The Sedona Adult Summer Softball League is now in full swing. Week two featured a matchup between Rokzoo and the Red Mountaineers. The two teams faced off on Thursday, June 13, at 6:15 p.m., and things looked good for Rokzoo.
Rokzoo wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. In the top of the first inning, leadoff batter Steve Saryse walked and scored on a home run by Hunter Zwart. After just three hitters, it was already 2-nothing Rokzoo. In the third inning, two singles by Austin Zwart and Mikey Boler and two errors by the Red Mountaineers allowed three more runs to score, and Rokzoo led 5-0. Then, Rokzoo’s Taylor Mathews hit one high and deep beyond the 257-foot center field fence. The ball bounced off the roof of a utility shed and onto the West Sedona School parking lot. But before he could begin his trot, he was called out.
“It is an equalizer rule,” Rokzoo pitcher Don Bauder said. “After a home run, we’re not allowed to hit another. It’s to regulate, so you don’t demean the other team.”
“It is part of the game,” Mathews said about his erstwhile homer. “I should’ve hit it somewhere else. After that, you just try to hit it hard on the line … keep it in the field.”
Limited to five runs an inning, Rokzoo scored three more runs in the fourth inning, 12 more runs overall, winning easily 17 to 1. “Its a good team this year,” Bauder said. “I’m pleasantly surprised.”
However, it wasn’t just offense that keyed the win. Many of the errors in these games are small bobbles and just miss throws that arrive too late. Rokzoo showed crisp fielding on most of the hard ground balls.
“They’re all good players,” Bauder said. “If you play your fundamentals, generally the team that makes the least errors wins.”
The players enjoy these Thursday summer nights.
“Slow pitch softball’s fun because kids come out here and have good time … re-live some glory days,” Mathews said.
“I like this league, and all my friends back in Illinois can’t believe I play here — the whole view and everything” Bauder said. Rokzoo gets its name from Bauder’s graphics company in Cottonwood.
“[The league] is becoming more competitive, which is nice,” Bauder said. “But I like the fact that it has a lot of mom-and-pop, company store-type teams. I like it because it is a small-town league.”
Rokzoo lost its second game Thursday to Pago’s 5 to 4, leaving them 2-1 on the season. The team is currently placed third in the league, below Red Mountaineers [sixth] and Pagos [first].
Next up for Rokzoo is A Day in the West, which stands in second place. The teams will face off on Thursday, June 20, at 6:15 p.m.
“We’ve been pretty good so far.” Taylor Mathews said. “We’ve got tougher games coming up so we’ll see how it goes.”
“We were second place last year. We played in the Championship Game,” Bauder said. “I think we are good enough to be top 3 again, but there are a lot of strong teams here though.”
Adult Summer Softball League games take place Thursday evenings at Posse Grounds Park. There are six games each week, one on each field of the park, starting at 6:15, 7:30 and 8:45 p.m. The matches will run until July 25, with the playoffs taking place Aug. 1, 8 and 17. On June 20, Rokzoo will face A Day in the West on Field 1, while Dirty Rats will play Pagos on Field 2, both at 6:15 p.m.
At 7:30 p.m., Field 1 will host A Day in the West and Red Mountaineers and Field 2 will be the set for the game between Slapnut Magoos and Rokzoo.
The last two games of the evening, beginning at 8:45 p.m., will be between Pago’s and Red Mountaineers on Field 1 and Red Rocks Rotary and Dirty Rats on Field 2.
Don Eicher can be reached at 282-7795 ext 126, or email to deicher@larsonnewspapers.com