Joelle marching in a parade before the game. (Palma)

What a pitching duel between the Vets ace pitcher Rick Palma, coming off a tough outing against Tahiti Takeout, and the Beers top knuckleballer, Evan.

Palma had outstanding control locating his pitches causing the Beers to be off balance, until the 5th when everything came unraveled. The game was close all the way when a costly infield error allowed the bases to be loaded. Instead of getting out of the inning with only 1 run scored, the next batter hit a grand salami. This turned out to be the difference in the final score. The Vets rallyed to tie in the top of the 6th, only give back the lead in the home half of the 6th.

''Today was one of my better games of the year,'' Palma said. ''Everything was working really well. My sinker was sinking and my curve was curving. I had strikes and control, and I kept my pitch count low.'

In their last at bat in the seventh, the Vets would tie the score... or so they thought. With the bases loaded, Nate connects with what should have been an infield hit as Joelle easily outruns the toss to home by several paces. However, umpire Ron made a terrible call and called Joelle out. This bad call not only upset the Vets bench, but it upset the Beers bench, as they too protested the call and said Joelle was safe. (Click here to watch reenactment.)

“It was B.S.,” said team skipper Joelle. “Ron just wanted to end the game so he could go home early.” According to reports, the game moved along fairly quickly, last little over an hour.

In the end, it was a disappointing loss for the Vets against arch rival the Beers.

In an interview with NPR before his 3,000th game as a MLB umpire, Chuck Meriwether had this to say when asked, “Do you treat minor league games any differently from major league games?”

“No how insignificant you think a game is, there is always someone at the game who cares about its outcome,” said Chuck. “At the very least it’s the players... All they ask is that you give it your best and be fair.”

Perhaps umpire Ron could pick-up a few pointers from Umpire Chuck?

Rick Palma and Andy Wolan are a reporters for MLSB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Softball or its clubs.