Volusia County Fire beats Sheriff's Office in 1st charity softball game

DAYTONA BEACH — Jackie Robinson Ballpark was packed with thousands of fans on July 22. It wasn’t for the Daytona Tortugas or Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, but for a charity softball game between Volusia County’s Sheriff’s Office and Fire Rescue.

The real winner was the Volusia County community. It raised more than $70,000 after a plethora of contributions from locals. The money will go to the V Foundation for Cancer Research and Volusia Sheriff’s Youth Foundation.

“To be honest with you, no,” said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood on if the donation total was expected. “… I’ve been doing a lot of these things in my career, and there’s no way the first time out of the box you’re going to raise that kind of money. But you know what? We did.”

The on-field winners of the first Sheriff’s Office vs. Fire Rescue charity softball game were the firefighters — by a landslide.

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Volusia County Fire scored five first-inning runs to set the tone for its eventual 26-6 rout in a game that featured four outfielders, 12-spot batting orders, Spruce Creek’s softball team and a firefighter dressed as a thief, which the Sheriff’s Office put out and sentenced to his dugout.

The firefighters scored seven in the top of third, the maximum allowed in one inning, and six in the top of the fourth to lead 18-1 in the seven-inning affair. The lead was slightly cut in the bottom of the fourth when former MLB pitcher Andrew Cole went yard to left field.

Firefighter Branton Strickland led his team with a game-high eight RBIs that included two inside-the-park home runs — one for a grand slam — a single and a sacrifice fly. Strickland, a 2023 graduate of Taylor Middle-High School, devoted his performance to his late younger sister, Lily, who passed in March to leukemia, by drawing an L in the batter’s box before each at-bat.

“She was on my mind the whole time, and it was such a great feeling rounding the bases and feeling her in the presence, too,” Strickland said.

His second inside-the-park homer was against Spruce Creek softball pitcher Reese Cianciarulo in the fifth inning, when the Five Star and district champion Hawks pitched for both teams.

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The hit scored two runs, but that was all either side was able to score against Spruce Creek’s defense.

In an attempt to mount any sort of comeback, Chitwood temporarily swore the Hawks’ softball team in as deputies so they could bat for a Sheriff’s Office that was struggling to hit the underhand tosses of fire department ace and head coach Jimmy Lucas. Spruce Creek doubled the police’s score from two to four in the sixth inning.

“We were losing 18-2 at the time, and you want to give the fans something to look at,” Chitwood said. “So once they got out there, I said ‘You know what? I’ll swear you guys in and I’ll make you temporary deputies because that’s the only way you could play’ … A lot of people came out here to see the girls pitch against us, so why not give them a shot?”

For those that are worried about getting pulled over by a high schooler, don’t. The Hawks lost deputy privileges once they left the diamond.

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The fire department never let up and scored five more in the top of the seventh to cap a 26-run evening. The Sheriff’s Office scored runs five and six in the bottom of the seventh on an inside-the-park home run by Anthony Shank.

Volusia Fire outhit the Sheriff’s Office 32 to nine, with Strickland, Scott Ryan, Steve Szabo, Jeremy Armstrong and Patrick Cullinane recording at least three hits. Ryan led all players by finishing 4 for 4 with two singles, a double and an inside-the-parker of his own for a near-cycle.

“There were a lot of bragging rights on the line, so we wanted it,” Lucas said. “(The trophy) is going to (Fire Chief Joe King’s) office, probably.”

Although plenty of bragging rights were earned, the event was a collaboration between two organizations of first responders.

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“Coach came up with this idea and talked to Sheriff Chitwood about it, and he called me up, and I was like, ‘Let’s do it,'” King said. “We’ve been working hard, and there’s a lot of people behind the scenes that have been working to get this together.”

Now it’s time for both sides to prepare for a potential 2027 rematch Chitwood alluded to on the microphone after the game.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia County Fire beats Sheriff’s Office in 1st charity softball game