It was the community team’s time to celebrate.
The North Alabama Rockets, the community leaders’ team, beat Team Redstone 21-13 in the annual Community Softball Game on June 12 at Toyota Field in Madison. They snapped Redstone’s three-year winning streak. This was the 12th year for the game, part of annual Armed Forces Celebration, and third year at Toyota Field. An estimated more than 1,000 attended.
The Rockets players and coaches celebrated finally capturing the coveted Target Destroyed Trophy.
“No bragging. We just all played hard. It was a good game,” Coach and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said. “They pushed us back and we were lucky to come out with it.”
Maj, Gen. Walt Duzzny, chief of staff of the Army Materiel Command, batted leadoff and started at catcher for Team Redstone.
“We’re really proud to represent Redstone Arsenal and the Army,” Duzzny said. “It’s a great camaraderie with the community and it’s a nice facility. We’re looking forward to getting back out next year.”
Brian Burgess, of Huntsville Police Department, hit a two-run inside-the-park homer for the Rockets. Blake Hemphill, of HPD, went 2-for-2 with an inside-the-park homer and two runs scored. Jared Barnes, of Huntsville Fire Department, went 2-for-2 with two runs batted in and one run. Trey Daniel, of Congressman Dale Strong’s office, was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs. Jordan Boyer, of HPD, was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs.
Steve Thornton, of Smith Thornton Advisors, Von Braun Center and Huntsville Sports Commission Boards, had two hits and two RBIs. Madison Mayor Paul Finley, the leadoff hitter, had a hit and scored twice. Chad Caudle, vice president of All American Cable Assembly, pitched five innings for the win. The game ended after five and a half innings because of time.
In the top of the first, the Rockets scored three unearned runs on three Redstone errors. Team Redstone answered with five runs in the frame, but the Rockets led 8-6 after two innings and pulled away.
Garrison Commander Col. Brian Cozine, retired Marine Master Sgt. Ty Butler, retired Sgt. 1st Class Chris Tilley and National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Wendell Williams had two hits apiece for Team Redstone. Coach/pitcher Marius “Doc” Dockery, of the Program Executive Office for Aviation, pitched the first two innings and took the loss.
“We came, they conquered,” Dockery said. “They built a great team this year. We started out too passive but that’s OK because we shall return.”
“We came out with a game plan and the game plan was to actually get an early lead to have them chase us from behind,” Butler said. “We took the lead in the first inning, but our sticks went cold in the second inning and that allowed them to capitalize on our fielding errors.”
Social Sharing