Hebron picks up first wins
For the first month of Church League softball, Hebron Church of Christ was searching for its first win. Thursday night, the team found two.
Hebron picked up a dramatic walk-off victory over Rock Island Church of Christ before returning later in the evening to beat Martin Chapel Fellowship, highlighting a busy week of Church League action at Edley Newman Field.
The men's action opened with one of the best games of the season.
Hebron and Rock Island battled through seven innings before Barry Taylor delivered the deciding blow. With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh, Taylor lifted a deep fly ball to left-center field. Isaiah Robledo tracked it down near the warning track, but the sacrifice fly easily scored the winning run as Hebron secured a 10-9 walk-off victory.
Hebron needed late heroics just to reach the seventh inning. Jonathan York came through with a key hit during a sixth-inning rally that tied the game at 9-9 and extended the contest.
The victory was the first of the season for Hebron. It wouldn't be the last.
Just a few hours later, Hebron was back on the field facing Martin Chapel Fellowship and completed a sweep of the night with a 15-8 victory.
The offense came alive in the fifth inning, scoring eight runs to take control. John Prater capped the rally with a two-run knock, while Braylon Grayson sparked the surge with one of his two hits in the game.
After waiting weeks to break into the win column, Hebron doubled its victory total in a matter of hours and moved back into the middle of the men's league standings.
The women's game Thursday featured the biggest comeback of the night.
Rock Island Church of Christ trailed Bibles on Base by three runs entering the bottom of the fifth, but rallied with six runs in its final at-bat to earn a 12-9 victory.
Hope Grayson, Ali Vaughn and Lonnette Mullican got the rally started with consecutive hits and aggressive baserunning that quickly erased the deficit. Lucretia Brown helped finish off the comeback, driving in a run and later scoring herself.
Haven Prater powered the offense all evening, finishing 4-for-4 while helping Rock Island improve to 2-2 in women's league play.
Bibles on Base came close to securing its first win of the season after erupting for six runs in the top of the fifth. Emma Carter had two hits and scored twice, while Shayla Hankins finished with two hits and three RBIs in the tough loss.
New Union closed out Thursday's action by staying perfect.
A 10-run third inning proved to be the difference as New Union defeated Freedom Life 16-12 to improve to 6-0. Chayse Frye and Xander Lee both delivered big flys during the decisive inning as New Union continued to show off one of the league's most potent offenses.
Earlier in the week, Holy Sticks picked up a 17-10 victory over Martin Chapel Fellowship in the only game completed Tuesday before rain washed out the remainder of the schedule. Check out a few pictures from that matchup below.
Women's standings
Centertown United Methodist Church 5-0
Rock Island Church of Christ 2-2
Bibles on Base 0-5
Men's standings
New Union 6-0
Living Word Fellowship 5-0
Holy Sticks 3-2
Hebron Church of Christ 2-2
Rock Island Church of Christ 2-4
Freedom Life 2-4
Martin Chapel Fellowship 0-8
Previous scores
June 2
Rock Island CoC 17
Bibles on Base 1
New Union 21
Holy Sticks 20
Freedom Life 24
Martin Chapel 7
Living Word 18
Rock Island CoC 14
June 4
Centertown UMC 18
Bibles on Base 5
Living Word 19
Hebron 7
New Union 24
Martin Chapel 2
Freedom Life 22
Rock Island CoC 18
June 11
Holy Sticks 17
Martin Chapel 10
