THE sun was shining on the Pakenham Pumas in round five of the DBA B1 grade competition as they defeated the cellar dwellers, Dandenong Angels, in a 12-1 mercy rule win.
As the visiting side, Pakenham started off batting and had immediate success with lead-off batter Wayne Porter crossing the plate after a hit from Stuart Brunton. Brunton remained on third base as Red Hunter was found just short when he tried to steal second base.
The Angels responded with a run through some loose pitching from Brunton and some basic errors in the field.
As both pitchers started to find their range, the teams went scoreless through the second and third innings.
While Pakenham’s pitcher continued to keep the Angels at bay for the remainder of the game, the Puma bats started to fire, scoring two runs in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, to get a 7-1 lead.
Seemingly knowing an early finish could be achieved, the Pakenham side piled on an extra five runs in a two-out rally. Pakenham’s catcher Hunter was unlucky with the bat, managing to be the first and third out.
Pakenham recorded its first mercy rule of the season by retiring three batters in a row to hold on to the 11-run lead.
The man of the match went to Brunton, who struck out nine batters, held the Angels to four hits, and also managed to score two runs (despite falling face first two metres from home plate, and madly crawling to make it home safe).
Coach Travis Hough and left fielder Greg McCormick also did damage with their bats.
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