In recent weeks the Adult Summer Softball League has seen some more parity.

Teams who finished in the middle and bottom of the regular season standings are improved while another top team slipped up at a time when things are beginning to matter most.

Week 9 of the league included more divisional play, where every win counts toward a higher seed in the league’s final tournament.

Reddell Construction formed part of, with Pagos, the club of A Day in the West beaters after its 12-11 walk off win, avenging a 10-6 loss in Week 8. However it must be noted that A Day in the West fielded eight players, two less than a full lineup.

“It’s definitely a rough one when guys don’t show up,” Junior “P” Laws said. “It’s definitely part of the game …. but I like my team. We’re a solid team.”

A Day in the West came out of the dugout firing, plating five runs in the first inning. Laws and Michael Ortega each singled to open the game before Pedro Ortega sent them home with a double. Michael Ortega later ended the frame, drawing a bases-loaded walk.

Reddell responded with four runs of its own to keep it competitive.

Both teams traded strong defensive play in the second, not allowing a single baserunner, but from there it was all offense.

A Day in the West doubled its lead at 8-4, but Reddell again answered. Jeff Lynch hit for extra bases before Bo Rodriguez knocked his third home run of the season to clip the lead down. The offense was not finished yet.

A double play almost got A Day in the West back in the dugout, but Reddell managed a run to tie it up.

Then Justice Keane gave his team its first lead at 9-8 on a hard hit ball, with the help of a pair of errors, rounding all four bases.

“Everyone hit today,” Keane said. “From the bottom to the top of the lineup I was never worried about staying in the game.”

Rodriguez picked up another RBI when he plated Mike Alvarez to make it 10-8, but A Day in the West did not go down quietly.

In the fifth frame Pedro Ortega drew a leadoff walk and later scored along with Jesse Timm to tie it up off the bat of Jason Steward. The third lead change of the game came when Steward scored on a fielder’s choice —11-10.

Nine minutes were all that were left, the game in the bottom of the fifth. Koda Keane singled and took second on an error. A batter later it was Rodriguez with another RBI to his credit, tying the game at 11 on a sacrifice fly.

Reddell retired all three A Day in the West batters in the sixth, and Lynch nabbed the game-winning, two-out hit for the walk off.

“I feel like we’re the underdogs,” Justice Keane said. “On paper we’re not the best team in the league but I feel like we have the most heart. You never know, you can get on a roll and last all the way through.”

Dirty Rats, after three consecutive losses, secured back-to-back wins. The first came 6-5 over an improved L’Auberge Mighty Ducks squad and then 13-5 over Rough Country Pools & Spa.

The Division B matchup saw the Dirty Rats scurry out to a 4-0 lead, but it was simply water that rolled off the Mighty Ducks’ backs as they tied it up in the second.

Both teams made empty threats during the middle innings during the buildup to a climactic ending.

A Mighty Ducks runner was called out on a play at the plate to end the fifth, much to the team’s chagrin. They would feel hard done by just an inning later.

Vincent Vargas picked up his third strikeout of the game, but then issued a walk. Andres Martinez hit a line drive to the outfield to score Ian Gilbert and Cesar Machado before surviving a run down at third base. Vargas punched out another Dirty Rat to end it, but the damage was done.

Rene Herrera drove in a run in the top of the seventh, but the Dirty Rats defense secured the win.

“After losing three straight we had to come back with the win,” Martinez said. “We played good as a team, overall it was a good win for us and it prepares us good for the next game and hopefully the playoffs.”

And the Dirty Rats were prepared, trading scoring punches with Rough Country.

Scorelines can be deceiving, as was the case in that matchup. Dirty Rats led just 6-5 before a seven-run seventh blew the doors off the game.

Rough Country actually started on the right foot to lead 4-0 after the first, the final run scored by Tony Franklin with some heads up baserunning.

But the Dirty Rats immediately tied it up with contributions from Martinez, Machado and Nate Leake. The lead could have extended had they not left runners on base in each of the following innings.

Rough Country’s Scott Webber and Dave Hart took advantage to give their team a 5-4 lead. It did not last long, as Gilbert batted in Miguel Gonzalez and then Doug Barnard put his team up for good when he scored Machado.

Red Rocks Rotary beat Rokzoo Bucket List 11-3, but Bucket List came back to give A Day in the West a scare. It led 2-1 until the sixth inning when A Day in the West rattled off four runs with two outs already on the board for a 5-2 victory.

“They hit after I made an error,” Bucket List’s Ricardo Romero said. “And they kept hitting after that. They came alive at the end and you can’t do anything about it.”

Rough Country beat ABC Body Shop 17-0 and Pagos did not play.

Adult Summer Softball
Standings — Week 9