Despite having to take the long route, Dresslerville Athletic Club came back to win the Cal Neva Native Softball Classic championship this past weekend at Stodick Park.
DAC, led by "Big Stick" Award recipient Willis Turner and ace pitcher Sonny Perkins, won three straight games on Sunday afternoon to come out of the loser's bracket and win the 12-team fastpitch tournament, capped by 8-5 and 9-4 victories against the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Red Hawks. DAC won five of six games during the weekend.
The tournament was an overall success, according to Cliff Simpson.
"It was great to see the turnout, not just the teams but the spectators as well. There were a lot of local people milling around," said Simpson, who has been involved with the tournament since its inception in 1967. "The calibre of softball was good - any one of three teams could have won it - we had some well-matched teams and that made for some really good games."
Turner's two-run homer ignited a six-run fourth inning rally as DAC rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Red Hawks in game one of the championship round. Ramsey Horse also delivered a key two-run single in the fourth inning for DAC.
In the final game, Turner homered twice to lead DAC. Turner finished the weekend with five home runs overall.
"Willis had some key home runs that got us going," player-coach Loren Simpson said.
Perkins, who in 2007 was named designated hitter on the ISC All-World team, hit two home runs Saturday night when DAC rallied from an early 6-0 deficit to beat Nevada Fastpitch. The first of those blasts off pitcher Junior Kizer soared over the fence and beyond the light standard in straightaway left field.
"He was the batting champ in the open division; you can't make a mistake against him, and I made two," Kizer said of Perkins. "If anyone was going to beat me, at least it was him. You always want to face the best anyway."
Four unearned runs in the first inning proved key as DAC dropped into the losers bracket Sunday morning with a 7-6 loss to the Red Hawks.
DAC came back to beat Nevada Fastpitch in the losers bracket final, 7-4. Reese Kizer and Joe Montoya homered off Perkins to aid the Nevada Fastpitch cause in that game.
Perkins was the team's pitching ace, winning five games (two as a starter, two in relief). The 6-foot-4 right-hander opened on Saturday morning with a three-hit, 16-strikeout performance to beat Fat City, 7-2. Perkins struck out 11 of the first 12 batters he faced in that game.
