As the old story goes, back on Christmas Day of 1915, British and German soldiers called an impromptu cease-fire from a WWI battle and celebrated the holiday by playing a friendly game of soccer. Historians still aren’t sure if that game really happened or if it’s the stuff of legend. Perhaps a hundred years from now, people will have a similar debate about the great Sunapee/Wilton-Lyndeborough softball sing-off of 2016.
The Warriors and Lakers are heated rivals, and WLC wanted nothing more than to hand the defending champs their first loss of the season. And, they were in perfect position to do so on Friday after scoring three runs in the top of the sixth to take a 6-5 lead.
“Nobody’s hit [Sunapee starter Katie Frederick] all year and we hit her pretty good,” said WLC coach Dennis Claire.
But as the game headed into the bottom of the sixth, lightning struck, forcing the teams into their dugouts to try and wait out the rain.
Undeterred by the elements and fired up by the rivalry game, the players on either side began singing. Back and forth it went, the Warriors raising their voice in song and the Lakers answering back. Before long, both teams were out on either side of home plate, embroiled in a sing-off, belting out Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA” at the top of their lungs.
Finally, the rain was too much, and the umpires chose to suspend the game and play the rest of it the next day. And while the stormclouds were gone by the time WLC got back up to Sunapee Saturday, the floodgates were open. The Lakers tripled and scored to tie the game and then hit two home runs to seal it at 10-6.
“We think we won [the sing-off], but we would have rather won the game,” said Claire.
The loss puts WLC (8-5) at ninth place in Division IV. If they can sweep the remainder of the regular season (they played Hinsdale Monday night, host Derryfield (9-4) on Wednesday at 4 and then Newmarket (5-8) on Friday,) they’ll likely avoid playing Sunapee in the playoffs unless both teams make it to the Final Four.
“On the way out, [Sunapee] said ‘Hopefully we can have that sing-off up in Plymouth,’” Claire said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to get there.”