By Rob Potter
LIBERTY — After a half inning of Wednesday night’s Liberty Slo-Pitch Softball League B/C Division game at Liberty Elementary School, the PMN Construction team trailed the Center For Discovery Dodgers, 3-0.
But PMN scored five times in the bottom of the first inning to take a 5-3 lead.
PMN held the advantage for the next six innings to record a 20-10 victory.
Center for Discovery took its 3-0 advantage thanks to an RBI triple by Donny Santiago, an RBI single by Nick Weiner and a sacrifice fly by Sean Drown.
Gary Miller led off the bottom of the first for PMN and hit an inside-the-park home run to right field. After Kyle Kreiter hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-2 game, Josh Mendez singled to bring in Mike McArdle with the tying run.
The next batter, Chuck McAllister, doubled, which allowed both Nick Maiori and Mendez to cross home plate.
PMN increased its lead to 7-3 in the bottom of the second as Joe Sep and Maiori both hit RBI singles.
A seven-run third inning allowed PMN to take a 14-3 advantage. Sep hit an inside-the-park grand slam home run, while Steve Rogg and Troy Correa each had an RBI double and Jimmy Crawley added an RBI single.
In the bottom of the fourth, Miller and Josh Mattingly hit RBI doubles and Correa and Mendez had RBI singles as PMN took a commanding 19-3 lead.
Center For Discovery responded with four runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Brendan Musa led off the frame and reached base by beating out an infield ground ball. Jesse Wall then singled to put two runners on base. Santiago doubled to left field, sending both Musa and Wall home to make it a 19-5 game.
Moments later, Santiago crossed home plate as Deon Mendez reached base on an error. Mendez scored the final run of the inning when Tom Drown singled.
PMN scored its last run of the evening in the bottom of the fifth. McArdle began the inning by hitting a double. After an out was recorded, Kreiter singled to left field to bring McArdle in to score.
Center For Discovery scored three runs in the top of the sixth. With Brian Dennis on third base and Musa on second base, Santiago tripled to left field to allow both of his teammates to cross the plate.
After PMN pitcher McAllister struck out the next batter, Mendez singled to center field to bring Santiago in to score and cut the PMN lead to 20-10.
But that was as close as Center For Discovery could get. The team had two runners on base with two outs in the top of the seventh, but McAllister induced a fielder’s choice for the final out of the game.
With the win, PMN improved its record to 7-3. Center for Discovery is now 6-7 on the season.
“Their team is good,” Santiago, who is the Player/Coach for the Center For Discovery Dodgers, said of PMN Construction. “We had a couple of good plays, but they beat us pretty soundly today.”