After a one-week delay due to rain, the Adult Summer Softball League returned with Week 8 action that included the first round of division play for some teams.

A Day in the West opened its division schedule with a 7-5 win over Pagos, who dealt the reigning champion its only loss of the season in Week 7.

“It was fun to get this first game of the second round out of the way,” A Day in the West’s Pedro Ortega said. “They are a good club, and there are other good teams.”

The teams were split into a five-team “A” and four-team “B” division. Every team will play each other once, and the final record of each will determine seeding for the final tournament.

In the A division are: A Day in the West, Red Rocks Rotary, Reddell Construction, Pagos and Rokzoo Bucket List. The B division features Dirty Rats, L’Auberge Mighty Ducks, Rough Country Pools & Spa and ABC Body Shop.

The marquee matchup of the evening was the rematch between A Day in the West and Pagos. Pagos got going quickly with a three-run first inning off the bat of Kyle Abrigo, who was then tagged out at third during the scoring play to end the inning.

A Day in the West’s Michael Ortega hit a triple to drive in his team’s first run right after. Pedro Ortega followed with a hard hit infield ground ball that gave Michael Ortega time to score.

Both defenses stood strong in the second, then A Day in the West grabbed the lead in the third. Once again it was Michael and Pedro Ortega who combined to drive in the runs.

Jason Steward completed the rally with a two-run double to claim a 7-3 lead.

Back-to-back doubles from Pagos clipped the deficit to two, and Tony Lazalde drove in the team’s final run.

A Day in the West’s defense converted two double plays down the stretch to subdue any Pagos threat. It was a key win for the regular season’s first place team against one of the hottest teams in the league in Pagos, who is now 7-2 since Week 1.

“On defense the couple of double plays takes away momentum,” Pedro Ortega said. “It kind of takes the air out of the other team.”

During the first round of games, and under some light to moderate rain during the middle and late innings, A Day in the West also beat nine-man Reddell Construction 10-6.

A Day in the West jumped out to a 5-1 lead after two and a half innings, led by a two-run, inside-the-park home run by Jesse Timm.

However Reddell did not let the lead live for long.

Mikey McKinnon connected for two runs to cap a four-run inning and tie the game at five. Then the team made some defensive changes that worked, but just for one inning as it sat all three A Day in the West batters. But A Day in the West returned the favor.

Then the first place team struck for five runs in the fifth. Kory Lemoine started things off with a single before two errors loaded the bases with no outs.

Reddell managed one more run in the seventh, but could not finish the comeback.

“Just scoring when we needed to. We left a lot of men on base,” Reddell’s Mike Alvarez said. “Whenever the ball was hit to us and we could make the plays we did. They’re a smart team, they know how to pick them.”

Reddell was due to play Rokzoo Bucket List in its first divisional matchup, but ended up with a 7-0 forfeit victory when Bucket List did not have enough players. Red Rocks Rotary was also scheduled to play Bucket List to round out its regular season, and so too got a 7-0 win.

The L’Auberge Mighty Ducks continued its recent upswing in play when it beat Rough Country Pools & Spa 15-10 to round out regular season play. Rough Country was in control early on with a 6-2 lead after two frames.

Then the Mighty Ducks began to chip away. Hunter Zwart made it 6-4 in the third and before Tony Rojas knotted things at seven two innings later. Rojas eventually crossed home to end the five-run frame to take the lead for good at 10-7.

Zwart and brother Austin collected back-to-back hits to increase the lead to 12-7 in the sixth. Vincent Vargas hit a ground ball that was mishandled to score Austin Zwart and the team again scored five to reach a 15-7 advantage.

Rough Country tacked on two runs in the bottom of the sixth.

“We consistently have good hits but then not follow them up,” Rough Country’s Jim “Pops” Wegner said. “We don’t get a good string of hits together.”

Pagos beat Dirty Rats 14-7 to finalize both teams’ regular seasons.

Adult Summer Softball
Standings — Week 8

The third doubleheader marked the beginning of
divisional play. Each team’s record at the end of divisional play will determine its seeding for the final tournament.