Chance Loflin, of the Dirtbags, keeps his eye on the ball as he hits it through the Snafu’s infield Tuesday, June 26. The Dirtbags won the game 6-3.

July, 3 2012 — The 23-year and older Susanville Hardball League had its opening day Sunday, June 24 at Memorial Park.

The first game pitted the Hacks vs. the Hornets.

The Hacks ended up coming away with the win 11-8, behind a strong offensive outing by the Hacks.

The Hornets tried their hardest to fight their way back into the game but the Hacks were just too tough and would end up walking away with the win.

The second game had the River Cats facing off against the Chupacabras Monday, June 25 at Memorial Park.

This is the Chupacabras’ first season in the hardball league.

The River Cats would end up getting the win in dramatic fashion, holding off the Chupacabras 5-4.

The third game was played Tuesday, June 26 at Memorial Park where the Dirtbags faced off against the Snafu.

Bob Loflin got the start for the Dirtbags and would pitch a gem of a game, allowing three runs with five strikeouts on the evening.

Neil ReBell got the start for the Hacks and would only allow two runs by the time he was taken out.

The Dirtbags got things started in the top of the first when Aarason Perry hit a double, Chip Baumiller scored on the play making the score 1-0.

Perry would eventually score off a base hit by Jeff Ragino making the score now Dirtbags 2, Snafu 0.

The Snafu would get up to bat in the bottom of the first inning, and trailing 2-0 would score a run off of a Casey Williams double.

Brian Stevens would score from second base on the play making the score 2-1.

Josh Zaninovich would come in for relief for ReBell in the top of the third.

It wouldn’t take long for the Dirtbags to get their bats to come alive.

In the top of the third inning, Anthony Dickerson would get an RBI base hit scoring Baumiller on the play.

Mike Warmbrodt would step up to the plate and hit a nice line drive through the infield; Dickerson would end up scoring on the play.

The Snafu just couldn’t seem to catch up to what Loflin was throwing.

Going into the top of the fourth inning, they found themselves down, 4-1.

Steve Warren, of the Dirtbags, stepped up to the plate.

Behind in the count with two strikes, Warren belted a fastball over the 375 feet mark in left field, making the score the Dirtbags 5, the Snafu 1.

In the top of the fifth inning and the score still 5-1, Aarason Perry got up to bat and for the second time of the night hit an RBI double, scoring Baumiller on the play, making the score 6-1.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, it seemed like the Dirtbags could do no wrong, until the Snafu got the bases loaded and had no outs.

Then a line drive was hit right to the Dirtbags’ shortstop, Chance Loflin.

He caught the ball and ended up tagging second base to get an unassisted double play.

Now with two outs and the Snafu’s hopes of coming back winding down, Williams got up to bat and would hit a short fly ball that would land just out of the right fielder’s reach and would get two runs across the plate.

The score was now 6-3 going into the final inning of play.

Brandon Blosser, of the Snafu, would come in to relief pitch and would hold the Dirtbags to no runs in the top of the seventh inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, inning the Dirtbags brought in Warmbrodt, arguably one of the best pitchers in the hardball league to close out the Snafu.

Warbrodt struck out the first two batters with ease.

He eventually allowed a runner on base due to an errant throw to first.

The runner made his way to second base due to the throw by the shortstop.

With one runner on, and two outs, Warmbrodt struck out the last batter and ended the game, the final score: the Dirtbags 6, the Snafu 3.