ORANGE & BLUE (7-1) DEFEAT ORANGE & BLACK (4-2)--FINAL SCORE, 9-2

Just days after fireworks poured over the Hudson River on July 4th, HMA/RAMSA celebrated its independence atop the SLAM standings with a convincing 9-2 victory over the once-mighty triumvirate that is SSC in a battle for orange supremacy. For coach David Solomon, perhaps his best move of the day was letting pitcher David Solomon bat (3-3 with 4 RBI) in the #6 spot rather than DH for the senior member of the team as he had for 3 of the previous 4 games.

The first inning has proved to be very fruitful for the Orange Crush as they scored 4 runs in the top of the inning to take an early lead they would never relinquish. On the season, HMA/RAMSA has now scored in each of its 8 games in the first inning with 18 runs total in those innings. After scoring the first run of the game with a walk to SS Doug Houstoun, David Solomon singled to left field with the bases loaded to plate 2 more runners. Another run would come to score on a fielder’s choice by 2B Cara Graf.

A couple innings later, that same duo of Solomon and Graf would single home 2 more runs with base hits up the middle to bring the lead to 6-0. SSC was shutdown in the early part of the game as the first 9 hitters that came to the plate were retired in order. In the bottom of the fourth, SSC broke up the perfect game with a few hits and errors and forged a threat of their own. With a run already in and the bases loaded, that rally was quickly squashed on a hard smash to the left side of the infield. Third baseman Jon Fukutomi fielded the hotshot cleanly, stepped on the bag and threw over to first to get 3B Hugo Corvalan, who was doing his best Pete Rose impersonation with a headfirst slide into first base. “A” for effort, Hugo….

HMA/RAMSA was able to add another pair of runs in the 5th inning, and yet another in the 6th inning to extend the lead to 9-2 which is where the game ended shortly before 8PM. Now 7-1 on the season, the Orange Crush has a couple of weeks off to prepare for its next challenge against Polshek on July 20th.

GAME BALLS:

Cara Graf – 2-2 with 2 RBI

David Solomon – 7 well-pitched innings and more impressively 3-3 with 4 RBI on the day