Awaken Church takes Funday kickball classic for second straight year

RIO RANCHO — They’ve done it again!

For the second year in a row, Awaken Church won the Tony Popper Memorial Trophy at this year’s “Sunday is Funday” at Haynes Park.

“It’s getting competitive out there,” Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull said. “They are putting together tougher and tougher teams.”

Hull spoke from first-hand experience after his “Mayor’s Posse” squad fell to Awaken Church, 6-5, in dramatic fashion in the championship game.

“We want to thank all the kickball teams that came out to play,” Hull said. “We had a great time.”

All nine teams brought the heat on Sunday afternoon, but it would be Awaken Church’s energetic offense and the Posse’s highlight defensive plays that would help them punch their ticket to the title game.

A 4-0 shutout over the Crash Champions in the semifinals and an early lead in the championship game for Hull & Co. put them in the driver’s seat to reclaim the kickball throne.

Behind two hits from the mayor and stellar defense all around, Mayor’s Posse was up 5-0 headed into the final inning. But Awaken Church’s offense awoke, and the scoring machine (who had already mercy-ruled a team earlier in the tourney) roared back for a 5-5 tie.

The game headed into extra innings, and with tension around the makeshift baseball diamond of camping chairs and canopy tents, three quick outs from Hull’s team allowed Awaken to push across the winning run in the 6-5 victory.

“We want to congratulate Awaken Church on (winning) two years in a row,” Hull said. “They get bragging rights for another year.”

It was only fitting for a fun, exciting championship game to cap off what was a fun and exciting day overall at Haynes Park, with the winners making their way to the stage for a victory photo (although it took some time; they were pretty tired).

“We must have run the wind out of them,” Hull joked. “They played hard.”