Aggressive baserunning paves way to victory in CC Adult Softball postseason action

Staff Report

CHARLES CITY — Be it Little League baseball to adult slowpitch softball … some things just never change.

“When I used to coach him when he was a kid, he never listened to me then,” Steve Mercer said of his son Cody Mercer.

“So why should I expect anything different now?”

The elder Mercer is the coach of the Hot Shots Billiards men’s softball team, which was playing Toxic Waffles in the opening round of the Charles City Adult Softball League postseason double-elimination playoffs, Wednesday at Westwood Park.

Early in the game, Cody Mercer — a left-handed hitter who pitches with his right — turned on a ball and drove it deep down the right-field line. A misplay on the relay encouraged Cody to stretch it to third where his father signaled to stop on a dime.

But the younger Mercer blew by the stop sign like a Bandit trying to distance himself from a Smokey and scored to give Hot Shots Billiards an early lead.

After a pitching change, Toxic Waffles managed to quell Hot Shots’ offense momentarily while eventually taking an 11-8 lead late in the game.

But Mercer would later tie it with a three-run homer. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Hot Shots Billiards owner Joe Hull hit a perfect “corner shot” down the right-field line to score frequent billiards tournament partner Ryan Miller from second for the winning run.

“We’re not one of the favorites in the tournament … we were about .500 for the season,” Steve Mercer said. “That was a nice win for us.”

In other first-round action Wednesday, The Pub managed to rally for five runs in its final at-bat to defeat DeRailed 10-9 in a contentious thriller.

The tournament as well as the season are due to conclude next Wednesday at Westwood.