It was a Wednesday night of firsts for both the first- and second-grade Parks and Recreation Yankees and Funky Monkeys baseball teams. Both Mason West and Raymond Davidson from the Yankees connected on their first base hits of the season and Funky Monkey Michael Gates recorded his first home run.

Yankees head coach Jimmy Decker also said the team is experiencing a round of firsts.

“One boy who started out the season not ever wanting to come out of the dugout, is now playing and out on the field,” Decker said.

Decker said his goal for the night was simply to get all the kids out on the field to play. And Decker accomplished his expectation as the game stretched to five innings, with the eventual victory going to the Yankees by a 20-16 margin.

The Yankees had a strong team to contend with for the win. Matthew Eagle scored the first run for the Funky Monkeys in the first inning, before the Yankees struck out the third, fourth and fifth batters in the line-up.

Funky Monkey Mike Domann warms up in the top of the first inning in his team's game against the Yankees. Domann scored a run after gettting a base hit.

In the bottom of the first the Yankees sent Jared Johnson, Collin Decker, Adam Sale and Triston Decker through home plate. The team scored the maximum five runs for the inning before the Funky Monkeys took the plate at the top of the second.

Jimmy Decker said the Funky Monkeys challenged them to be on their toes.

“This team was pretty good,” Jimmy Decker said. “They are probably the toughest team we’ve played. They are good fielders and have a good defense. We got lucky that we have a good defense too.”

The Funky Monkeys matched the Yankees run for run in the second inning. Will Richardson, Harrison Dumesich, Lawson Holbert and Drew Markley ran in for runs. Gates also hit his in-the-ballpark home run in the second to give the crowd something to cheer about.

“I wasn’t really trying to get a home run,” Gates said after the game. “I just gave it a hard swing.”

The Funky Monkeys secured the lead for a short time, but in the bottom of the second the Yankees tallied three runs from Jacob Purcell, Josh Axlund and Jesse McAlister to take back an 8-6, two-run advantage.

It took two more innings before the Funky Monkeys regained the lead. Both teams put in strong efforts to push themselves into the lead or maintain an advantage. At one point the Yankees were struggling to hold on to just a one- run difference.

The fourth inning heated up the race for the win. Richardson, Gates and Holbert connected a second round of home runs. Jeffon Moten, McAlister, Moises Jones and Jeremiah Barbe made it to home plate on a grand slam hit from Barbe.

With both teams practically neck and neck it all came down to the fifth inning to decide the victor. The Yankees proved to be victorious after pinning down the Funky Monkeys from putting any runs on the board. Yergey snatched the win with a hit out of the park to give the Yankees a grand slam of their own driving home Mason West, Brandon Johnson, Jared Johnson and Ryan Yergey.

Though the victory went to the Yankees, both teams walked out of the dugout with their heads held high and proud. Jimmy Decker said the game was an integral part of one of his goals for the team for the rest of the season.

“I’d just like to see everyone better in our last game of the season than we were in out first game,” Decker said.