Page 45 - August 2018

right now is not the best time to be a police officer. It’s nice to celebrate and be together with people who are like us,” offered Kelly Vangarone, whose husband, Joe, is assigned to the 11th District. “It is a work event, but it’s not work.”
CPD Finest did not disappoint its fans by pulling off an 8-5 win, thanks to three runs in the late innings. Finest Manager Vince Macias didn’t sugarcoat the fact that the firefighters put a scare into his team, which had been cruising most of the night until the Bravest tied the game, 5-5, in the seventh inning.
“Oh, yeah. My guys got complacent. It happens. You got a lead, you jump out and everyone’s ‘We’re good, we’re good,’” said Macias, who roped an RBI double to right center in his first at bat. “We’ve been doing this every single game. We’ll get a lead, then we’ll let them come back, and then we finish strong.”
Perhaps the largest crowd ever to see a Finest-Bravest game was treated to autographs and gifts from CPD officers.
phy wiggled out of a first inning, bases-loaded jam by giving up just one run. The CPD offense immediately picked him up with two in the bottom of the frame on Macias’ hit and an RBI single by Kevin Sweeney.
CPD extended the lead to 5-2 in the fourth inning on a two- run Oscar Rodriguez single. Solid relief pitching by Javy Alvarez, Tom Caravia and Will Munoz kept CFD’s bats quiet for the most part, until they erupted for three runs in the seventh inning. CPD would have trailed if not for a slick defensive play at the plate that wiped out a scrambling Bravest runner.
With the game tied, Macias huddled up his team to fine-tune the focus. Sweeney answered the call by turning a lead-off walk into the go-ahead run, which he scored on a wild pitch. Jesus Saavedra pushed the lead to 7-5 with a sacrifice fly. CPD tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning on the strength of a Rob Ramirez RBI single. Eric Ricken came in to pitch the ninth and earn the save.
“I can’t ask for a better night,” Macias said.
In the stands, Macias’ wife, Nicolle, agreed.
“This is fun. We’ve been doing this for seven, eight years, and
it’s always a fun, family event. It’s great to see how much it has grown over the years,” she said. “I get to hear about the ticket sales at home, so I knew (the crowd) was going to be big, but I didn’t think it was going to be this big. This is the biggest I’ve seen it. The line getting in, we had to wait 45 minutes.”
For all the excitement of the game action and the fun for CPD players to toss shirts, baseballs and other swag to the young fans in the crowd, the night recognized the sacrifices of officers who didn’t make it home from their last shift.
The pregame ceremony featured an appearance by Warrior Watch motorcycle riders, who lined the field’s warning track. In addition to police and fire department dignitaries who threw out ceremonial first pitches, Grace Bauer – daughter of Com- mander Paul Bauer – stepped to the front of the mound for a pitch of her own to Macias.
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The script held true to form. Finest starting pitcher Kyle Mur-
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