KEY WEST -- It was a battle of first-place giants much like the epic classics of the Red Sox and Yankees, the Reds and Cardinals and the Roncos and Morays.

Well maybe not epic, but the local gents of the Jewfish League were tussling for top dog last Friday night at DeWitt Roberts Field.

The yeller fellers -- better known as the Roncos -- took an early lead thanks in part to a two-run shot by Bobby "The Hookster" Davila who knows chicks love the long ball, and a solo homer by Mark Hoffer. They continued to pile on the runs via John "Schleppy" Child's two-run dinger in the fourth to stake a seven-run lead.

And they were not done just yet.

The Roncos went for the knockout, jabbing the Morays for eight more runs in the fifth round and it appeared the men in green -- tights -- were down for the count or so the Roncos thought.

The Morays refused to go down without a fight. They scored seven in the bottom of five, but still faced a nine-run deficit as they came to bat in the bottom of the seventh and what appeared to be the final inning.

When the first two batters flew out, it looked pretty bleak, but believe it or not, they still had a little life left in their alloy bats.

The green guys lifted back-to-back doubles by Fatz "I Always Swing at the First Pitch" Yaniz and Jim "Crazy Legs"' Guynn scoring three runs. With the bases juiced, hope sprung anew but for only a fleeting moment as the mighty Bobcat "The Rally Killer" Mathews came to bat. He eyed the Roncos pitcher with fire in his eyes. His speeding bat met the big yellow ball with the fury of a lightning bolt and the ball sailed into the night like a ball of fire. As the overflow crowd held their collective breath, it appeared the yellow orb was going to somehow sail off into the sunset and somehow miraculously give the Morays a walk-off victory, but the Mighty Bobcat, once again, lived up to his moniker and ended the game with a measly fly out for a 22-16 Roncos win.

The victory allowed the Roncos to stand alone at the top of the stairs (cue the Rocky theme song) heading into final game of the regular season next Friday night.

Shaun "Turbo" Niles drove home three runs on a double and three singles, The Hookster doubled and plated four runs to go with his long ball, "Diamond" Dave Sweeting and "Uncle" Milton Roberts each slugged three base hits for a pair of RBI apiece, Geoff Lemos, John "Schleppy" Childs and Ricky "The Washing Machine" Gonzalez each stroked a two-base hit and a base hit, Tommy "Lapp Dogg" Lapp sent home three runs on a pair of singles, Tom "The Avocado" Haas drilled two base hits, Hoffer added a base hit and Chris Cassidy "and the Sundance Kid" and Jimmy "The Big Tuna" Hake each hammered a base hit.

For the Morays, Jeff "the Iron Man" Kurkowski went 4-for-4, Dylan "the -- Big 10 -- Cornhusker" Kibler thumped a three-bagger and three singles for three RBI, old Crazy Legs Guynn doubled and singled three times, Brendan "Fancy Pants" Jones, the Rally Killer, "The Pride of East Lansing" Joe Graciak and James "Pops" Knowles each singled twice, Bob "I've Got A Smokin' Hot New Haircut" Maun singled and Yaniz added a base hit to his two-bagger.

SNAPPERS 19, JAIBAS 8

After all the drama from the opener, this game did not have the glitz and glamour, nonetheless, the red men pulled out their fifth win of this long season but still have a firm hold of last place in a four-horse race.

The game was a real nail-bitter tied at 5-all through five innings, but the Snaps ripped the game open in the sixth as Eddie Griffiths and Rich "Hollywood" Booth both went yard combining for five RBI.

The Jaibas bats were not able to overcome the deficit and the Snappers put the game to bed by piling on an additional six in last frame thanks to speedy Mario "Machin" Dieppa's legging out an inside-the-park grand slam.

Nick "Pants on the Ground" Myers singled four times, Hugo Valdez Sr. whapped a trio of base hits, "Beam Me Up" Scott McCollum tripled and materialized a two-base hit, Hollywood added a pair of doubles to his dinger, Don "The Bear" Anderson and Dale "Big D" Bittner each singled twice, Griffiths and "Machin" Dieppa each stroked a single to go along with their homers as Tony "El Bigote" Mendez, Javier "Illegal" Ferretti and Francis Jaycocks all singled.

The Jaibas' Tom "The Avocado" Haas thrashed a three-bagger and singled twice, Nick Hogan's "Heroes" singled three times, Robert "They Call Me Bobby" Lopez and Fatz "I Always Swing at the First Pitch" Yaniz each doubled and singled, Dylan "the Cornhusker" Kibler tripled home a run, John "Wonder Boy" Baltzell" cranked an RBI double and Ricky "The Washing Machine" Gonzalez singled.

Compiled by Becki "Quintessential Scorekeeper" Balcer and Ron "Abuelo" Cooke

rcooke@keysnews.com