LIBERTY — The White Sulphur Springs Fire Department hosted their annual softball tournament fundraiser last weekend at White Sulphur Springs Fireman’s Field. 

It was a weekend filled with good food, laughs, and quality softball. 

While many teams entered the tournament there were only three left by Sunday morning. The day kicked off with the semifinal game between Nicaragua and the Bad News Beers (BNB).

BNB went to bat first and quickly got the bases loaded with a mix of walks and a few ground ball singles. The Beers were able to pick up a few runs before Nicaragua was able to shut them down. 

Nicaragua was able to fire back with a few big hits of their own and, after some in field errors by the Beers, Nicaragua picked up two early runs to end the first inning trailing 5-2.

The second inning featured some incredible plays on both sides of the field including a 3-run homerun from BNB and a diving catch by a Nicaragua outfielder. 

When it was Nicaragua’s turn at the plate, The Beers were able to get three quick outs to end the inning.

By the third inning, the game was sealed with BNB racking up 6 more runs, for a total of 14, while picking up another three back-to-back outs off mid field plays.

The rest of the game followed the first few innings with the Bad News Beers shutting down Nicaragua while running up the score. 

By the 5th inning the Beers were winning by 18 runs and a mercy rule took effect. The BNB secured their spot in the final against Balls Deep (BDP), who were favored to win.

To kick off the finals, BNB were able to pick up 3 runs off a triple and a homerun. BDP were able to respond with a double and triple of their own to pick up two runs before the end of the inning.

In the second inning, with single after single, BDP was able to slowly chip away at the Beers’ lead and start building a lead of their own. Both teams were showing excellent athleticism and fielding but BDP was able to take the lead through sheer volume of hits.

The Beers came out strong in the top of the third inning with multiple deep homeruns to tie the game. After a few RBIs, BNB was able to pull ahead by two runs before BDP was able to stop their batters. 

BDP responded in kind with a hard-hitting salvo of their own and were able to repeatedly load and clear the bases to run up the score. By the end of the third inning BDP were winning 19 to 8 and the Beers fate was sealed.

The final four innings all proceeded in a similar fashion with the Beers picking up a run occasionally but primarily getting shut down by BDP’s fielding. The game ended with Balls Deep winning 23 to 11 to close out the tournament.

BDP Coach Owen Siegel had this to say after the game, “This is a great tournament with a great cause and I’m glad we were able to come out this year. We got a lot of representation from different towns in the county and its awesome we can all come out to support the fire department. We look forward to playing with everyone again next year.”