GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - Week 4 of the slow pitch softball season ended with theatrics like any other week in 530 Sports’ first official season. As teams prepare for their two week break at the halfway point in the season, every team has tasted the sweetness of victory with high expectations into the second half.

Monday, July 29th, was a night for the long ball. At 6:30 PM, Pitches Be Crazy took on All About That Base to start the home run slugfest. PBC got on the board first with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. Another home run in the bottom of the second inning gave PBC a 5-0 lead before AATB came storming back with six runs in the top of the third inning, which included one home run. PBC retook the lead in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run to make it 7-6. PBC scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend their lead 9-6. AATB tried the best they could to make it a ball game with two more solo home runs in the top of the sixth inning, but PBC crushed two home runs of their own in the inning driving in six runs to take a 15-8 lead. Pitches Be Crazy would go on to win by a score of 15-9.

For the 7:40 PM game, Sons of Pitches hosted the Dirty Birds in a continuance of the smash-a-thon. DB got on the board first in the top of the first inning with one run before SOP took the lead in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run. The top of the second inning is when DB launched three home runs over the fence to score seven runs to take an 8-2 lead. In the top of the third inning DB launched two more home runs over the fence scoring another seven runs to take a 15-3 lead. SOP got a little momentum going in the bottom of the third inning when they hit their third home run of the game getting five runs across to make it a 15-8 game. DB scored nine runs in the top of the fourth inning to extend their lead 24-8. Despite their best efforts, SOP couldn’t muster up enough runs to catch up and Dirty Birds won by a final score of 24-13 in five innings.

In the 8:50 PM game, Softball & Chill hosted the Ball Busters in a home run derby showdown. BB came out hot in the top of the first inning launching two home runs scoring eight total runs. S&C tried to answer back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run. A scoreless second inning led to another big third inning for BB as they launched another home run to extend their lead 13-2. In the bottom of the third inning S&C put up four runs with two home runs to make it a 13-6 ballgame. BB went to work again in the sixth with a grand slam home run and six total runs in the inning to extend their lead 19-6. S&C knocked in six runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning on two home runs to make it a 19-12 game.

Going into the top of the seventh inning each team had hit their maximum amount of home runs (five) and was now into the equalizer stage; meaning either team could only be ahead by one home run or the next home run would be counted as an out. In the top of the seventh inning BB took advantage and hit their sixth home run of the game and scored five more runs to extend their lead 24-12. S&C couldn’t do much in the bottom of the seventh inning except one solo home run and fell to the Ball Busters by a final score of 24-13.

For the non-competitive league on Tuesday, July 30th, Team SS hosted Team H&H. H&H got out to a 5-3 lead after the first inning and put together an additional eight runs in the top of the second inning to extend their lead 13-3. Two solo home runs in the top of the third inning extended that lead 15-3 before SS put a two-run home run over the fence to make it 15-5. In the top of the fourth inning H&H put up another seven runs to put the game away for good. Team H&H won the game by a final score of 25-9.

In the second game of the evening Knuckle Heads took on ATAP in a game that went down to the last inning. At the end of the fourth inning KH were out to a 6-0 lead before ATAP got on the board with three runs in the top of the fifth inning to make it a 6-3 ball game. Two solo home runs in the top of the sixth inning closed the gap to make it 6-5. ATAP pulled away in the top of the seventh inning with five runs to win 10-6 for their first victory of the season.

On Thursday, August 1st, Misfits hosted Maximum Effort in a 4 ½ inning bout. In the bottom of the first inning Misfits put up eight runs before ME answered back with eight runs of their own with two home runs to tie it up. Misfits answered the call again in the bottom of the second inning with nine more runs off three home runs to make it a 17-8 lead. Misfits would extend their lead again in the bottom of the fourth inning and take the win 23-14.

In the final game of the week, Pitch Please took on Default Judgement. After DJ went ahead 2-0 in the top of the second inning, PP came back in the bottom of the inning with six runs with one home run. But DJ answered back with six of their own in the top of the third inning to make it 8-6. PP came alive in the bottom of the fifth inning for nine runs with two home runs to take a 16-10 lead and the victory.