In the first exhibition game of the newly formed Pro Wiffle Ball league, swirling winds and endless walks marked the afternoon at Rancho Madera Ballpark. Team Harding took a 3-0 lead early in the game off of starter Jared Clark on continuous stream of hits and walks. The lead didn’t last though, as Tim Harding struggled with his accuracy in the bottom half of the inning, loading the bases with three walks. Brother Davey Harding relieved him, but allowed a bases clearing double to Jared Clark, bringing team Grooters even with a 3-3 tie. Team Grooter’s built on that lead against Davey Harding and reliever Danny Jordan and by the end of the 5th Team Grooters had a seemingly insurmountable 8-3 lead. In their last at bat, Team Harding finally came alive as Jared Clark’s stellar pitching ultimately collapsed. Behind Kevin Kirkpatrick’s towering shot to deep left (and a questionable fair ball call of Tim Harding’s left field pop-up), Team Harding rallied in the top of the 6th for 5 runs to tie the game going into the bottom of the final inning.

Team Harding just needed to keep Grooters from scoring in the bottom of the 6th so they could continue to pound the now shaken/rattled/battered pitching of Jared Clark. But the walks continued to pain Team Harding and with one out, bases loaded, and a 3-1 count to James Manley, Tim Harding threw the final ball to walk in the winning run for Team Grooters.

“Clearly we need to work on our pitching,” Tim Harding said, “but we had some fun and made it interesting at the end. This was a great way to gauge interest in the league and start setting up the rules of the league.”