Everything was there, including sizzling hits, nice defensive plays, a little bit of trash-talking, lots of runs, tasty food, and a good crowd during the annual Old Home Day fundraising softball contest between members of Londonderry’s police and fire departments on the Matthew Thornton School softball field last Friday night, Aug. 15.
The cops maintained their winning ways in the series by besting the fire department folks by an 18-7 score, busting open an 8-5 contest by plating five runs in the bottom of the sixth, two more in the seventh, and three more in the latter half of the eighth.
It was the police department team’s eighth win in the last nine years and its third in a row.
Proceeds from the annual game benefitted the Lions Club’s Camp Pride in New Durham, which provides camp experiences for children and adults with mild to profound special needs. The fire department crew handed over a check for more than $400 to the Londonderry Lions Club for Camp Pride.
The Lions raised additional funds for the camp by cooking and selling hamburgers and hot dogs to folks at the game.
The fire department squad began the contest in strong fashion after getting the chance to bat first. That crew plated two runs right away, but the police team answered with five runs of its own in the latter half of that frame to snag a lead it wouldn’t lose.
The policemen held their opponent scoreless in the second, third, and fourth innings, while adding one more marker in the bottom of the second and two more in the bottom of the fourth to make it an 8-2 game.
The firefighters made solid inroads on a comeback by scoring three times in the top half of the fifth inning, but the cops busted the game wide open with the aforementioned five-run bottom half of the fifth.
The fun and run-filled evening of softball was made still more vibrant by a few unexpected events, including the arrival of a local lawn care specialist – armed with a leaf blower – to clean off home plate in the bottom of the second inning, with a police team hitter standing stunned in the batter’s box, and the ALS ice bucket challenge undertaken by a handful of the fire department team members on the pitcher’s mound after the game had been completed.
The victorious police team drove to its win behind the efforts of Ryan Kearney, Kevin Cavallaro, Adam Dyer, Nick Pinardi, Ryan Buker, Tom Olsen, Dan Perry, Matt Laquerre, Bob Jones, and Nick Jones.
The fire department crew included Bruce Hallowell, Zach O’Brien, Chris Lamy, Chris Schofield, Brian Schofield, Brian Silva, Jr., Bruce “Buddy” Hallowell III, Travis Soucy, and Gary Dion.