DPD victorious against DFD in annual friendly exhibition
Jul. 18—The fifth annual guns versus hoses softball event was played Saturday, July 17, at the Dakota Community Bank and Trust ball park where the Dickinson Police Department officers squared off against their fellow first responders at the Dickinson Fire Department in an annual friendly game.
DPD took an early lead with three runs in the first inning, while the firefighters would go 1-2-3 in the opening frame. The lead grew to 5-0 in the second, before the fire department would fire back and take five runs of their own in the bottom of the second to tie the game.
Police were on target with huge hits in the third, adding two additional runs to the scoreboard in the third. Though the firefighters would again tie the game, the boys in blue would staple their lead with five more runs in the fourth.
No runs were scored in the fifth and while the police department carried the five-run lead with not-so-subtle smiles, DFD worked hard to extinguish the hot bats of DPD by delivering a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. Firefighters lead-off hitter would make his way around the bases, in a comedy of errors leading to a live ball missing the mark twice and leading to DFD's final run of the afternoon.
With the score 12-8 going into the final inning, Police Department would drive home two more runs before a third putout in a run down would secure the top of the 9th.
Dickinson Fire would need to sound a five-alarm fire at the plate to overcome the six run deficit, but ultimately the lead was too great for Team Red to bounce back — the only hit coming from Fire Marshall Mark Selle's line drive down the middle and two outs for a single. The next batter's flyball would end the game in favor of the Dickinson Police department.
DPD have yet to lose a game in this annual friendly-rivalry event.
"We have a lot of fun every year doing this, its really good camaraderie between the fire department and police department," Chief Dustin Dassinger said. "Thank goodness we had a little bit of a breeze because it was hot but all the two-a-days we put in the last couple of weeks paid off."
"So we were lucky to come away with the win from a very good team today," Dassinger added.
Following the friendly, the Big Stick will look for a second win against Canyon County Spuds in game two of their three game series starting at 6:05 p.m.
