(May 10, 2025 – Carrollton, TX) Another sluggish day offensively turned into a spark that lit a fire in the seventh inning as the Spirits (50+) squad used a 7-run inning to break away from a 1-1 tie to earn a win against Metroflex on Saturday.
Kevin Simmons continued to pound the baseball, adding another a pair of hits, a run scored, and 2 runs batted in to help lead the offense. Mike Sopocy also remained hot, adding a pair of hits, a run scored, and a run batted in, while James Hardt returned to the playing field with pair of hits as well, also adding a run scored and run batted in.
Sopocy picks up the complete-game victory, tossing for 7 innings while allowing no earned runs on just 5 hits, while walking 2 and striking out 9.
“Mike was brilliant today,” Shawn Lee mentioned afterwards. “He’s our go to guy and we can almost always depend on him to go the distance. He truly has a rubber arm. I was worried we would give such a great pitching outing the offense it deserved but our bats finally arrived in the final inning and we cashed in. He was just on point today. The box score shows 9 punchouts but honestly, you add a few missed calls in there, it was more like a dozen.”
An RBI single by Vince Parrello broke the ice in the top half of the third inning to give the Spirits a 1 to 0 lead after Hardt scored following a single earlier in the inning. Metroflex later tied the game in the bottom half of the sixth after Jonathan Session reached on a two-out error. Sessions swiped second base and later scored on an RBI single by Rene Villalobos when Sopocy missed with a pitch that ended up down the middle of the plate.
Tied 1 to 1, it appeared that the Spirits had a bit of a battle on their hands but Eric Reifschneider‘s patience at the plate gave the Spirits a leadoff runner after he drew a walk. Chris Allen dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line to move him over but the perfection proved worthy as Allen easily beat it out for a single. Eric McPherson also dropped a great bunt to move both runners over, and with two on and one out, Metroflex intentionally walked the Spirits best hitter in the form of Kirk Sipila to load the bags and to setup a force out. A single by Simmons scored both Reifschneider and Allen and the Spirits had a 3 to 1 lead with one out following his heroics. Metroflex then intentionally walked Kent Fischer to again create a force situation, but Sopocy followed with an RBI single to score Sipila to give the Spirits another run. Shawn Hunt then reached on a fielder’s choice that squeezed Fischer on the base paths but allowed Simmons to cross the dish and another RBI single by Lee scored Sopocy to give the Spirits a 6 to 1 advantage. Hardt followed with an RBI single to score Hunt and a single by Earl German allowed Lee to score the team’s eighth and final run.
Sopocy added a pair of punchouts in the final frame to add the exclamation point and the Spirits had an 8 to 1 victory.
“Great job to get it done,” Lee continued. ” Mike deserved some offense from us and finally got it. One of his best pitching outings this season and it was done quietly and with poise. The game was so close that I don’t think anyone was paying attention to the brilliance of Mike’s work. Shawn (Hunt) does a great job of calling a game as well, so hats off to him. Catcher’s never get the love they deserve and we have a solid one in him. Glad the bats came alive and it was nice to see Simmons keep up his hitting streak and for James (Hardt) to finally be able to play and to pick up where he left off by smashing the baseball.
The ghosts return to action a week from next Saturday when they visit the Freebirds on May 31st. Game time is 9:00AM on McInnish #11 and fans can click here for schedule details or to listen to the game live online for free!
Five Star Ford Players of the Game
Mike Sopocy (2-3, R, RBI; 7 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 9 K)
Kevin Simmons (2-3, R, 2 RBI)
James Hardt (2-3, R, RBI)