reddell, Pagos’ James Thayer hit a two-run fielder’s choice with the bases loaded to open the scoring in the top of the first inning.

Reddell got on the board in the same frame, but did not score again until the fourth after Pagos had already opened a 7-1 advantage. At 7-3, Reddell’s Bo Rodriguez hit a two-run home run to make things interesting.

However, Pagos would get a couple of insurance runs immediately after. Juan Rodriguez drew a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly followed to make it 9-5 with few minutes and outs remaining to make a comeback.

Reddell’s Mikey McKinnon drove in another run, but it was too little, too late. Reddell also lost their first game to ABC Body Shop by way of a forfeit, ending its five-game winning run while giving ABC its first victory of the season.

“I think our defense let us down. We were playing a little out of position,” Perry said. “We made some misplays on defense, but Bo [Rodriguez] came up with the big knock to keep it close. I think we chipped away and did the best we could.”

When A Day in the West took on Rough Country, its offense pumped out runs from the start. It reached the five-run scoring limit in the first inning.

Rough Country matched the output as it batted through its entire lineup, starting things off with a double by Eutimio Lara before his bases-loaded walk scored the fifth run later on.

But A Day in the West countered with five more runs to open a 10-5 lead and never looked back.

“I’d say we just started having fun, playing how we know how to play,” A Day in the West’s Charles Timm said. “If you’re not having fun then you’re not going to make the plays. We’re just a team of a good group of guys. We come out here, have a good time and play the game.”

It scored once in the fourth, three times in the sixth and six in the open seventh and final frame.

“I think we did all right against the No. 1 team,” Rough Country’s Jim “Pops” Wegner said. “We played a full game, which is a win for us. I think when you fall behind you start trying harder and you get away from the fundamentals, doing everything at once.”

Rotary also got out to a quick start in their lone game, going up 6-0 after two innings against Dirty Rats. In the third frame, Dirty Rats got on the board with a string of singles capped off by an RBI hit by Doug Barnard.

The gap was too large to make up, and Rotary won 11-2. Tommy Meza hit a two-run shot, his second in as many weeks.

“We had a lot of good players here, we hit good and we fielded good,” Rotary’s Nick Hastings said. “I feel like if we can get people to show up we’ll get some hits and we’ll get some runs.”

Things did not get easier for Dirty Rats, who in Week 5 gave A Day in the West its closest game to date. It had to pull off a seventh-inning comeback to beat L’Auberge Mighty Ducks 7-6.

“We don’t come out with the same momentum we usually do, and you can tell by the score,” Dirty Rats’ Kevin Martinez said. “They know where to place it and we just get under it, or it goes right through us.”

There were four lead changes in total.

Tied at two, Dirty Rats took its first lead at 4-2 after Nathan Leake scored off the bat of Martinez.

It was 5-3 until the sixth inning when Vincent Vargas knotted the game with one swing of the bat. Then Brandon Deleon gave L’Auberge the lead at 6-5.

Dirty Rats, with only three outs to work with, strung together hits before getting a sacrifice to the outfield and another single to take the win.

Pagos ended the day with the win over a nine-player Rokzoo team, who dropped to fourth in the standings.
Pagos scored five in the first and led 7-1 after the fifth en route to the win.

“We’re better than we were,” Pagos’ Aaron Martinez said. “We’re getting our hits up and our plays down.”