(April 30, 2022 – Irving, TX) What appeared to be another fast start for the Spirits (50+) squad resulted in another sputtering of offensive play and a continued problem of leaving runners on base as the Spirits dropped another game in the DFW-ABA 50 League on Saturday. The Spirits jumped out to a 4 to 0 lead, early in the second inning but failure to capitalize with runners on base once again proved to be an achilles heel for the squad.
The White Sox put up 2, 3, and then 4 runs in consecutive innings and cheered their way to victory as they cruised past the ghosts by a margin of 9 to 6. Stacy Scott was the lone Spirit on fire from the dish, mounting a 4-for-4 performance that included a triple, 2 runs scored, and 2 runs batted in. Shawn Lee, Kirk Sipila, and John Holmquist each doubled and finished with a pair of hits, while Earl German added another pair and a sacrifice bunt to round off the only offense the team was able to put together.
Rusty Holmes led off the second inning after wearing a pitch from White Sox starter, Alex Zuniga. German bunted Holmes to second and John Hefner followed by reaching on an error. Scott then tripled to score both runners. Holmquist singled home Scott and later in the inning, Sipila doubled home Holmquist and the Spirits had a 4 to 0 lead heading into the bottom of the second. German, the Spirits starting pitcher held his own through the bottom half of the third, but a walk and a stretch of singles allowed the Sox back into the game and it was 4 to 2, Spirits after three completed.
The Sox offense opened up for 7 more runs over the next two innings and the Spirits failed to answer the rest of the game, despite tacking on lone runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
“Not a lot of positive going on for us today,” Lee commented after his team’s loss. “We’re not hitting. Not even close to what we usually do. We’re making contact. But we’re not getting big hits. This team is used to having some pretty explosive offense but we’re down this season. And it’s not an excuse, but half our team is hurt or playing hurt. That doesn’t help. We’re perturbed right now, but we’re not throwing in the towel. We know we have work to do and we have plenty of time to turn it around.”
The team won’t get much rest as they’ll face a friendly foe in the form of the Diablos next Saturday. A number of the players on the Spirits played with the Diablos in past seasons and after starting their own team for 2022, there will be some squinted eyes on the field for sure. First pitch is scheduled for 11:45AM at Lively Park in Irving. Click here for schedule details and be sure to download the iScore Central app to listen online.
MacArthur 121 Tire & Service Players of the Game
Stacy Scott (4-4, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI)
Earl German (2-3, Sac; 4 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K)
John Holmquist (2-4, 2B, R, RBI)