YORKVILLE— It’s the essence of baseball: a hard dirt field with patches of weeds, a rusty backstop, and fun in the sun on a summer weekend.
Except this was fastpitch softball and the “kids” were men.
After two days of play at pristine Stuart Sports Complex in Aurora, issues over paying security to play on Sunday moved the final day of the Stars & Stripes Tournament to the American Legion Hall field in Yorkville. The nondescript location was perfectly fine with the Dolan & Murphy Shamrocks.
They wasted little time waking the bats in a 9 a.m. start versus Rockford, as centerfielder T.J. Chase took the second pitch of the game over the left centerfield fence for a leadoff homerun.
“We kind of lagged yesterday, so it was important to get off to a good start,” Chase said. “I got lucky and there was one right there for me and I got into it.”
Mike Glock picked up an RBI later in the inning on a bases loaded walk, which followed three straight singles, and the Shamrocks were off, rolling to a 10-2 victory in five innings to complete the three-day tournament at 3-1.
Dolan & Murphy’s only loss was 5-3 at the hands of tournament champion DeKalb, but the overall record improved to 20-8 following a 14-9 win over Rockford, an 8-0 decision over Mazon and Sunday’s win.
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