City softball tournament begins with a hotly-contested first round

The Rome City Softball Tournament kicked off Thursday evening with eight first-round games. The expanded field this year allowed several new teams to punch their ticket to the big dance hoping to become the tournament Cinderella.

A young Gulla’s Graphics team pulled off a slight upset over a veteran Bucky’s squad in the opener on field one. Gulla’s overcame a 10-1 deficit, scoring 12 runs in the sixth inning and stifled a late Bucky’s rally to win 13-11.

Eric Maya hit a two-run home run in the decisive sixth to lead the charge for Gulla’s, while Matt Mastrangelo hit one for Bucky’s. Gulla’s will face Midnight Mike’s in the second round.

Mike’s defeated Aquino’s 15-1 in the early game on field two to advance in the winners’ bracket. The loss knocked Aquino’s into the losers’ bracket where they will face Bucky’s in a 9 o’clock game Saturday morning.

The nightcap on field one featured a match up between unbeaten Oriskany Falls Legion and playoff stalwart Don’s Auto. The Legion scored three big runs in the top of the seventh to take a one-run lead. The lead didn’t hold as Don’s displayed patience at the plate and timely hitting in the bottom of the inning that was capped off by Tom Meiss’ walk-off single, knocking off the Legion for the first time this season. Don’s dramatic 8-7 victory sets them up for a second-round game against a young Garage/LaPub out of the Ft. Stanwix League. Oriskany Falls will look to regroup in a losers’ bracket game Saturday versus Wal-Mart.  Full story at Rome Sentinel.